broadway
When romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You was released in 1999 — a seminal time for the Shakespeare adaptation-as-teen-movie — it was a watershed pop cultural moment. The winning take on The Taming of the Shrew cemented the star power of actors Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and boasted a spunky […]
After getting mixed up by the general public for years, one particularly hilarious mixup prompted Michelle Williams and Michelle Williams to finally link up.
In a video posted Thursday (April 17) by the first Williams — as in, the superstar previously in the Beyoncé-led girl group Destiny’s Child — she sits backstage after a performance of her Broadway show Death Becomes Her, telling the camera, “We had an amazing show tonight!”
She then pulls out a stack of photos of the other Williams — aka the five-time Oscar-nominated actress who’s starred in everything from Brokeback Mountain to My Week With Marilyn — that a fan had mistakenly mailed her in the hopes of getting an autograph weeks prior. Turning the camera, the first Williams reveals that the second Williams is sitting there beside her, and the former asks the latter to sign the pictures of herself.
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“Who should I make it out to?” the Blue Valentine star says, to which the “Journey to Freedom” singer replies giddily, “Would you make them out to meee?”
“#FINALLY,” reads the video’s caption.
The sweet meetup comes a little over a month after the singer posted a video of herself reading aloud a letter from a fan, featuring a hilarious twist at the end. “‘Dear Michelle Williams, I hope this letter finds you in great spirits,’” she recited in the March clip. “‘My name is Philip, and I have been an avid fan of your incredible performances in both film and theater.’”
“‘Your work in movies like Blue Valentine, Manchester by the Sea or The Greatest Showman has deeply moved me and many others, showcasing your exceptional talent,’” she continued at the time. “‘I am writing to kindly ask if you would consider signing the enclosed photos I have of you. Having your autograph would mean so much for me and my daughter, as we admire your artistry.’”
That’s when the first Williams showed the photos Philip had sent: snapshots of the second Williams in various movies. “Philip, thank you so much,” she said, laughing. “Thank you, Philip. Thank you so much. Absolutely brilliant. Her hair is fabulous.”
Though the moment was certainly memorable, Philip is far from the first person to get the two Michelle Williamses switched around. With both women working in the entertainment industry since the 1990s, countless others have gotten their identical names confused over the years.
The “Unexpected” artist has been starring in Death Becomes Her since the show opened in New York City in November. On the very first night of performances, her former bandmates Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland came out to Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to cheer her on. Film star Michelle is currently promoting her Hulu miniseries Dying for Sex.
See Michelle Williams Squared meet up below.
Liza Minnelli is a legend, an icon and a superstar, but the one superlative she can’t quite claim is being an EGOT. She has won an Emmy, an Oscar and three Tonys in competition, but has yet to win a Grammy in competition. She may have another chance when the 68th Annual Grammy Awards are presented early next year.
Minnelli co-produced the cast album to the Off-Broadway hit DRAG: The Musical. The album will be released on April 25 via PEG Records/Warner. If it wins a Grammy for best musical theater album, Minnelli will become the 22nd EGOT (unless someone else gets there first).
Minnelli produced the album with co-creator Tomas Costanza, with Nicholas Kaiser as executive producer. (Minnelli is also a co-producer of the live show.)
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“From the moment I got involved with DRAG: The Musical, I knew it was something special — bold … brave … bursting with heart and music that is all about love,” Minnelli said in a statement. “The songs here will make you laugh and cry. This entire experience and adventure helps you find yourself. Producing this exquisite live album with Tomas is a joy, because he’s a genius surrounded by a brilliant cast and company, and because it captures that electric energy you only get in a theater full of love, laughter and lashes. This is a fabulous family show. It celebrates childhood innocence, adult tsuris and gorgeous glitter! Darling, this cast sings their faces off — and I couldn’t be prouder to help bring this art into the world.”
Minnelli has been nominated for Grammys for best traditional pop vocal album twice, for Gently (1997) and Liza’s at the Palace…! (2010). She received a Grammy Legend Award in 1990 (alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson, when those awards were presented on a separate broadcast), and a Grammy Hall of Fame induction for the Cabaret soundtrack, but most awards historians don’t count honorary or special awards toward EGOT status. (Barbra Streisand, film and TV producer Frank Marshall and three late greats — James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte and Quincy Jones — are also EGOTs only if you count honorary or special awards.)
If Minnelli wins a Grammy early next year, she’ll set a new record for the longest span of EGOT-qualifying wins of any EGOT winner (61 years). She won her first EGOT award, a Tony, in 1965 for her leading role in Flora the Red Menace. The current record holder for the longest span of EGOT-qualifying wins is held by Helen Hayes, with a 45-year span. Hayes won her first Oscar in 1932 and her first and only Grammy in 1977.
Minnelli is 79 and will still be 79 when the Grammys are dispensed early next year. Only one person has been that old or older upon clinching EGOT status. That’s John Gielgud (Minnelli’s co-star in the hit 1981 film Arthur), who was 87 when he achieved the feat.
Other people who were 70-plus when they finally became EGOTs (proving there’s always hope!), were Elton John (76), Helen Hayes (76), Mel Brooks (74), Tim Rice (73), Alan Menken (70) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (70).
Minnelli reached a career peak that few performers have ever reached in 1973 when she won both an Oscar for best actress for Cabaret and a Primetime Emmy for outstanding single program − variety and popular music for Liza With a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television. She won her second and third Tony Awards in 1978 for The Act and 2009 for Liza’s at The Palace…!, which won in the competitive category of best special theatrical event. (She also won a special, non-competitive Tony in 1974 for “adding luster to the Broadway season.”)
DRAG: The Musical, written by drag star Alaska Thunderfuck alongside Tomas Costanza and frequent collaborator Ashley Gordon, tells the tale of two rival drag bars coming to blows amid financial struggles. But underneath the glamorous costumes (courtesy of designer Marco Marco) is a story of acceptance, self-identity and the power of community.
The show debuted off-Broadway last October following two runs at Los Angeles’ The Bourbon Room. The show is playing at New World Stages in New York City until April 27.
Including two songs new to the production, “One of the Boys” and “The Showdown”, DRAG: The Musical LIVE (The Cast Recording) features a mix of drag and theater stars including Minnelli, Thunderfuck, Nick Adams, Adam Pascal, Beau Coddou, Dylan Patterson, Eddie Korbich, J. Elaine Marcos, Jan Sport, Jujubee, Lagoona Bloo, Kodiak Thompson, Luxx Noir London, Nicholas Kraft, Nick Laughlin, Peli Naomi Woods, Tamika Lawrence and Teddy Wilson Jr.
The album was engineered by Drew Levy, a two-time Tony-nominee for best sound design of a musical, and mixed by Davey Badiuk.
The show recently won a special recognition award from the GLAAD Media Awards and scored six Lucille Lortel Awards nominations, which tied Our Class and Three Houses for the most nods this year.
Such stars as Chappell Roan, Adam Lambert, Alex Newell, Bob the Drag Queen and Orville Peck have visited the show.
Minnelli is featured on two of the 18 tracks on the album – the opener, “Prologue / Welcome to the Fish Tank,” and the penultimate track, “Two Bitches Are Better Than One / Epilogue.” But that’s not enough for her to qualify for a Grammy as a performer. Her ticket to a Grammy nomination is as an album producer.
Here’s the Recording Academy’s rule for who is nominated in the category of best musical theater album. “For albums containing greater than 51% playing time of new recordings. Award to the principal vocalist(s), and the album producer(s) of 50% or more playing time of the album. The lyricist(s) and composer(s) of 50% or more of a score of a new recording are eligible for an Award if any previous recording of said score has not been nominated in this category.”
Here’s the complete track listing for DRAG: The Musical LIVE (The Cast Recording)
“Prologue / Welcome to the Fish Tank,” Liza Minnelli, Tamika Lawrence, Lagoona Bloo, Luxx Noir London, Nick Adams, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“She’s All That,” Nick Adams, Tamika Lawrence, Lagoona Bloo, Luxx Noir London, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“Cathouse Fever,” Jan Sport, Jujubee, Nick Laughlin, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“Queen Kitty,” Jan Sport, Jujubee, Nick Laughlin, Alaska Thunderfuck, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“Drag Is Expensive,” Nick Adams, Luxx Noir London, Lagoona Bloo, Tamika Lawrence, Adam Pascal
“Wigs,” Jan Sport, Jujubee, Nick Laughlin, Lagoona Bloo, Tamika Lawrence, Luxx Noir London, Alaska Thunderfuck, Nick Adams
“One of the Boys,” Tamika Lawrence
“Gay as Hell,” Eddie Korbich, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“Gloria Schmidt,” Lagoona Bloo, J. Elaine Marcos, Adam Pascal, Tamika Lawrence
“Rita LaRitz,” J. Elaine Marcos, Alaska Thunderfuck
“It’s a Drag,” Alaska Thunderfuck, Nick Adams, Eddie Korbich
“It’s So Pretty,” Nick Adams, Beau Coddou, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr., Kodiak Thompson
“I’m Just Brendan,” Beau Coddou
“Straight Man,” Adam Pascal
“The Showdown,” Alaska Thunderfuck, Nick Adams
“Once Upon a Toilet,” Tamika Lawrence, Lagoona Bloo, Luxx Noir London, Nick Adams, Adam Pascal, Beau Coddou, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr.
“Two Bitches Are Better Than One / Epilogue,” Liza Minnelli, Alaska Thunderfuck, Nick Adams
“Real Queens / Brendan is His Name / Welcome to the Catfish,” Luxx Noir London, Jan Sport, Jujubee, Lagoona Bloo, Tamika Lawrence, Nick Laughlin, Dylan Patterson, Adam Pascal, Alaska Thunderfuck, Nick Adams, Peli Naomi Woods, Nicholas Kraft, Teddy Wilson Jr., Kodiak Thompson
During a pivotal moment of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Broadway, country virtuoso Orville Peck makes a bold choice. And no, it has nothing to do with his mask.
It has to do with “If You Could See Her,” a critical song for his impish, unreliable narrator, the Emcee. After an entire act of vaudevillian, entertaining antics from Peck’s host-with-the-most, “If You Could See Her” seems like another such farce at the start of Act II; after all, he’s dressed as a clown and singing a love song to a gorilla. They dance, he taunts the ape with a banana, and he asks the audience why the world cannot seem to “leben und leben lassen” — live and let live — when it comes to his relationship. “If you could see her through my eyes,” he sings, before twisting the knife, “she wouldn’t look Jewish at all.”
In other iterations of this production, the Emcee sings this line almost as a pitying lament, or as a whisper, like he’s letting the audience in on a secret. But Peck holds nothing back in his version. There is no softened sentiment in his voice, only vitriol; he practically spits out the word “Jewish” as though it were a slur. As he skips around the stage to the song’s jaunty outro, he mimes a handgun with his fingers, and on the song’s final musical sting, fires it into the gorilla’s head.
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“My job is to win the audience over for most of the first act, and to make them feel like this is a comedy and it’s light and to have a laugh,” Peck tells Billboard. “It’s also then my job to betray you.”
Peck takes that job very seriously throughout his performance in Cabaret, and manages to wring incredible pathos out of the iconic character. Balancing the Emcee’s whimsical exterior with a malevolent darkness lurking underneath throughout the show, Peck utterly transforms from his well-established stage persona into something entirely new.
In order to properly assist that transformation, Peck knew from the get-go that he wouldn’t wear his signature mask during the production. After years of obscuring his face, Peck instead greets the audience face-to-face in Cabaret. “Whether I would wear the mask or not was never a question,” he admits. “The real trepidation came when the offer came in, and I knew I had the opportunity to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to doing this. I definitely had a lot of thinking to do. I asked the people in my life if this was the right thing to do, and the right moment for it. But it became an easy ‘yes.’”
The reason that “yes” was so easy is because Peck cites Cabaret as “one of my favorite musicals,” and the Emcee as “the role I’ve wanted to play since I can remember.” For the uninitiated, the show — which made its original Broadway debut all the way back in 1966 and was adapted into the 1972 film of the same name — follows the stories of multiple characters living at the end of Weimar Germany, embracing the hedonistic, impoverished lifestyles of Berlin while ignoring the Nazi party’s rise to power.
Orville Peck in Cabaret
Gina Manning
Where other roles in the show — like the vivacious cabaret star Sally Bowles (played in this production by Tony nominee Eva Nobelezada) — interact primarily with one another, the Emcee is most interested in speaking directly to the audience. Most of his time on the stage is spent encouraging those watching to “leave your troubles outside” while slowly luring you in to the lurid lifestyles of his seedy nightclub. Eventually, he holds a mirror up to your complicity; while you were having fun at the Kit Kat Club, the Nazis took over.
“It’s a role that’s not necessarily fleshed out in the script; there’s very little dialogue, it’s a very open-ended character,” Peck explains. “You kind of have to color outside the lines and make decisions for yourself.”
When it came time for Peck to find his version of the Emcee, he was well equipped for the task — a graduate of the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Peck dove headfirst into building an iteration of the character that made the most sense coming from him. “My Emcee has a sort of grit, and an almost punk attitude to him that I think is probably from that part of my life,” he explains, referencing his early career as a drummer in a punk band. “I draw on a lot of themes of what it’s like to be queer, or to grow up with internalized issues, with fears, with questions of feeling empowered in society.”
While the acting aspect of the role wasn’t an adjustment for Peck, the Broadway schedule has been — performing in eight shows every week, the singer says it took two weeks for him to properly adjust to the reality of this style of performance. “It’s a different thing being 37 and coming back into this medium and working with these incredible performers who’ve devoted their lives to this type of performance,” he says with a laugh. “It’s sort of like running a marathon with people who have been training for years and years, and I’m trying to compete at the same level.”
What he found, though, is that his career as a headlining country performer actually provided benefits of its own for his new gig. Where other Broadway newcomers might blanch at the sheer amount of stage time the Emcee has (he performs in half of the show’s songs and remains on stage even longer), Peck is used to the toll of live performance. “In my regular live show, I am kind of carrying and leading the show for sometimes two hours straight, so that experience actually came in handy for this,” he says.
The other main challenge for his Broadway debut came from his voice — Peck garnered a reputation for his smooth baritone as a country star, with a rich chest voice that has drawn comparisons to the likes of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. Yet the character of the Emcee is a bright tenor with an airy falsetto, who very rarely dips into the low-end of his range, presenting a challenge for Peck.
“It took a lot of work. But I wanted to do it, because I really wanted to disappear into this role,” he says. “I didn’t want people to come, and as soon as I started singing, be like, ‘Oh, well, there’s Orville Peck crooning as usual.’ So I worked really hard with a vocal coach [Chris York] at the characterization of different placement for where I sing and how I sing.”
With a new look, a honed voice and a character built from the ground up, Peck joined the cast on March 31 to rave reviews from audiences. His interpretation of the role brings a far more sinister energy than the more sexually charged version of the part by his predecessor Adam Lambert, or the almost-alien portrayal by Eddie Redmayne. And that was the point: “I wanted to build this character my own way, very differently from Eddie and Adam,” he says. “I’m having the best time of my life.”
Part of why Peck felt so strongly about being a part of this production has to do with the timing. With the show telling a cautionary tale about the perils of ignorance in the face of fascism, Peck cannot help but draw a direct parallel to our current political situation. As Donald Trump and his administration continue to push the limits of presidential power, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club feels more relevant than ever.
“Yeah, it’s frightening, and it’s very much the elephant in the room for us,” Peck says. “It’s depressing, of course, but I also think I’m really grateful that this show is running during a time like this — if even one person leaves that theater with a light bulb having gone off, or feeling any more compassion or empathy for what is going on for people right now, then that is all I can ask for.”
Which brings us back to “If You Could See Her” — while audiences are currently stunned into silence after Peck’s hostile performance, just a few months ago, they were having a very different reaction: laughter. Lambert recounted a story from his run during an appearance on The View, saying he confronted an audience member who laughed when he sang his line about the gorilla being Jewish. “No, this isn’t comedy,” Lambert told the audience member. “Pay attention.”
Joel Grey, who originated the role in 1966 and in the 1972 film, even wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, urging audiences to heed the show’s warning. “History is giving us another chance to confront the forces that Cabaret warned us about,” he wrote. “The question is: Will we listen this time, or will we keep laughing until the music stops?
Peck has yet to experience laughter during his “If You Could See Her,” but says he’s had a few surprising moments in the part. In one recent show, during his rendition of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” — a fake German folk song that quickly devolves into a Nazi anthem — he noticed a few members of the audience “cheering” as he raised his arm into a Nazi salute. “I think may have just been very big fans of mine who were excited that I was singing a really big note,” he says.
But even if those audience members weren’t just fans of his, Peck says he wants to create space for people to experience the feeling of discomfort that Cabaret is designed to create. “I don’t know what drives that laughter or that cheering, necessarily, but I do know that I have been in situations in my life where I have laughed at something that I shouldn’t have because I was uncomfortable,” he says. “The impact of these moments within the show are supposed to make people uncomfortable, they are supposed to pull the rug out from under you.”
He pauses for a moment, considering his next words carefully. “The idea is, shortly after that, they might go, ‘Oh, s–t. We probably shouldn’t have been cheering,’” he says. “The hope is we’re also enlightening, and confronting, and providing something more than just a musical.”
The Broadway cast album from Hamilton: An American Musical was inducted into the National Recording Registry this year. It’s the 15th Broadway cast album to receive this honor, and the first from a show that premiered after 1979.
Of the 15 cast albums in the National Recording Registry, four were released in the 1940s and four more in the 1950s, decades that are often thought of as the heyday of Broadway cast albums. That number dropped to just two in the 1960s and two more in the ’70s. And no cast albums at all from the ’80s, ’90s or ’00s have made it yet.
This makes Hamilton‘s achievement all the more impressive. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is going against the tide here. Miranda is also going against the current political tide. Hamilton was scheduled to return to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the third time in March and April of 2026. The show’s producers canceled the run due to President Trump’s recent takeover of the performing arts institution. “Given the recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” lead producer Jeffrey Seller said in a statement shared to the official Hamilton X page.
In 2018, the Kennedy Center Honors broke format to recognize the creators of Hamilton – Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler and Alex Lacamoire. Historically, the Kennedy Center Honors have recognized artists near the end of their careers. Here, they gave an award to talents mid-career to honor a specific achievement. (The National Recording Registry is administered by the Library of Congress, not the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.)
Miranda wrote both music and lyrics for the songs in Hamilton. The songs in five other cast albums in the National Recording Registry were the work of a solitary songwriter. Stephen Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics to all the songs in Sweeney Todd, as did Charlie Smalls (The Wiz), Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls), Cole Porter (Kiss Me, Kate) and Marc Blitzstein (The Cradle Will Rock).
Sondheim and his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, both wrote songs for three of the 15 cast albums in the Registry. Sondheim wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy before serving in both capacities on Sweeney Todd. Hammerstein collaborated with Jerome Kern on Show Boat before teaming with Richard Rodgers for Oklahoma! and South Pacific.
If you’re wondering why The Sound of Music (also by Rodgers & Hammerstein) isn’t listed here, that’s easy to explain. The 1965 film soundtrack with Julie Andrews is in the Registry, but the 1959 Broadway cast album with Mary Martin is not. At least not yet. We’ll update this list as more Broadway cast albums are saluted.
Here are all the Broadway cast albums that have been inducted into the National Recording Registry. They are listed in chronological order by show date. We show Billboard 200 peaks for albums that were released since that chart originated in March 1956.
Show Boat (1932)
The original Broadway cast recording of Maybe Happy Ending – led by Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winner Darren Criss and Helen J Shen – scores the year’s highest debut on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart, as the set enters at No. 5 on the list dated March 29. Maybe Happy Ending was released on March 14 […]
One is a Broadway veteran; the other a debutante. Natalie Venetia Belcon and Isa Antonetti are the stars playing legendary singer Omara Portuondo at different stages of her life in BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, the new Broadway musical about the Cuban artists who brought the acclaimed Grammy-winning album of 1997 to the world.
With Broadway credits including Matilda (Mrs. Phelps) and Rent (Joanne), Belcon is a Trinitarian-American actress and singer best known for originating the role of former child television star Gary Coleman in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q. She had already played the Cuban icon knows as “La Novia del Filin” (“The Bride of Feeling”) during the BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB off-Broadway run, receiving the 2024 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical and a nomination for a Drama Desk Award for the role.
Meanwhile, Antonetti is a “Latinx, indigenous, mixed race LGBTQIA+ actress and singer from the Greater Rochester, New York area,” as stated in the show’s playbill, and is currently completing her BFA in Musical Theatre at Carnegie Mellon University. With credits including Evita (NYCC), Macbeth (CMU), and A Chorus Line (OFC Creations), she recently made her film debut in Gift of Fear, and is excited to make her Broadway debut in BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB — “as it reflects her own experiences growing up performing with her father’s Latin band, Orquesta Antonetti.”
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Buena Vista Social Club was formed in Cuba in 1996, as a project organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González, who named the group after a popular music venue in Havana in the 1940s. To showcase popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero, and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for years.
The group’s eponymous debut album was released in September 1997 and quickly became an international sensation. On the Billboard charts, it reached No. 1 on Tropical Albums, where it stayed at the top for 24 weeks and spent a total of 266 weeks on the chart. It also reached No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and World Albums, and spent 19 weeks on the Billboard 200. In 1998, it won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album, and the Billboard Latin Music Award for Tropical/Salsa Album of the Year by a Group. The Buena Vista Social Club album was also voted into the National Recording Registry in 2022 and the Grammy Hall of Fame last year.
With a book by Marco Ramirez, the Saheem Ali-directed Broadway show is inspired by true events, and features a band of international musicians to narrate the legendary story of the artists who brought the original album to life, going back and forth between the mid-90s and the 1950s. The company also features Julio Monge as Compay Segundo, Mel Semé as Ibrahim Ferrer and Jainardo Batista Sterling as Rubén González — with Da’von Moody, Wesley Wray and Leonardo Reyna as their younger versions, respectively. Renesito Avich plays Eliades Ochoa, and Ashley De La Rosa a young Haydee. Also performing are Angélica Beliard, Carlos Falú, Hector Juan Maisonet, Ilda Mason, Marielys Molina, and Sophia Ramos, among others.
Last Tuesday afternoon (March 19), dressed to the nines for the musical’s official Broadway premiere, Belcon and Antonetti sat with Billboard Español to share their experience giving life to one of the most beloved singers of Cuba. (Hours later, Omara Portuondo herself, now 94, would pay the cast a visit at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in New York City ahead of opening night. She was not available for press).
What did you know about Buena Vista Social Club before joining this musical?
Natalie Venetia Belcon: I have musicians for parents, and they introduced me to Buena Vista Social Club, the album. I was 26, 27, something like that.
Isa Antonetti: I also have musicians for parents, and they would play the music [with their band] or the music would play it in the background and I would never know what I was listening to, until my dad told me: “You should do some more research on this on this Cuban band that we love to play sometimes.” And I was like, “Okay.” So I heard [the song] “Chan Chan” and I heard a couple of their songs and I was just humming them all over the place. And then they kind of just stayed in my Spotify and I would listen to them once in a while.
In the musical, you speak in English but sing in perfect Spanish. Are you fluent? How did you achieve the accent?
Antonetti: I’m not fluent, but I do speak.
Belcon: My father’s side of the family is Spanish, [but] I don’t speak Spanish. When we moved up to this country, we moved to the South Bronx, which is, you know… [heavily Puerto Rican]. So I am used to hearing it. I just never had to speak it. But I treat languages like I would music — I go off of the sounds and the dialect coach, so I’m good like that, just repeating and recording and putting my earphones in and you know, listening to it all the time is how I learned, anyway.
Antonetti: I always think musicians have the ear. You could give me some sheet music and I could make my way around it, but I learned best by our dialect coach, you know, speaking it and sending us voice memos, making sure I’m pronouncing it the way that is authentic to this show.
Beyond the Spanish, how did you both prepare to play Omara at these two stages in her life?
Belcon: I’m lucky in the sense that the stuff that you see of her is of her older. And so I watched “Adiós” quite a few times and listened to the stuff a lot. I mean, I can’t even help it now, it’s just kind of, you know, on repeat, basically.
How about you, Isa? There’s not so much of Omara from that era.
Antonetti: It’s so funny because I was thinking about it and I remember in the rehearsal room when they had the pictures up, it’s just like one picture of Omara when she was younger. I would do some research, I would look to see if there’s some videos of her when she was younger with like her sister and with her quad. And so I would use that, and I would also talk to [Associate Music Director] David Oquendo and ask what is the essence of someone who’s 19 in Cuba? You know, and I would try and bring that to her as well.
What was the biggest challenge of portraying a vocalist known as “La Novia del Filin” [The Bride of Feeling]?
Belcon: Well, today, it’s going to be [hard] to not pass out when I meet her. I hope my understudy is ready, ’cause I might be in the ER with IV (Laughs). The challenge is, even though this is a fable, to make sure that we are still being respectful and not making up somebody entirely. And to have a semblance of who she is, to have it resemble her as much as possible.
Antonetti: Absolutely. I could just quote what she said. All of it!
But this is your Broadway debut so, for you, what was the biggest challenge?
Antonetti: Besides the genuine general things about Broadway being exhausting through the rehearsals and the previews — you know, that it’s challenging in its own way. I think for the show specifically, it’s keeping making sure the time period stays in your body when you step on stage. I’m playing someone in the 1950s, so that’s different than how I would play someone else. I think the challenging part is remembering when you step on stage that you are a different person and you’re being respectful and you’re bringing life to something. It’s challenging and rewarding and all of the above.
At some points during the musical, your characters meet, creating really emotional moments. Any favorites for you?
Belcon: I think it might be [Ibrahim Ferrer and Portuondo’s duet] “Silencio,” when the younger two are up top on the malecón (pier) and Ibrahim comes in and then I’m having all the memories of things. That and, not necessarily my favorite but I think in my head the most important, which is how it all starts when she — again, it’s a “Do I go left or right?” It’s a crossroads: “Do I make the album or not?” Then she chooses and it’s a butterfly effect; it kind of affects everything and everybody else.
Antonetti: I would say “Chan Chan” — it’s had different iterations since we started rehearsal and I’m so grateful that I get to be a part of that number even longer because it’s so emotionally devastating, but I love the moment and I only get to see it from behind the stage of the malecón. I get to see Natalie come in and Angélica [Beliard] do this beautiful dance move where she transfers the trauma into Natalie. Just remembering it, that moment, I’m telling you, I need like three hours to recoup.
Belcon: I need three drinks! (Laughs)
What did you both learn from Omara Portuondo in this process, as a person and as an artist?
Belcon: I mean, to say that she’s strong is an understatement. There needs to be a better word — maybe it needs to be “I am Omara,” right? You know, she’s been through a lot, just a lot, and came through it all and succeeded. More than succeeded. Just the time period, what was happening [in Cuba], and she not only survived that, she thrived regardless.
Antonetti: As a person, as an artist… She is more than just those words. Whenever I think of her, it’s like what you said, strong is an understatement. She is just this powerful being that can take my breath away.
After months of rehearsals, how does it feel to see the whole show finally come together on Broadway?
Belcon: I had a little bit of a heads-up cause I’ve done it once before [off-Broadway.] I think it is different in the bigger space, definitely, but that’s always a fantastic payoff moment. All the hard work and the not sleeping and all the rest of it, when you see everything fall into place, you know, those moments when you see the younger and the older [characters together], it’s always the payoff. They’re emotional moments. They are.
Antonetti: There are moments where I just have to hold myself back because I am an emotional person. And I was like, “This is a dream and it’s coming true and I have to be grounded in that or I’ll freak out.” It’s like what I told someone else outside: It has been exhausting, but it is worth every inch and ounce of that exhaustion. Absolutely.
Actors Natalie Venetia Belcon and Isa Antonetti on the red carpet as they arrive to the Buena Vista Social Club musical opening night on Broadway on March 19, 2025, in New York City.
Andy Henderson
Of course Joe and Kevin Jonas were in the house on Tuesday night (March 18) to support their brother Nick Jonas in his return to Broadway in The Last Five Years. The siblings were reunited on the stage with Nick’s co-star, Adrienne Warren in a family snap at the kick-off of preview performances at the […]
James Taylor‘s music is headed to the theater. Fire & Rain, a jukebox-style musical based on the music of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was announced on Monday (March 17), with the in-development project to feature a story by Tony-winning playwright/actor Tracy Letts (August: Osage County, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and direction by Tony-winner David Cromer (The Band’s Visit).
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According to Deadline, while no details have been announced so far about the storyline for the show, a release announcing it heaped praise on six-time Grammy winner Taylor, referring to his musical legacy as, “one of profound influence on American music, particularly in the genres of folk, pop, and singer-songwriter traditions. His career spans over five decades, and his impact can be felt in both the personal nature of his songs and his stylistic innovations. His deeply personal, introspective lyrics and soulful delivery helped define the era’s musical landscape.”
The statement noted that the title song — which was featured on the singer’s 1970 sophomore album, Sweet Baby James, and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — “helped solidify James Taylor’s career and introduce him to a wider audience. The song’s vulnerability and honesty made it resonate with listeners and became one of the defining songs of his career.”
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At press time there was not timeline for when Fire & Rain will be staged or where it will debut.
Taylor is the latest in a long line of iconic pop, country and Latin artists who’ve brought their music to the stage in biographical musicals, including Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, The Go-Gos, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Carole King, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Alicia Keys and many more.
The 77-year-old singer is gearing up to launch his 2025 summer tour, which is slated to kick off on May 5 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix and keep him on the road through a July 1 gig at the BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, NH.
Stephen Schwartz, who wrote both music and lyrics to all the songs in Wicked, is about to become even more “Popular.” The veteran songwriter is set to receive the 2025 Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala on Thursday, June 12, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The award presentation will come near the midpoint between the November 2024 release of Wicked, which quickly became the highest-grossing film ever based on a Broadway musical, and the November 2025 release of a sequel, Wicked: For Good. Both films are based on the 2003 stage musical Wicked.
Schwartz, 76, has won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Drama Desk Awards and a Golden Globe. He has received six Tony nominations, in addition to receiving their Isabelle Stevenson Award in 2015 for his support of young artists.
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The Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by the SHOF, is reserved for a songwriter or songwriting team who has already been inducted into the SHOF and whose body of work upholds the high standards set by Mercer, wrote dozens of hits from the 1930s through the 1960s. (Learn more about Mercer here.) Schwartz was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.
“With every lyric and melody, Stephen invites us on an unforgettable journey,” SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement. “From his iconic list of award-winning musicals, including Godspell, Wicked and Pippin, Stephen continually proves that he is the only person who can turn a simple story into a Broadway musical masterpiece, one catchy chorus at a time!”
Schwartz won his first two Oscars – best original song for “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas and best original musical or comedy score for that same film, in tandem with Alan Menken, who received the Johnny Mercer Award in 2017. Schwartz won his third Oscar – best original song for “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt – by himself.
Schwartz is the second Mercer recipient in the past three years who is largely known for his work in theater. Tim Rice, who teamed with Andrew Lloyd Webber to write such classics as Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, won the award in 2023.
Schwartz has been a major force in the American musical theater since the early 1970’s, when he had three hit shows running on Broadway – Godspell, Pippin, and The Magic Show.
Four of Schwartz’s songs – two from stage musicals and two from films – have become top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. “Day by Day” from Godspell (credited to Godspell) reached No. 13 in 1972. The Jackson 5’s cover version of “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin reached No. 18 in 1972, Vanessa Williams’ “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas hit No. 4 in 1995, and Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey’s “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt reached No. 15 in 1999. The latter film was DreamWorks’ first animated feature.
Schwartz’s other musicals, in addition to those already named, include The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife, Working, Rags, Children of Eden, and the upcoming The Queen of Versailles, which is slated to open on Broadway this fall. His other films, in addition to those already named, include The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted.
In the classical field, Schwartz collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on Mass and composed the opera, Seance on a Wet Afternoon. He has also released two singer/songwriter albums, Reluctant Pilgrim and Uncharted Territory.
Under the auspices of The ASCAP Foundation, Schwartz runs musical theater workshops in New York and Los Angeles, and serves on the ASCAP Foundation board. He is also a member of the Council of the Dramatists’ Guild.
Gracie Abrams, 25, was announced two weeks ago as the recipient of the SHOF’s other major honorary award, the Hal David Starlight Award. That award, named after the Oscar- and Grammy-winning lyricist, is presented to young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs.
Previously announced 2025 SHOF inductees are George Clinton, Ashley Gorley, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Mike Love, Tony Macaulay and three members of The Doobie Brothers (Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons).
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction into the SHOF 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.