For five decades, Gloria Stefan's music has moved the world. This is Let It Loose, a Gloria Estefan podcast. The first fan-led show dedicated to her life, legacy, and impact. Lifelong EsteFans, Carlos, Rob, and Wes explore the songs, moments, and stories that make Gloria an icon. If her music changed your life, then welcome home. Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of Let It Loose. My name is Rob. I'm Carlos. And it is a Cuban revolution today on Let It Loose because Wes is not with us. I don't understand how he gets away with this stuff. Like I tried backing out of this episode. Several times. Several times, and you would not let me. No, because we have nothing else for Thursday. The people, the people look forward to this. They told us this. Okay, but we deserve a break too. I'm on big we're on vacation. We are on vacation for the next few hours. Because we're in Atlanta. We are in Atlanta, and we just finished seeing Basuda. World premiere of Basuda, the new musical that Gloria and Emily have been working on for a very long time. And we have our thoughts, and we're gonna dive into that. We're gonna talk a lot about being in Atlanta, having a little mini reunion with so many of our friends, our close friends, and uh nothing. We're excited. We are super excited. Um I can't believe that we're here now because we bought these tickets what a year a year ago? I got it. As soon as they were on sale, we were buying them and planning and plotting. This was before we even had a podcast. Before the podcast was even. I didn't even think about that even a thought. That is that is very true. I remember purchasing the tickets, or I remember the day that it was announced, I went right online as quickly as possible to buy myself and my friends tickets. But I totally forgot that we were gonna see a theater show. And I thought I was buying tickets to a concert. So I went straight to the front row, front and center. And as soon as I purchased them, I was like, yes, I got front row. And then it took me two seconds to register. I was like, wait a second, this is not a concert, this is a theater show. And I know sometimes when you're in that front row, you're looking up the entire time. Like being an IMAX. Exactly. So then at that point, I was like, oh, I've been stressing for the past year thinking, oh, this is gonna be a horrible experience because we got front row for this theater show. My neck's gonna be all out of whack by the time that we're done with you know, um seeing the show. But no, it was it was great. The front row was actually a perfect spot. You start in imagining what the set might look like and how obstructed your view might be if you're in the front, and it did not happen at all for us. Um it didn't. There were there were maybe one or two moments because of the the way that where the actors were sitting when they were like in the classroom, yeah. You couldn't see what was you know in in front of them, which was behind them. Um that was the only, you know. Yeah, those the only those were the only moments for me. But that outside of that, it was it was great. It was nice. But so fast forward to a year, we're here in Atlanta, and this almost felt like a konga bash. It absolutely did, and I've never been to a congabash, so it was nice to reunite with people who I think the last time many of us were gathered together was got 2015 for Viva Broadway. Was the last time that's right like convening of Gloria people from all over the world? Well, since you mentioned that, I mean I think oh my god, I'm getting old because now I'm starting to like not remember. Not remember certain things. So Viva Broadway, is that the the one where I organized a lunch before? You did because I was working uh I was working in theater at the time and I took my lunch break to go to Havana's. That's right, you were there. I was there, and I I don't think I drank because I couldn't like drink at work. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. Um, so that's been a minute for you. It was ten and a half years ago. Wow, September 2015, I think. See, the last Gongabash reunion type situation that I was in was with um with Laura when we were at um when we were in Madrid with that reunion that Anna and Aaron had uh organized, which that was a fabulous little party that they they put together. So that was really cool. It looked amazing. But so fast forward the year we're in Atlanta, everyone decides to come to the premiere, the world premiere. Yeah. Um, I think we all thought that it was the actual opening. Uh many of us the first preview for On Your Feet did have a little bit of an opening night air about it. Yeah. There was press outside the theater, there was a little bit of a red carpet, there like it was a little bit more pomp and circumstance, so I think people were expecting that. Um this was a lot more like we're working on the show, you know, bare bones type thing, as far as like press goes and and um photography goes and all that extra stuff. So would you say that this what we experienced yesterday is kind of more of the norm of this? Yeah. I was shocked in Chicago um that there was so much like step and repeat, impromptu circumstance, and party like celebration. Yeah, because it was a party, an after party in Chicago for the premiere. And usually after a first preview, the cast and the creative team clear the theater and convene right away and have a meeting about uh what just happened in the theater, what they notice from the audience, um, and but what needs to be fixed and worked on for the coming week of shows. Because the shows and previews until June 12th, when it uh when is opening night in Atlanta, and uh around June 12th, uh the show would quote unquote be frozen so the press can go to the show and see what everybody else is gonna see after June 12th and review it. So today's the day after the world premiere. So from today, today's the 31st of May until June 12th. Around June 12th. From here to then they can change the show. There could be changes, they could scrap a whole musical number for all we know. They could add a new one in, like they could re like rewrite scenes, like they could say, I noticed the audience was not responding to this, or I noticed the audience really responded to that character. Maybe we can add something for them, or take some take a song out that didn't work, or take a scene out that didn't work, and they're rewriting. They're you know, like if you've ever seen like a sitcom taping, like the friends behind the scenes, and you see that joke didn't land with the audience, let's write five different ones and see which one works. Got it. So that's what they're doing right now. Theoretically. Okay. Yeah. It depends on how far along they think the show is or not. Like if they think we're in really good shape, we don't need to rewrite anything. They may not be doing all those things, but that's really what their preview process is for. And I think to be fair to our listeners, you know, we want to do everything, you know, with a lot of respect. So, you know, when we'll we'll dive into what we saw and kind of you know what our thoughts are. Um this is the second performance they've ever done with an audience. Yeah. Because before opening, no, opening before first preview, there was an invited dress rehearsal, and a dress rehearsal can stop and start if they need to. They can there can be technical issues, and everybody who's in the invited dress rehearsal is aware of that and respectful of that. But a first preview of the. Mostly people who like are friends of people who work on the show, people who are investors in the show. Um, it it's it's invited only. Got it. Yeah. So not for podcasters. Not for podcasters, although I was ready. I was hoping my fingers were crossed. We weren't the we weren't the the lucky chosen ones. No, maybe on Broadway. Maybe on Broadway. Maybe on Broadway. I'm a local. Actually, you know what? I I have to say that we were invited to the opening night, but we already had plans to be here, so that would have been nice, but it would be hard for us to travel back. Um, but I'm I'm excited to see what they do with this because and we'll get into it in just a bit. Yeah, but I thought it was a very strong. I absolutely did too. Yeah. Um, but before we get into basura leading up to this, we decided the day before yesterday to post on our Let It Loose podcast Instagram stories that we were going to be at this bar, this local bar uh by our hotel. And just in case if anyone wanted to show up and say hi and just hang out with us, it it wasn't anything official. It was just hey, we're gonna be here and you know. Come hang. And you know what? They were wonderful to us. So if you're coming to see Basuda in the next few months, they're called Mid-City. Mid City. Oh my god. Please be sure, because there will be time from you know, when you listen to this episode to the closing, um, if you're out here, go to Mid-City, ask for Seth. Seth was amazing. I don't know if he's a manager or I don't know, but he was wonderful. And he's cute too. He was a cutie batootie. But he um he he was great. We we didn't even okay, so this was pretty bad that we didn't even warn them that we were I don't. I mean, like we've done it with other podcasts too. Like, hey, we're just all gonna gather and convene, and like they're just happy for the business. I quite frankly. Which in in our case, he was they were thrilled. So we show up and there were there was another Konga fan, you know, member, and and her husband, so Sherry's shout out to Sherry, and and we were like, okay, you know, who knows if anyone else is gonna show up, maybe it's just gonna be us and Sherry, and you know, and that's it, and that's fine, you know, because it was very last minute. And all of a sudden, everyone started showing up, and that place was packed. Packed. I mean, it helped that it was a small place, it was a very small place, but it was just for the amount of people that showed up, it was a perfect location. And what was cool was Seth and staff they kept on thanking us for you know, just the vibe that we brought in. Everyone was so wonderful, and the drinks were amazing. So once again, we highly recommend Mid City if you actually if you're you're out here. And um, it was just a perfect spot to get some pre-drinks, pre-show drinks. And also really connect with people who are listening to the podcast who I've never met before. Shelly from Wales said, I look forward every Thursday to listen to your show because it feels like I finally landed on my home planet. Oh and I'm about to cry. I love her. Yeah, even though even though she was torturing me this entire weekend, she just I don't know, she was just picking on me the entire weekend. You know, it we we looked like brothers and sisters. Even when we were around Gloria last night, she was kicking me in the foot and like she That's cute. Yeah, it was it was she's a riot. I had a fun. I met Shelly for the first time at Madrid. I I reference Madrid so often because it's our Chile. It's my Chile. You know what? Now that you mentioned Chile, I know that Wes is about to board a plane, but should we try calling him just to see if he Yeah, otherwise I'll have to do break out my Wes impression, and it's not as good as I wasn't. Let's see if he answers. Let's see. You're on your podcast. Yes, we're recording and you have us working for you. If I'm at one of the busiest, loudest airports in the world, I could totally be with you guys. I can chime in if uh if that's um doable. The quietest place I could go would be the bathroom, but that would be super awkward. I mean, we don't want to hear this and I'm gonna go. Listen, we know that you're not a theater guy, so we're not gonna have you chime in on the show, but we're talking right now about mid-city, the pre-show drinks, you know, the bar that we went to. How was your experience meeting all the other fans? Oh, that was amazing. Um I was seeing so many faces that I've seen over on the internet for 20 plus years, meeting them for the first time. Oh, it was crazy. It was so awesome. It really was very turned out. That's right. There were too many names that I can't I can't really name right now, but every each and every one of you guys were it it was amazing. Were you surprised with the turnout? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I feel I feel like we're gonna have more of these. We're well, we're gonna have to figure out or make up something. Oh yeah, but the the question is, are you gonna show up? Absolutely. Are you gonna have us working your events? Whatever you decide. I'm down. You you you do way better at planning than I do. But I would suggest maybe like a Carlos karaoke. You know what? On that note, Wes, we can't hear you, we can't hear you anymore. You're breaking up, you're breaking up, Wes. Have a safe flight. We love you. Karaoke's never a good idea. I am not doing karaoke. I already said it, and I've mentioned you've mentioned this before, I've mentioned this as well. When we have people like Austin out in Spain. Immediately no. No, there's no way. Don't be good and do karaoke. Like, who are you performing for? No, no, no. You are not, you are not Celine Dion. I know I'm not Celine Dion. No, I'm not either. So, all right, so the the the get together was was great. We had such a good time. We were there for what, maybe an hour and a half, yeah. About an hour and a half, and then we made our way to the theater, which was around the corner, but we all took Ubers anyway. We all took Ubers. Ubers and Waymo's. Oh my god. The Waymo is the thing in Atlanta in Atlanta and it freaks me out. I I cannot. I know a few people went into these Waymo's, and there's no way in hell that you could get me in one of those. Absolutely not. It got stuck in a roundabout the other day. Nope. Just going in circles. I would every every ounce of fluid from my body would release in that Waymo. I'm too much of a control freak to like lose control to nothing. To a driver's seat that isn't, there's no driver. I wonder if there's a rule, like a law, that you have to be a licensed driver to be in a Waymo in case you need to take over. Ooh, that's a good I don't know. But that ruled me out because I don't know how to drive. Yes, you do. Yeah, you New Yorkers. Yeah, New Yorkers with one good eye. I'm saving lives by not being on the road. I can only turn to the right. That is hilarious. All right, so we made our way to the theater, and uh which was the Alliance Theater here in Atlanta. And the show started at 7.30 that we're running on Cuban time. Well, every show starts at 7.35. Oh, doesn't it? Every show starts five minutes after the Oh, I thought once you hear those the bells ring. Well, that's to get people ready for late seating, and then places get called at the 7 o'clock, 7.30 mark, and then five minutes in, even Broadway starts five minutes later. I was blamed, I in my head, I was blaming Gloria. Oh my god. Because I saw Gloria come in a little, you know, a little late. Or not that she came in late, but there were uh there were all these people huddled around her. So I was like, oh, blame the Cuban. Right. She's she's making the show start late. Um but for a first preview it started on time, which is good. Okay, you know. I'm I'm relying on you for all this information because I don't want to sound like a tool who like knows know it all. But you do know it all because you kind of were in that world. I was so what what was your role in that world? I was in general management and marketing. So I worked on a lot of I wrote mostly wrote contracts for the actors who were starting workshops and starting the creative process of a show. So like let's say Basuda two years ago when they did their first workshop, I would have written the contracts for all those artists, and that includes like stipends and housing amount of housing money for like putting people up in hotels or finding housing for everybody. So it was not exciting stuff. But um that's very interesting. Yeah, and I'm smiling. Okay, but we've known each other for how long? Um like a long time. A long time 20 years at least. This entire time I thought you were just an usher. Well, no, I did usher after my full-time job because theater pays garbage. But I didn't but I had no idea about this other stuff though. That's funny. That was my that was my full-time 40 hours a week, and then in order to supplement the money that theater pays you, I had to work as an usher. Interesting. So I was working on the I learned something new. I was working 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. So you are a jack of all trade. Yeah, I've I've had every job. I worked in a bakery, I worked at retail, I always sold watches until I couldn't fix the watches because I didn't see the gears, I sold furniture for a day. That's right. Like host a podcast. Anyhow, the show starts. Yes, and I think we were all very cautious. We love we love the people, you know, the creative team. Of course, we love Gloria, we love Emily, but with anything new, you kind of at least I feel you kind of go into it, you know, just cautiously, not knowing and because we're so close to it, we're I felt the intensity in the front row of everybody just holding their breath, like wishing it well. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like hoping it is just everything that it could be. Oh my god, you hit the nail on the head with that. Because yeah, I didn't realize I didn't realize what that feeling was. And now that you say that, that's exactly what it was. Everyone holding their breath, yeah. Just, you know, we want we want this to be successful, right? You know, these are people that we care about and we love, and um just we know the the amount of time and blood, sweat, and tears that goes into something like this, right? And we kind of know firsthand because Gloria has shared that with us, and we're so close to her. So we want to see it succeed. 100%, you know. Um, and I felt physically my shoulders drop during the second song. Okay, yeah, okay. So I don't know if you want to get into it yet, but yeah, let's let's get into it, but but before we do, I'm I'm curious. Um when did my shoulders drop? And you know, I felt that uh little sense of relief. I I want to say probably around the same time. Yeah. So context in like the formulaic uh formula of a Broadway show, you have an intro song that teaches you about like the world that you're in and you know what the show's kind of about, and they have that song called Pass It Along that's about meeting your instruments and getting to know the music or whatever. Wait a second, no, what I don't think it was the second song for me. Is Pass It Along the first one? Yes. I think af after the first song, once they were done with the first song, I was like, oh, I could get into this. Okay, so I love an an I want song, and the song that is usually in the beginning of the in the in the early part of the musical is an I want song. So you've got The Wizard and I from Wicked, you've got um Breathe from In the Heights, where there's a character in the show sharing their dreams to the audience. And you kind of get to know like the inner workings, the inner machinations of your protagonist, and you get to learn who she is and what her dreams are. Okay, right. And I love an I Want song, it's a classic theater trope, right? And I wanna run is that song, which is song too. And when she starts dancing around the table and talking about her dreams and her wishes and her her her dad at the time, it for me was okay, we're in the world, this is a beautiful song, and that's the first time I teared up. You teared up a few times, and that was my first one because I was like, Oh, okay, we have the picture perfect, 100% perfect. I want song, and it was I Wanna Run. So I was very happy with that. Okay, so with. That song finished, that's when you were like, Oh I'm in. I'm I'm in Cateura and I'm thrilled. See, I think for me, after the first song, the first song's fun. Yeah, it is. The first song's a fun song. So, and you know me, I'm Mr. Tulma. I'm like, I'm on a party. So it it it was a uh a really fun song. What was interesting throughout the show though is we know that Gloria and Emily wrote the lyrics and music, and of course, there's gonna be songs where it's more Gloria heavy, some that are more Emily heavy, or you know, both of them as uh a collab, right? Um, what was interesting interesting throughout is you could feel or you can sense as fans, like anyone listening here, yeah, you guys know what is a Gloria song, right? And I'm sure a lot of people have followed Emily's career as well. So you kind of already know her vibe as well. So throughout, I remember writing some notes saying, you know, this this feels very Gloria heavy. 100%. This feels very Emily heavy, this I could see them coming together. So it was really interesting to, as a fan, just to hear the songs of Vasura and kind of know where these came from, who they came from. Even like to predict, like, oh, that one note in that song did a little a little bit like there was like a rock and roll edge to that, how they went up in the vocal instead of down in the vocal. And like that might be Emily, like the fun yes way to like guess about who did what. Yeah. Um was there a standout performer for you? A hundred percent. Well, there were several. Um first of all, before we get into that, the cast is amazing. They are stellar, the cast is amazing. There's not one person that you can say, oh, you know, they're not as strong as this. No, it's just throughout and their voices. Beautiful. Oh my god, so beautiful and pure. Yeah, yeah. The actress who plays Nambi, who's the female lead, she's incredible. Um the teacher, and I have to tell you, from seeing a lot of things on Broadway, seeing a lot of theater, when a man and when an older man starts singing, you start thinking about the trope of older men's songs of like Sentimental Man from Wicked or Yes, where you're like, oh, this is gonna be a skip. And this man, his songs were bops, his songs were bops, his voice was fantastic, amazing. And the original title of the show was in his first song. Because the song was called One Note, and the original name of the show was five. Oh my god, that was driving me crazy. I was like, why do I feel like this is referencing something that I know of? Because it's about the five notes that you're learning as a musician. That's what it was. Five notes was the original name of Basuda, and then Gloria and Emily fought for the title of Basura. Okay, okay, got it. I was locked in. I was listening. That's what it was. I he's singing the song, and I kept saying, Why does why do I feel like I know, like this seems familiar? And it was because that was one of the titles that they, you know, because there were quite a few, right? Um I know that that was like the main. I thought that was someone that we heard. Okay. And I know that Masura was kind of controversial. Right. Yeah. Because at first you're like, oh, the show's named garbage. And you have to really understand why that's the title. Um, so if anybody does want to watch the documentary, it's called Land Philharm Land Philharmonic, which I have not seen yet. I do want to see it now after seeing the musical. You can rent it for $3.99 on many streaming platforms. It is free to watch if you have the Tubi app. T U B I Oh free to watch on Tubi, um, $399 everywhere else. Um, and that might explain a little bit more about this world, but uh they do explain everything to you. So watching the documentary is not a prerequisite to this show. Yeah, because the show has nothing to do with the theater show. I mean, yes, it the subject is regarding the landfill, but I think it's you know what they created. They created new characters, but there are some characters like the character of Nunu, who was to me the standout performer. Oh, Nunu was amazing. In the actor Zach Calveron's um bio, he writes a special thank you to none of this would exist without the spirit and generosity of We We, and he puts his um Instagram handle there, whom Nunu is inspired by. So at least that one character from my quick glances at the cast bios was inspired by a real person, which is cool. I just wish everyone could see this show because they were such strong performances, such strong performers. I fell in love with everyone on that stage. I agree. There were it, it was it's a show with a lot of heart, and like everybody throws that around when a show is being worked on, like, oh, the show has so much heart, the show has so much spirit, and that's a really like a buzzword to get people to fall in love with what you're working on and whatever. But this show doesn't say all that in all their um in all their promos. They're saying they say like the music, the world gives us garbage and we give them back music. But the heart and soul of these performers of the love that they are have building as a creative team and a cast is so evident and so obvious, like they are just such a strong unit together. It's it's a great cast. Do we know how long this process had, you know, from when they started the idea of Basura? Do we know how long this has been going on? We don't. Gloria started mentioning it, I think maybe four years ago. Has it been that long already? Yeah, because last year um when she was promoting Raises, which just turned a year old this week while we're in while we're in Atlanta. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Raises. Uh Gloria did an interview with Mike Santos and she says, We've been working on this show for three years. And that was last year. Um, I don't know how far along in the writing process they decide we're ready, we have a group of songs, and we can do a workshop. Uh we did hear about a workshop a while, like long ago, like at least two years ago at this point, if not more. Um, but the process takes a long time. And well, it's been fun learning somewhat of the process because of her. She shared her writing process. You know, she was uh she spent quite some time writing and then rewriting and learning that whole process of you know what goes into theater, especially musicals, where you could go ahead and write all these songs and then have to rewrite the songs and then sometimes have to go back and rewrite them again. So that you know the the transformation of that has to be interesting because I know when when Gloria has talked about her songs, she'll mention how it's hard for her to choose a favorite because these are like her babies. Yeah, so I wonder how that is received as a songwriter for a musical, that they're writing these songs, you think you got it, and then they come back and say, No, no, scratch that. Yeah, I I need you to rewrite this song. You're saying don't get attached because like that's what you're attached to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't get attached. Don't get attached to a song that like you had a nice time writing or that you're really proud of because in front of an audience, or even in front of an audience that night, and then the next night it may not be. Like I was just gonna ask you. So what we heard last night, by the time let's say it gets it gets onto Broadway next year, it could be something completely different. I would be shocked, but it could be it could, yeah, yeah. I mean they could take out songs, they could take out songs, they could add new ones, they could rewrite songs, they could give the a song to a different character. But a lot of or I would say so much of the show, I was like, I can't wait to see that person win a Tony Award. I can't wait to see that whole musical number be be performed at the Tony Awards because it is it it it's already so solid. It really is a solid show. I feel that whatever changes that they make really is just gonna I mean it'll take it it's already out there. Yeah. Like out of this world. If they elevate it anymore, if they could elevate it anymore, I mean, it's gonna be And this isn't something out of this world. Blowing steam. We're not just trying to like No, this is I I would not be do I don't think I would be doing this episode if I didn't I honestly if we didn't care as much as I did. If we had nothing, if we didn't have this much love to give the show, we would do an episode about how lovely it was to connect with everybody in Atlanta. Yes, yep, I think how great it was to see Gloria. And or we could have just done like Wes and not do the show. We're in the sky. So absolutely, I I completely agree. And what's interesting is one of my best friends, she was with me, she was with us, and she is, I mean, she's hardcore, she's a hardcore critic, and she has no filter. And I was worried, I was like, oh god, let's see how she's gonna react, and she will be brutally honest, and then I have to hear with hear that and deal with her opinions, and she was so pleasantly surprised. Yeah, she came back and she was like, I have no notes. Yeah, not even five notes, I have not. Not even five notes, no notes. So I have a question for you. Okay Gloria in the writing process mentions that a lot of these songs remind her of Destiny and Unwrapped, but that's just two ver two examples that she gave us. Are there any songs that reminded you of albums or of a particular Gloria era? I did feel and I think we talked about it last night. I I don't know if there's a song that reminds me of an album, but there are some songs or a song that you could tell it felt like it was inspired by let's say her her grandson, uh Stasha. Okay. I can't remember which song, but I just remember hearing it. I was like, oh, and we we talked about it. Yeah, you know, we're like, yeah, I could see her dedicating that too. My butterfly, the one about the mother sings to her her daughter, maybe. Possibly. I I don't remember. But you know what? The song the 23rd of November. I love that. I loved that song, and it did remind me of Destiny in some ways. Like it has a it had a it had a cool adult contemporary edge, and you didn't hear the title of the song until the end of the song. Yeah. It was cool, a cool effect. Um, I loved that one. 23rd of November was was really good. Yeah. Now, one that is going to be my guilty pleasure, and I I will probably have on repeat when the soundtrack comes out, a fork in the road. Fork in the road. Fork in the road is a show stopping number, and that's the first big choreography that we get, and that the choreography we gotta talk about that. We have to talk. We have to talk about the choreography. So the core uh the choreographer for this show is the same choreographer for Winna Style Social Club, and she won a Tony. That's right. Uh uh, her name is Patricia Delgado, if I'm not mistaken. The choreography uh in this show is just it. I don't feel like there's too too much. It's not overly done, it's not overly done. Um, very tasteful, like where they decide to do the uh the choreography, very fun, yeah, very energetic. But because for a show, for a show like Buena Vista, you need people dancing the whole time because the songs don't tell a story, the songs don't propel the story forward in any way. The songs pause the story, you're listening to a song, uh a Cuban standard, and then you go back to the world of the singers. But these songs do propel the story forward, so you have a ballad that's maybe a conversation between two people or someone expressing their inner thoughts. So maybe that isn't a dance showstopping number, but Fork in the Road was cool because we got to really meet the character of Nunu and fall in love with him. Everyone fell in love with Nunu. You are going to fall in love with Nunu. Now, during the choreography, there was one standout person for me. Uh-huh. For both of us. The individual that plays the role of uh Marcello, the way this guy dances, it's just I don't know if we have we know his name, but uh Cody Purna? I think that's yeah. Oh, Marcelo, yep. So, oh, hands down, if let me tell you something. If I could dance like the way that he dances, you couldn't tell me shit. That's right. Yeah. You wouldn't be able to tell me shit. Yeah, I was looking at it, I was like, wow, my body's never done that. I would think especially at this age. That is not happening. And if I did, I can't imagine I would do it again tomorrow and seven more times that week. No way. I'll be in the ER. That's right. The um act one finale song was also a really fun. Really good. Really it you know what was interesting? There was there was an end, someone I overheard someone saying that the first act was a little slow, but that the second act was, you know, great and was better than the first. I think it was, you know, we heard this in passing, but yeah. Um we got through the first act, and I was like, if this is slow, I don't even want to know. I mean, I do want to know. Yeah, okay. What? So the first act ends. Wes gets up and he's like, Well, that was great. Where are we going now? Shut up. He thought it was done. He thought it was done. And then, no, no, no, the word the least part was the lights start dimming for intermission, and he goes, What's happening? I was like, I do is happening. Oh my god bless him. Yeah. So I love him. I love him to death. Every moment took him by surprise. The most oblivious person. I was like, they didn't even bow. He's like, they bow? He had no clue. Well, it it was only his second show. His second show musical. Because the first one was on your feet. That was a million years ago. So act one ends. I was pleasantly surprised with how that went. And then act two starts with the song basura. Okay, so but the song basura, we already hear an interlude in the first act. For me, the very first time that I hear them singing basura, I don't know what happened. Yeah, I literally got a chill down my spine, and every single hair on my body stood on end. Yes, I know that that happened for you. I know I didn't happen for her. Um, no, I listen, I I only think of unfortunately the family guy joke whenever anybody in anything says the name of the thing we're watching. So like I think it I think the joke was there, they were watching Grease in the movie theater, and he goes, like, oh, I need grease. And then Peter Griffin goes, Oh, that's the name of the thing we're watching. So I I just I just hear a meme and it's ruined it for me. Okay, okay, I get. But but for me, it really I don't know why that that specific moment just gave me chills. Yeah. But once again, just hearing their voices, there it was just it was like hearing angels. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but they're that's how beautiful these people sound. Yeah, and the basura interlude, to go back to that and then we'll keep going, does explain everything about the landfill and about the the community. So once again, if you don't watch the documentary, you could catch up to this world through that interlude. So it is a very helpful part of the show as well. You know what this is totally off topic. What did you think about the set? I wish I could see the set more because where my seat was. Okay, but I thought we're we're in an era in theater where sets are very minimalistic. And I don't think that this show falls into that, which I'm very grateful for. We got actual set pieces, we got actual pieces of move like rooms that moved and things that turned into houses. Okay. We were not getting a whole show on one screen, like is a very common thing on Broadway right now. It is bad. Really? Yeah. What so we're getting projections. Do you think that's done to save money? Is that what it is? A hundred percent. Oh and also people say, like, oh, like you know, AI has helped us so much, and like we can create so many things with whatever. That it's cutting costs on set designers, it's cutting costs on artistic directors, on a lot of people who make their living creating the beautiful set pieces that you know make a show. Oh wow, this okay, that's very interesting. I had no idea. So, like there's a show on Broadway now called Lost The Lost Boys, it's based on The Lost Boys, yeah. And people were blown away by the fact that it had sets. They're like, wow, it had a full set and it was really huge and moving or whatever. And that for that to be an anomaly now is is that something very recent, or it's been going on for it's very recent, and I'm I was very grateful that this show didn't do that. Like they did have the landfill behind them lit up as a as a I enjoyed and I thought that was beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought they did a real good job. And that wasn't a projection, it was a lighting effect. It was a lighting effect, yeah. Yeah, it was great. Very cool. All right, so we're gonna go into the second act. Act two. Um, yeah, act two. Was there a standout, you know. Yeah, I don't want to give away too too much. I don't want to tell the whole story. You know, because I'm sure next year, once this opens on Broadway, I'm sure we're gonna revisit this. I don't know. I hope so. I mean, you know. I would love to talk to the people who worked on the show. Um But was there a standout uh performance in Act Two for you? Because I know for me there I have two. You have two? Okay, so go share yours. I don't want to I I won't take yours because if you're you know exactly which one? Yes. Okay, I won't take it then. Okay. No, we can say it. I mean we can order. We both love quarter suitcase. So Gloria, Emily, whoever's listening, whoever wrote quarter suitcase. Don't change a thing. Do not change a thing. It's such a cool conceit for a song because like the the kids who've never been on a plane before get some information that they have to travel with their Philharmonic and they have to figure out how to pack. And in order to cut costs, they each get a quarter of a suitcase to pack their things in. So the conceit of the song is what do you pack in a quarter suitcase? And there's some Spanish in it, there's some Spanglish in it, it's funny. It's funny, it's fun, it is it propels the story forward. So it was a it was a perfect musical theater song. And we saw some choreography with that one. So we got to see Patricia Delgado's work, and that was that one I think could clinch the Tony nomination for her. That could be the Tony Award performance. Um fantastic song. Yeah, really, really. Um my other standout was uh Nambi's uh act two, I guess 11 o'clock number. Okay, called Impossible. And kind of to the opposite of an I Want song is you get to a point where the things that you want aren't working out the way that they're supposed to, or the way that you dreamed that they would. And so she has another song that's uh sad, right? But what I loved about this song is that I could hear Emily's touches on this throughout because she they take the melody and some of the lyrics of the I want song from Act One, I Wanna Run, and they make them there's like a downbeat to them. They like make them sadder, they make them more jazzy, it's like where I could hear Emily, and so the melody repeats itself. But the emotion behind the melody is completely completely different. It's sad. It's heartbroken. Um, and I thought I thought, wow, these two people, Lori and Emily, did their homework and really dove deep into how to write musical theater in a way that is familiar and effective, but has their touch to it. It is a whole different world. Of course, yeah. Maybe you have to, as a songwriter for you know pop music and what what they do, do you have to sit down and study? You know, like how how do you how do you even study for that or how you know I would think you do, and I think the people who don't, it shows. When that when that's very interesting, that's a very interesting thing. You know, I know that they've gone to see they've seen so many musicals, you know, throughout the years, having a musical themselves. Yeah, maybe from that experience as as well, possibly. That their creative team is also, I imagine, very helpful with things. Well, they have Alex Lackamore, right, who worked on several several humongous shows. Humongous shows. You know. Um well, Gloria related, he was involved with um what was the movie? Vivo, right? Did he? Oh, yeah, that would make sense because he and Lynn Memo worked very closely together. I believe. Now I I hope I don't start getting hate mail. I mean, he worked on Dear Evan Hansen, he worked on In the Heights, which is my favorite musical of all time. Obviously, he worked on Hamilton, uh Vivo, you're right, uh Tick Tick Boom, like he is he is a powerhouse musical theater person. I think the whole creative team. They're incredible. You look at the names, and you might not be familiar with the names, but then when you look at their biographies, you're like, Oh, I saw that, I saw that, I saw that. Okay, yeah. We're they're working with like legit people. 100%. You know, so I mean, to be fair, she's legit too. Yeah, so I can a hundred percent imagine them being like mapping out a show and being like, we don't have a quote unquote song for this character about this feeling. We wrote the the intro scene for it where she's talking about, you know, feeling disheartened and feeling whatever, but could we write a song that closes out her arc and you know, sort of back to act one? And given that seed, maybe that's how that song grew. I don't know. But I could definitely see the creative team guiding that and them being as creative as they are to just run with that and write a beautiful song like Impossible. Once again, you know, we don't want to go ahead and give too much of a spoilers, right? So no no spoilers. So I think you know, with our assessment, yeah, we're we're good, right? I agree. You guys are gonna have to fly out to Atlanta, yes, watch it for yourselves. But what happens now? So July 12th, it closes. Yes, potentially, it'll open spring of next year. That's what Gloria has mentioned to me. That's the the idea, right? So from closing of you know, here at the Alliance Theater to opening in Broadway, what happens during that whole gap? It depends on the show. Because I've I've worked on a lot of shows that go back into another workshop and do performances in workshops for investors. To be like, we're trying to get build our capital or whatever for a Broadway run, and we need your support. And here's what we've done from Atlanta to New York to get it on its feet for a Broadway run. So what they've done now, they added to their basically like their CV. Here's yeah, here's my C V This is what we've done, and you know they could do that. Um, they could also be in great financial shape as a like judging by the special thanks page on the playbill. I don't know. You know, so I don't know if they need to do that. Um I also don't know if they need to workshop it right now, like because they're in on day one of a three-week or uh two-month run. And it's really, really strong. So I don't know how much they need to go back in to the process from here. You know, I want to read something that Gloria mentioned to Gloria. I want to read something that Gloria mentioned to me that since you mentioned the workshop, uh, she wrote to me earlier today, we've actually been very fortunate that our producers have been so generous and gave us four solid workshops among all of the other work we've done together on our own. And our creative team is stellar, and we all generally enjoy each other's company and have the same sense of humor. So I think we're much further along than shows would normally be at this juncture. And Lackamore uh took our songs and demos to a whole other level, especially with his vocal arrangements. That's awesome. So it seems like they're, you know, according to what she's saying, it seems like they're further along than you know other shows. Yeah. So don't tell Wes that there are demos because he's not gonna shut up. Yeah, yeah. Strike that off the record. Wes don't listen to this episode. He doesn't listen to our show. It's true. All right, so I mean, to wrap up, because once again, we don't want to give too much away. Would you say that this is a solid show? Absolutely. I I genuinely would, not just because we're doing this podcast, like if I if I didn't, you wouldn't ask me that question because you would know that I couldn't. Um and I a hundred percent could uh I I I loved also seeing Mandy Gonzalez on brought on Faves again. Tell us about Mandy Gonzalez for those that don't know. Mandy Gonzalez is my favorite voice in all of musical theater. She sang, she was the original Nina in In the Heights. She has played Alphabet on in Wicked, she has uh she's been in Hamilton, she's been on so many things, and she's a voice that she takes such good care of her voice that when she was in In the Heights, they called her the beast. Because if she didn't feel like she was in tip top precise shape, she wouldn't go on. Really? Yeah. And you hear her voice and you hear the way she performs with her instrument, and she's a beast. She there's no voice like hers. Um interesting. So to see her back on Broadway, and to see her not Broadway, to see her back on stage um in a role that's so different from what I saw her in originally because in In the Heights, she played a college freshman. Okay. She was leaving her neighborhood for the first time. She went to Stanford in California, and she's unsure of herself because she misses at home, and she's 18. And now she's a mom with all different priorities. Uh the mother of uh basically an 18-year-old, as far as we know. We don't know the ages of these children in the show. But it's interesting to see her take on the role of Priscilla Lopez in the Heights, who played her mom, who had those priorities, who had those dreams for her daughter of like, this is who I want you to be. I'm gonna put all that on to you. To see Mandy Gonzalez take on that role versus her original role in as Nina was a really cool thing to see how she's grown. Let me ask you this regarding the the age. Do you think because they don't mention the age, do you think it would be important to add that to the show? Do you think the the audience should know I yes and no? I think no because there's really no there's really no big romance. So like if if somebody if somebody kissed, maybe you'd want to know that they're 19. You know what I'm trying to say? Because you waited till 19 to for your first kiss. That's another episode. Yeah, that's for a pride episode. Um, which is next week, by the way. Surprise. If um if there was more of an adult edge to the show, maybe. Got it. Okay. It all also it doesn't it's not clear their ages, which could age them down. Okay. So I don't really know if it if is it important or if it's not important. So um I also don't know how you would do that creatively, other than being like, come on, mom, I'm 15, you know, like there's really no nuanced way to do that. Okay, you know? Okay. Um any constructive criticism? I I do have one, and I don't think it has nothing to do with the cast. I just you know we talked about this last night, and it may have just been a fluke just because of the first show, but the very end was a little awkward. Yes, with in in regards to, you know, they bow, they bow as a whole cast. They bow as a whole cast. I'm used to, I haven't seen that many shows, but the ones that I've seen, I always see everyone, you know, one by one, you know, uh come out, take their bowels, and then you know that it's done. Yeah. This was everyone together, they bow, and then they leave, and you're kind of like waiting and waiting, and you're like, what's happening? And then the lights come on, you're like, oh, oh, it's done. So yeah, I would I would just button that part up. I would too. For I would that's the only critique that I have. Because I just wanted to give nothing crazy the cast members their moment. I wanted to give the actress who played Nambi her moment her big applause. Yeah, the actor who played Nunu deserved. Oh my gosh, he would have the audience would have gone crazy for him. Yeah, and easily like for so many of the characters, the audience I think wanted to demonstrate that love for them and couldn't. Yeah. Um, I also think that That's a good way of putting it. Yeah. The the orchestra behind the cast was Are you allowed to say that? What? Isn't that like a surprise? That there's that there's an orchestra? Yeah, but it's it felt like a surprise, didn't it? There's musicians who play the music. Oh, it was surprising to me. Hey everybody. On Broadway, there are musicians who play the music. There's a conductor and an orchestra, and sometimes they're under the stage, and sometimes they're on stage. And they show up on the stage. I was like, oh and and on your feet it was Miami Sound Machine, but mostly it's people who are using it. We're gonna wrap this episode up because um no, my my one point is that the orchestra, I'm not sure if they were the recycled orchestra. No, that's why I was surprised because I thought it was the actual. I know that the members of the recycled orchestra were there. I don't I couldn't see well enough if it was them. But if that's the case, that's why I was surprised. We was them. They need walk out music, they need to play when the cast walks off stage so that we can start walking out and applaud them. Ah, okay, that would be good. Right. So we this is those are my points. You need to be able to celebrate the actors who you want to celebrate and cheer for. You know, you're a jerk. Well, I do know that there's an orchestra. I just thought that it was like the original I mean their names are in the play, though. Well, but it doesn't say that they're from the recycled orchestra. I would if they are. That would be nice. Um that's that's it. Anyway. So that was our take on Basura. Once again, this is just a uh preview, yes, so things will will change. I will I will say that for me, and I know this is gonna sound cheesy, and the only reason I'm saying it is because it could have gone the other way. But for me, this was anything but basura. Oh it was good. Yeah. Um, it was it really was a great show, and I can't wait to see it again. I actually wanted to see it tonight, and I'm still hoping to. It sold out, but which is good for it. We're gonna see how we get in there, who I need to sleep with, but we'll figure it out. Gloria, gird your loins. Carlos is coming. Um, I'm excited for it to be in my backyard. Come to Broadway sooner than later so that I could see it over and over again. I'll be visiting you next year. Yeah. Well, with that, everybody, that is the end of Let It Loose in Atlanta, our first hotel room episode. Oh, I guess Wes was in a hotel. Um Wes doesn't count. We're not talking about Wesley. Special thanks to uh Wes for coming up with this podcast and to Carlos for doing everything else. Rob and Carlos. And Lambda. And Lambda too, yeah. Yeah. So thanks Wes. You just get to throw that in there. Hashtag Wes brought us together. Anyways, stay tuned for our next episode, which is gonna be our Pride episode. Uh-huh. And then our season finale is coming around. It's right around the corner. That one we yeah, that one is. I think when this episode airs, it'll be June. June 4th, I think we will have already announced a special something that's happening. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So I think by the way, when people are hearing this one, the surprise is out there. We've let it loose. We've let it loose. Jeez. So yeah, stay tuned. And we'll see you next time. See you next time. Bye everybody. Bye. Thank you for listening to Let It Loose, a Gloria Esther Fan podcast. Let It Loose is produced by Carlos, Rob, and West with graphic design by Lara. Thank you to Gloria for bringing us all together. Subscribe, rate, and share the love. And join us next week for a brand new episode.