Buena Vista Social Club

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The off-Broadway to Broadway import, Buena Vista Social Club at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, is a warm, sensual and entertaining work whose genesis began in a 1997 record album by the eponymous Cuban band of experienced older musicians with long histories.  This led to a filmed tour of the United States and an eventual 2008 explosive concert at Carnegie Hall.

The Broadway musical is a direct descendant of the imaginative 2023 production at the Atlantic Theater Company which has transferred largely intact to the bigger Broadway stage with most of the original off-Broadway cast.

The book by Marco Ramirez hangs organically on the Buena Vista Social Club songs, all of which are explicated and translated gracefully in a helpful program insert, illustrated by the on stage band’s flutist Hery Paz whose solo in “Candela” impresses.

The focus of the fictionalized, but colorful plot is the uphill battle of eager, young Juan de Marcos (a warm and earnest Justin Cunningham) to persuade the now aging and long retired, Cuban diva, Omara, to return to the recording studio for their mutual benefit.  De Marcos entices Omara with the prospect of working with her old artistic buddy, Compay (Julio Monge, solid).

The older Omara is portrayed by Natalie Venetia Belcon, a true force of nature: her singing and every gesture are regal and commanding.  It is her story, which alternates between the weeks before the Castro revolution and 1996, taking the proper young Omara into the hot world of culture just blocks from her home where “there are no tourists!”

The youthful, pre-diva Omara is the luminous Isa Antonetti who performs a nightclub act with her sister, Haydee, acted as a young woman by Ashley de la Rosa, who manages to make the superficial, success oriented character fully human even as she tries to stymie her sister’s passion for authenticity. Songs like the still well-known “El Cumbanchero” somehow don’t resonate in her soul.

Back in the fifties, the young Compay (Da’Von T. Moody, warm and seductive) entices Omara to the Buena Vista where her eyes and ears are open to the passion and beauty of real Cuban music.  Helped by the virtuoso pianist Rubén (a delightfully charismatic Leonardo Reyna), Omara is an immediate convert to her country’s rich musical heritage, planting in her conscience the need to abandon her touristy sister act and immerse herself in the boleros, sons, rumbas and other ethnically faithful music. How could entertaining the rich tourists at the Tropicana Hotel compare with the lure of  the soul-baring music of her people?

The young Ibrahim (a velvety-voiced Wesley Wray) is yet another enticement with romance joining them together.  His older self is played by Mel Semé.

Director Saheem Ali’s staging glows with love of the music and the colorful characters, none of whom ever veers towards caricature.  Arnulfo Maldonado’s perfect set is a fading, formerly ornate nightclub with a very useful balcony.  The platform on which the band plays moves efficiently in and out, making room for other locations like the sisters’ home and the gaudy nightclub which is a wicked visual reprimand to the earnest, earthy Buena Vista.  Dede Ayite designed costumes that clearly define period and character, somehow combining sensual glamour with strict class clothing.

Buena Vista, in the last analysis, is a jukebox musical, but of the highest order.  From the first blast of the band—“El Carretero (The Cart Driver)”—the audience is taken on a tour of Cuban music with its passionate rhythms and sensually charged melodies.

Choreographers Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck (adding yet another notch to his dance belt) put the three main couples, the band members and other characters through their paces, their bodies shaking, undulating, pounding against each other in mambos, rumbas and other ethnic dances morphed into joyous social dance. The bigger Broadway venue allows for larger-than-life choreography.

Of course, the music is always front and center. The exuberant band is led by Marco Paguia, but the standout is Renesito Avich who plays the tres, a guitar.  His solo that opens Act Two is not just a highlight, but quite literally stops the show with his virtuosity, humor and eager-to-please attitude.

Buena Vista Social Club is a great show that makes hearts beat faster and bodies move involuntarily to the joyous beat.

 Buena Vista Social Club (open run)

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.buenavistamusical.com

Running time: two hours and 15 minutes including one intermission