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Buena Vista Social Club review – exuberant yet dramatically thin Broadway musical
Schoenfeld Theatre, New YorkThe 1997 album that later became a hit documentary now reaches the stage in a play with thrilling music performances but a lacking scriptWas it restraint or oversight that resulted in Buena Vista Social Club taking nearly 30 years to reach Broadway? The project began as a 1997 album, a surprise smash that introduced a supergroup of veteran Cuban musicians, assembled to play classics from the 1940s; subsequent performances (and interviews with the participants) were chronicled in a hit 1999 documentary from Wim Wenders. Jumping all the way to 2025 for a Broadway production might initially seem akin to a splashy new musical covering the formation of third-wave ska. But maybe now is the right time to hand this material over to Broadway; many of the original musicians are sadly departed, and the stage show serves as a (mostly) non-cheesy tribute act. Accordingly, Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway has both an emotional charge and a refreshing lack of bombast compared with other productions attempting to replicate pop culture phenomena.The story is simple; even with a dual timeline approach, it’s over and done in about two hours, including intermission. In 1996, a producer gathers musicians including Ibrahim Ferrer (Mel Semé), Rubén González (Jainardo Batista Sterling), and Compay Segundo (Julio Monge) to work on an album paying tribute to the music of their youth, and hopes to recruit the retired and reluctant Omara Portuondo (Natalie Venetia Belcon) to sing with them. In late-1950s flashbacks, the Cuban revolution approaches and threatens to upend the lives of those same musicians in Havana, with a focus on the relationship between Omara (Isa Antonetti) and her sister Haydee (Ashley De La Rosa). Haydee wants the duo to sign a deal with Capitol Records and escape the country; Omara, on the other hand, is enticed by the tourist-free social clubs where her new musician friends play music for themselves – for the Cuban people. Continue reading...
Schoenfeld Theatre, New York
The 1997 album that later became a hit documentary now reaches the stage in a play with thrilling music performances but a lacking script
Was it restraint or oversight that resulted in Buena Vista Social Club taking nearly 30 years to reach Broadway? The project began as a 1997 album, a surprise smash that introduced a supergroup of veteran Cuban musicians, assembled to play classics from the 1940s; subsequent performances (and interviews with the participants) were chronicled in a hit 1999 documentary from Wim Wenders. Jumping all the way to 2025 for a Broadway production might initially seem akin to a splashy new musical covering the formation of third-wave ska. But maybe now is the right time to hand this material over to Broadway; many of the original musicians are sadly departed, and the stage show serves as a (mostly) non-cheesy tribute act. Accordingly, Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway has both an emotional charge and a refreshing lack of bombast compared with other productions attempting to replicate pop culture phenomena.
The story is simple; even with a dual timeline approach, it’s over and done in about two hours, including intermission. In 1996, a producer gathers musicians including Ibrahim Ferrer (Mel Semé), Rubén González (Jainardo Batista Sterling), and Compay Segundo (Julio Monge) to work on an album paying tribute to the music of their youth, and hopes to recruit the retired and reluctant Omara Portuondo (Natalie Venetia Belcon) to sing with them. In late-1950s flashbacks, the Cuban revolution approaches and threatens to upend the lives of those same musicians in Havana, with a focus on the relationship between Omara (Isa Antonetti) and her sister Haydee (Ashley De La Rosa). Haydee wants the duo to sign a deal with Capitol Records and escape the country; Omara, on the other hand, is enticed by the tourist-free social clubs where her new musician friends play music for themselves – for the Cuban people. Continue reading...
