“Buena Vista Social Club” has scheduled a Broadway run. The new musical, which premiered with Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company in December 2023, will begin Broadway previews on Feb. 21, 2025 and open on March 19 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali will direct the production, with joint choreography by Patricia Delgado and Tony winner Justin Peck. Orin Wolf, John Styles and Barbara Broccoli will produce.
Featuring a book by Marco Ramirez, “Buena Vista Social Club” chronicles a group of musicians who collaborate on a unique sound in pre-Castro Cuba. Forty years later, the artists reconnect to record the songs they left behind. Inspired by real events, the real Buena Vista Social Club formed in the 1990s; the musical is set to the soundscape of their 1997 Grammy Award-winning eponymous album.
“In 1968, my grandfather left Cuba and got a job washing dishes a block from the Schoenfeld Theatre,” said Ramirez in a statement. “Almost 60 years later, we’ll be blasting his favorite songs there — alongside some of the best artists—and people—I’ve ever met. I’m humbled by the chance to forge connections between two of the most musically iconic islands the world has ever known: Cuba and Manhattan.”
The musical’s cast will include Renesito Avich as Eliades, Natalie Venetia Belcon as Omara, Julio Monge as Compay, Leonardo Reyna as Young Rubén, Mel Semé as Ibrahim, Jainardo Batista Sterling as Rubén, with ensemble members Angélica Beliard, Carlos Falú, Héctor Juan Maisonet, Ilda Mason and Marielys Molina, all of whom will reprise their performances from the Off-Broadway staging. New to the company will be Isa Antonetti as Young Omara, Ashley De La Rosa as Young Haydee, Da’von Moody as Young Compay, Sophia Ramos as ensemble and Wesley Wray as Young Ibrahim. Additional casting, by Tara Rubin Casting, Xavier Rubiano and Frankie Ramirez, will be announced.
Tony-winning composer David Yazbek will oversee a band of Afro-Cuban musicians including Marco Paguia on piano, David Oquendo on guitar, Gustavo Schartz on bass, Hery Paz on woodwinds, Eddie Venegas on trombone and Jesus Ricardo on trumpet, as well as Javier Díaz, Mauricio Herrera and Román Diaz on percussion. Paguia will also serve as orchestrator, arranger and music director, while Dean Sharenow will be the production’s music supervisor. Díaz and Oquendo will provide additional arrangements. Music consultation will be provided by Juan de Marcos.
The creative team for “Buena Vista Social Club” will include Tony-nominated scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado, Tony-winning costume designer Dede Ayite, Tony-winning lighting designer Tyler Micoleau, Tony-nominated sound designer Jonathan Deans and wig/hair/makeup designer J. Jared Janas. Arabella Powell will be production stage manager. Allan Williams will serve as executive producer.
In addition to Wolf, Styles and Broccoli, “Buena Vista Social Club” is being produced by Atlantic Theater Company, Luis Miranda, LaChanze and John Leguizamo.
