Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – On Broadway, ecstatic and revolutionary music-making lies at the heart of BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB

• By drediman
• March 27, 2025
• No Comments

Last night at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, I was able to catch up with the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club, which has arrived on the Great White Way after a highly successful Off-Broadway run courtesy of Atlantic Theater Company. As the title suggests, the musical is based on the beloved 1997 album of the same name, in which veteran musicians dived into the riches of the Cuban songbook. This Havana-set musical spin-off tells two parallel stories — that of the inception and creation of the album itself, as well as the (largely fictitious) backstories of the musicians featured in the album, particularly vis-à-vis the heated days leading up to and during the Cuban Revolution and the unsettling period that followed.

Lying at the heart of Buena Vista Social Club is downright ecstatic and revolutionary music-making, thanks largely to the masterful contributions of Marco Paguia — the show’s music director and the man behind the rousing orchestrations and arrangements — and the sensational and hugely talented onstage band, who are characters in the show unto themselves. Although much of the musical feels like an authentic concert-going experience, there’s substantial and noteworthy musical theater craft that holds it all together, starting with the efficient and affecting book by Marco Ramirez. Using ample flashbacks to string past and present together, the book doesn’t waste time, digging right into the thick of the storytelling. Then there’s the husband-and-wife team of Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, who have provided choreography that’s dazzling, intricate, and nearly as thrilling as the music-making, giving the show a distinctive kinetic energy that nicely counterbalances Ramirez’s coherent if methodical book. Thankfully, these elements — music, drama, dance — come together organically in completely necessary and visceral ways. And at a brisk two hours (including an intermission), the show is a compact and potent firecracker, and it leaves the audience wanting more.

Buena Vista Social Club has been directed with intention by Saheem Ali, who has expanded his staging to fit the Schoenfeld’s larger stage — the musical did look a tad cramped Off-Braodway — with brief scenes at the Tropicana club and Carnegie Hall given their full visual due (Arnulfo Maldonado’s flexible, lived-in set design calls to mind the look of the 2012 revival of Evita). But not only is the production larger, it’s also more focused and vivid; an overall improvement from the iteration at the Atlantic. Throughout, the acting is pitch-perfect and disarmingly straightforward. Although the musical is largely an ensemble-driven affair, it arguably has a focal point in the conflicted vocalist Omara, who is played with soul and terrific force by Natalie Venetia Belcon.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
Broadway, Musical
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
2 hours (with one intermission)
Open run