Tag Archives: Musical

Javier Muñoz to Star in Upcoming Broadway Musical “Galileo”

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Javier Muñoz has landed an astronomical role…

The 50-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer and Broadway star has joined the ensemble of the upcoming Galileo musical starring Raúl Esparza.

Javier MunozThe synopsis: “When luminary Galileo (Esparza) peers into the heavens, what he sees challenges humanity’s understanding of the world. Unwilling to deny the truth, Galileo finds himself in a fight with the most powerful institution on Earth. As his trusted confidant Barberini (Kushnier) ascends to power, friendship leads to betrayal, and the dreams Galileo has envisioned for himself and for his brilliant daughter Virginia (Woods) begin to slip away. Belief, ambition, and love pull the trio out of orbit, each confronting what they’re willing to sacrifice for what matters most.”

Muñoz is among a list of new cast additions that includes Bradley Dean and Jordon Lee Garcia in his Broadway debut.

Also joining the cast is Michael Park, who will alternate with Esparza in the title role at certain performances.

The new musical, inspired by the life of groundbreaking astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei, begins performances at the Shubert Theatre on Tuesday, November 10, with an opening night set for Sunday evening, December 6.

The castings were announced by producers Amanda Lipitz, Henry Tisch and Jordan Roth.

 In addition to Esparza, previously announced cast members include Jeremy Kushnier and Tony Joy Woods.

The musical features a book by Danny Strong and an original score by Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner, and will be directed by Michael Mayer and choreographed by David Neumann.

Additional information, including complete casting, will be announced shortly.

Raye Zaragoza to Help Adapt Billy Luther’s “Miss Navajo” Documentary into Musical

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Raye Zaragoza is staging a special adaptation…

The part-Mexican American singer-songwriter has partnered with Frybread Face and Me director Billy Luther to adapt the 2007 documentary Miss Navajo into a musical, which is currently in development.

Raye ZaragozaNow, 19 years after the world premiere at 2007’s Sundance Film Festival, Luther has teamed up with Zaragoza to bring the documentary to the stage.

“I am thrilled to be working with Raye to bring Miss Navajo to the stage,” says Luther. “Raye’s thought provoking strength of Indigenous women resonates.”

He adds, “I was raised by Navajo women. My mother eventually was crowned in 1966. Her culture, traditions and language remained, and this is the resiliency I see in Indigenous women every day.”

“I am so excited to be collaborating with Billy on the theater vision of Miss Navajo and go on this musical journey together. He’s such a visionary and we both speak a similar language with music,” said Zaragoza.

The documentary film follows Crystal Frazier, a 21-year-old woman from near Table Mesa, New Mexico, who initially doubts her ability to succeed in the Miss Navajo Nation pageant and is uncertain whether she belongs among the other contestants. The film follows the five-day competition at the Navajo Nation Fair, where seven contestants are evaluated in a series of events designed to test their knowledge of Navajo culture and language.

Luther’s (Dine, Hopi, Laguna Pueblo) own mother was crowned Miss Navajo 1966. The film reveals the inner beauty of the young women who compete in this celebration of womanhood. Not only must contestants exhibit poise and grace as those in typical pageants, but they must also answer tough questions in Navajo and demonstrate proficiency in skills essential to daily tribal life: frybread making, rug weaving and sheep butchering.

Zaragoza (Akimel O’otham descent) will pull from her career catalog and new work for Miss Navajo, with songs and lyrics about Indigenous women, cultural strength, immigration and the environment.

Miss Navajo is not your typical beauty pageant. Anyone can sign up to participate, provided they are female, single and older than 18, but they must be prepared to shear, butcher and cook a sheep over a fire outdoors. They must be well versed in Navajo legends. They must have an idea of what they would like to teach all 250,000 residents of the reservation. Above all, the recent high school graduates must be able to speak and understand the Navajo, or Dine, language.

At the time of the film’s release, about Luther said, “What inspired me about the beauty pageant was that here was a crossroads where the Western competition met Native influences, and the result was something not gaudy and glitzy like most beauty pageants, but something beautiful and profound, something that really reveals the true essence of beauty and in so doing, I think, provides a compelling insight into what it is that both makes my culture and heritage unique but also relevant to today’s world.”

Ariana DeBose to Star in Off Broadway Revival of Joseph Stein & Stephen Schwartz’s 1976 Musical “The Baker’s Wife”

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Ariana DeBose is getting musical in the Big Apple.

The 34-year-old half-Puerto Rican Oscar-winning actress, singer and dancer will star as Geneviève in a rare revival of the Joseph Stein-Stephen Schwartz 1976 musical The Baker’s Wife this fall at Off Broadway‘s Classic Stage Company.

Ariana DeBose,

The revival – the first full-scale New York City production of the musical – will run from October 23 to December 14 at CSC’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater.

Opening night is set for November 11.

A complete performance schedule, additional casting and full creative team will be announced at a later date.

The production was announced by Classic Stage Company’s Jill Rafson, Producing Artistic Director.

Opening CSC’s 2025-2026 Season, The Baker’s Wife features a book by Tony Award winner Stein, music & lyrics Schwartz, based on the film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono.

Directing will be Gordon Greenberg.

“Ariana is one of our finest young singing actresses, and I’m excited by the depth and nuance she will bring to the title role,” said composer Schwartz. “Plus, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing her sing ‘Meadowlark,’ so I know CSC audiences are in for a treat.” (“Meadowlark” is the musical’s oft-covered most famous song, a staple in the repertoires of Patti Lupone, Sarah Brightman, Betty Buckley, Erika Henningsen and many others).

Director Greenberg said, “Ariana DeBose brings an electric mix of vulnerability, wit, and star power to Genevieve – qualities that not only honor Stephen and Joe’s beautiful work but also ignite it in thrilling new ways. She’s the kind of performer who makes you lean forward in your seat – not just because of her voice, which is extraordinary, but because of the emotional truth she brings to every moment. Watching her inhabit this role will be like discovering the character for the first time.”

The synopsis: “In a quiet French village, a baker and his wife bring fresh bread…and fresh gossip. But when temptation stirs and hearts wander, the whole town gets caught up in a swirl of romance, mischief, and melody. The Baker’s Wife brings Stephen Schwartz’s soaring score, including the iconic ‘Meadowlark,’ to life in its first major New York appearance. Sweet, surprising, and full of heart, this long-awaited production celebrates love in all its perfectly imperfect recipes.”

The musical originally toured the United States for six months in 1976, a legendarily troubled production, retooled constantly, that has long since entered stage lore.

LuPone (who played Geneviève, opposite Topol, an actor she loathed, who played the baker) once told The New York Times, “Every time somebody joined the company, we looked at them and went, ‘Oh my God, what did you do that put you in the bowels of hell?’”

The production was closed by the authors and producer David Merrick before reaching Broadway, and has intrigued theater buffs ever since.

DeBose gained worldwide recognition for her Oscar-winning performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, becoming the first openly queer Afro-Latina to receive an Academy Award.

DeBose most recently starred opposite Ke Huy Quan in Universal’s action-romance Love Hurts.

Her upcoming feature film projects include Lear Rex and Tow, the latter for which she also serves as executive producer.

Her other recent films include Matthew Vaughn’s action film Argylle (Apple/Universal), Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space thriller I.S.S., Disney’s 100th anniversary animated film Wish, Kraven the Hunter (Sony Pictures) and House of Spoils (Blumhouse/Prime Video).

DeBose also recently wrapped production on the Prime Video series adaptation of Patricia Cornell’s Scarpetta, starring opposite Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis.

In 2022, 2023, and 2024, DeBose hosted the Tony Awards, and also starred in both seasons of the critically acclaimed musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+) as well as Ryan Murphy’s The Prom (Netflix).

On Broadway, DeBose is perhaps best known for her Tony-nominated role as Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, and for being part of the original cast of Hamilton (she also appeared in the film adaptation for Disney+).

Other stage credits include Pippin, Motown the Musical, Bring It On: The Musical and Company.

The Baker’s Wife is presented by special arrangement with the Menier Chocolate Factory (David Babani, Artistic Director), Creative Partners Productions and Aaron Glick.

First Look: Martin’s “Evita” Photo Shoot

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Anticipation is building for Ricky Martin’s return to Broadway in “Evita”… And it could reach a fever pitch now that a behind-the-scenes video featuring the Puerto Rican heartthrob has found its way online.

Ricky Martin to star in Evita musical

The clip shows the 39-year-old singer/actor arriving at a photo shoot for the revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical about the late Eva Perón, and then posing in costume as his character, Che Guevara, the Argentine revolutionary.

Martin is starring alongside Argentinean actress Elena Roger in “Evita,” which concentrates on the life of Eva Peron, the second wife of Argentinian president Juan Peron. The story follows Evita’s early life, rise to power, charity work and eventual death.

“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to perform on many of the world’s largest concert stages, but I’ve never lost my love for the intimacy of the theater,” said Martin in a previous statement. “I’m delighted to know that after I’ve had the chance to share new music and tour over the coming year, that I will then return once again to Broadway. I’m looking forward to playing such an essential part in Michael Grandage’s wonderful production and the chance to work with the tremendously talented Elena Roger.”

The preview run for “Evita” will begin in March 2012 at the Marquis Theater, with the musical’s official opening taking place the following month.

Clemente’s Stellar Career to be Celebrated Through Music…

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The story of the life and times of the late Roberto Clemente—the first Latino baseball player inducted into the Hall of Fame—will soon be told through music in the Big Apple.

The musical “DC-7, The Roberto Clemente Story” will shine a spotlight on the legendary Afro-Puerto Rican baseball player’s life, including the discrimination he suffered, his extraordinary success on the field during his career and the humanitarian work that led to his untimely death at the age of 38.

Robert Clemente Musical to Open in New York City

“I don’t just want to talk about the ballplayer, but about what he suffered, about his having to sit in the back of the bus, go to other restaurants and stay at other hotels [for blacks], about being attacked, about how much he had to fight,” added Caballero.

The curtain opens on Clemente’s wake following his death when the DC-7 he was flying in while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua crashed into the sea off the coast of Costa Rica on December 31, 1972.

“Besides showing Roberto the baseball player, I want people to see Roberto the humanist, his relations with his wife, his kids, as a brother and the racial problems he faced in the [19]50s and ’60s,” says Luis Caballero, the play’s author.

Starring actor Modesto Lacen, who appeared as Pedro Knight in the musical about the life of late salsa queen Celia Cruz, the musical run from November 11-December 4 at the Society of the Educational Arts‘ new TEATRO SEA in New York City.

Clemente, a 12-time Golden Glove winner with 3,000 hits, played his entire 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973—the only current honoree for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period was
waived since the wait-requirement was instituted in 1954.

Clemente was also the first Hispanic player to win a World Series as a starter, win a league MVP award and win a World Series MVP award.