Choreographers of Tony-nominated 'Buena Vista Social Club' share storytelling through dance
MANHATTAN (WABC) -- There's one show on Broadway that will transport you from Midtown, Manhattan, to the heart of Cuba.
"Buena Vista Social Club" is inspired by true events, telling a story about big dreams and second chances through incredible music.
It got 10 Tony nominations and tied for the most this season, including Best Musical and Best Choreography.
Entertainment reporter Joelle Garguilo sat down with the duo behind the show's dance numbers.
It's hard to describe what audiences will see when watching "Buena Vista Social Club," because it's more of a feeling, it's an experience from the 1940s, 1950s and 1990s Havana brought to life on a Broadway stage.
It's a revival of the spirit and a love letter to Cuba.
The show tells the story of Cuban musicians and the impact of politics on their careers and their eventual reunion with a shot at a second chance decades later.
"The show is about second chances and how in life sometimes something happens in your youth and sends you in a different route. These artists made this album at a time in their life where they surrendered that goal or that dream, and they came back together to make something that felt so true to them," choreographer Patricia Delgado said.
As for the choreographers, Delgado and Justin Peck, this Tony-nominated musical is deeply personal.
Creating the choreography meant imagining what couldn't be researched.
"There's no photos. There's no film of what the Buena Vista Social Club looked like in the '50s, so we got to dream and we got to imagine, like, what it must have felt like to go into the club," Delgado said.
"Getting a chance to show the full range of dance styles and vernaculars that exist in Cuba, because most people just think of salsa dancing. There's so much there. There's Afro-Cuban. There's even ballet and modern dance," Peck said.
Their inspiration came from multiple trips to Cuba.
"Whenever we're there, we just feel it all around us. And there's a kind of spirit to that that we wanted to bring into the world of this musical and honor what that felt like," Peck said.
But for Patricia, whose family is from Cuba, the show represents something much more profound.
"My parents have not been able to go back to their homeland. And on opening night, I remember she came to me and she said, I haven't been able to go back, but you brought Cuba to me," Delgado said.
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