What is an American?  Gloria Calderón Kellett, the showrunner and co-creator of Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning One Day at a Time, explores this often-asked question in her new play One of the Good Ones premiering at the Pasadena Playhouse March 13-April 7.  The action is ignited when a “perfect” Latina daughter introduces her boyfriend to her parents. The meeting reveals the family’s biases and preconceptions – to hilarious effect. A writer-actor-producer-director with the impressive credits (co-creator of One Day at a Time, creator of Amazon’s With Love and The Horrors of Dolores Roach) Ms. Calderón Kellet is one of Hollywood’s workingest television content creators. I had the privilege of chatting with her between rehearsals for One of the Good Ones. We talked about the magic of theater, the power of familia, the genius of Norman Lear and the importance of normalizing Hollywood’s portrayal of Latinos.  

CRIS FRANCO (CF): 

I’m so happy to speak to you.  You are such a talented quadruple threat. 

GLORIA CALDERON KELLETT(GCK): 

GCK: Oh, that’s so nice, Cris. Can you call me every day?

CF: Sure. I’ll have my girl call your girl and while our girls are talking, we can talk – grrrl.  Whew, your list of credits is very impressive! My first question is to what do you attribute your success in so many fields? 

GCK:  I think I’m just really a tenacious hard worker.  My fellow show runner and friend, Sarah Gamble, told me that I have class president energy.  The pretty blonde girl might run against me, but everyone knows that I’m gonna get the job done!

CF:  And you have head cheerleader energy too. Were you a hyper-creative kid? 

GCK:  Yes! I sang and danced. I was really fortunate to have Cuban immigrant parents who, although they didn’t speak the language, knew the value of education because in Cuba the educational system was excellent.  So they knew that the key to achieving the American dream was education.  God bless my mom, she would enroll me into a class for anything I took interest in: tap, ballet, jazz, piano. They would encouraged me to try things out to see if I liked it. Of course not everything stuck. But it was privileged to have access to those classes because my parents sacrificed to pay for them since they didn’t have a ton of money.  Yet, they had such immense belief in me. I’m so grateful that they allowed me to try and fail often at different things. It just gave me a willingness to learn to work my way through something if I really wanted to do it. And that’s such a gift to give your kids.

CF: Ditto. Tell me about your family. 

GCK: I have a younger brother who’s a lovely guy. He lives in San Diego. We’ve always gotten along. And my parents live across the street from me. 

I check in on them all the time and when my kids come home from school, they go across the street to hang out with grandma and grandpa and then come home. I often cook dinner and bring it over to them. It’s great.

CF: That’s like a sitcom. 

GCK: I know. Everybody Loves Raymond in real life.  And my husband, God bless him, is the best. He sees them more than I do to be honest.

CF:  But it’s cool that your kids are getting that whole enriching, Old World, extended familia, multi-generational experience.

GCK:  I love it. I grew up living with my grandparents and I consider it a great gift. We Latinos really value our older generation, acknowledging them for establishing our foundation. We don’t place our elderly into nursing homes.  Our customs call for us to care for them.

CF: True. U.S. Latino straddle so many old and new traditions. We have a very unique family dynamic – and families is what brings us to your new play, One of the Good Ones.  What does the title mean?

GCK: Well, it is left somewhat to interpretation, but it’s a play on something that I think successful Latinos often hear. I have often been told, “You’re one of the good ones.” This play it is a reversal on that. It’s a play on that verbiage. I don’t want to say too much more and spoil anything. 

CF: Am I safe in assuming that drama will be triggered when the boyfriend arrives? So, it’s an unexpected coupling?

GCK:  Yes. It is an unexpected coupling that launches lots of great conversation. The daughter who’s home from college has a lot of questions about her upbringing and how her parents feel about her future with the new man in her life. The evening’s conversation spurs growth, discomfort, in-fighting and ultimately, understanding. I hope audiences leave having laughed a lot and with new insights. I see my play as an invitation. Of course it’s filtered through a Latino lens because that’s my point of view. 

CF: Which is honest. 

GCK: Exactly. So, are there special moments for Latinos?  Yes. Is there Spanish that’s not translated? Yes. But it’s okay because I know that growing-up watching American television, I didn’t know what a bar mitzvah was – but I still watched and learned. Because I’d go look it up in the dictionary. My play is an invitation to non-Latino audiences to consider what it means to be American. What did their families go through? What are the parallels with their own families? 

My great mentor Norman Lear was taken with the idea of our common humanity. I think that’s why his work remains so relevant. It’s also what I try to pepper into my own work. I make sure that I am speaking specifically to a specific community while simultaneously inviting in others outside that community by showing them how we are more similar than we are different.

CF:  I, too, wrote for Norman Lear and know that exploring our shared humanity was his mantra.  That’s why I liked working on his shows. I also I liked Norman’s sitcoms because they played so much like theater. I know you, too, love theater and you’ve written lots of short plays. 

GCK: Yes, but One of the Good Ones is my first full length play. And I’m delighted that it’s the first one out the gate.

CF: Plays inhabit such a unique space in storytelling. Being live, theater shares a real-time relationship with the audience. Plus the playwright has to sustain an idea without the breaks and instant scene changes afforded film and TV. So, I guess my question is: How do you get your playwriting head on vs. your TV writing head?  Or is it the same head?

GCK: It is. My One Day at a Time was the Norman Lear-style of storytelling: a filmed play. 

It was presented in long scenes largely in the proscenium of the apartment, played in one room, in real time. My new play is the same. No intermission. The actors are on stage the whole time. No scene break, no lighting changes – played in one fell swoop in 90-minutes. The audience is experiencing the events with the characters in real time because I love that tension. I love that we’re taking this journey without a break.  And it’s a wonderful challenge to keep the conversation feeling natural. Like it’s moving while still having an inciting incident, a progressive complication, crisis, climax and resolution. While keeping it feeling organic so it sounds like a conversation would between these family members.

Writing wise, I love painting myself into a coroner then trying to figure my way out in an elegant manner.  So, the labor of this play was making it feel like a real 90-minutes in the life of this family.  There was so much joy in writing it and hearing it. I had Zoom readings with actors and I would adjust and adjust and – and then suddenly, it’s first week of rehearsal!  

I had the joy of sitting with the cast and doing my last bits of tailoring. The next week you watch it and make some adjustments. I’m really fortunate to have a wonderful director Kimberly Senior who’s been so collaborative. And our cast (Lana Parrilla, Carlos Gomez, Nico Greetham and Isabella Gomez and Santino Jimenez both from One Day at a Time) many of whom I already knew, have really put their fingerprints on it – made it their own. That was all such a joyful process.

CF: This is a commissioned piece, right?

GCK: Yes, for the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s Danny Feldman’s first commission as artistic director.

CF: Regarding your adaptation of One Day at a Time, did you have to culturally adjust it for it to take place within a Latino household?

GCK:  No, I didn’t. Norman was so wonderful. In sitting down with my show partner Mike and I, he (Norman Lear) said, take the mother and the two kids and do your own thing with it. It’s a single mom and she’s Latina. What would that look like for you? I didn’t watch any of the original episodes. What I did was really consider what would happen if I was divorced. Well, my mom would probably move in with me. Then Norman asked me to describe the mom.  And I said that she’s like Rita Moreno. 

CF: And that’s how you got Rita?!

GCK:  Yes. We took the basic premise and went from there.  We made the Schneider character a Canadian man-child who is also an immigrant. Finally, we updated their world to make it feel more contemporary. We didn’t reference any of the original series episodes. We just did our own thing while asking: What was it like for Latino family living in Los Angeles during the Trump administration? And that’s what we explored for the four years of that show. I had complete freedom. I was not bound by anything that the original series had done.

CF: Tell me about The Horrors of Dolores Roach? Similar to Sweeney Todd, Dolores exacts revenge on her enemies by baking them into empanadas. 

GCK: Yes. That project was lots of fun and based on a play commissioned by Danny Feldman at the Labyrinth Theater Company. The Horror of Dolores Roach is how I met Danny! Back then it was called Empanada Loca starring Daphne Rubin Vega (original Mimi in Rent), written by Aaron Mark. It went up nine years ago. That became the popular podcast, The Horror of Dolores Roach, which then became the series. 

CF:  Your next project was your own, With Love which you conceived and wrote and acted in. That sounds exciting and exhausting. 

GCK: With Love was lovely. Of course, it depends on the creator’s bandwidth. I really just wanted to do a fun small role because the demands of a leading role isn’t of interest to me. But I loved just acting in here and there, playing the funny tia who says outrages things and then leaves. That gives me time to return to video village (the control room) to make sure everthing else was fun and funny.

CF: You’re an adorable hoot as the funny tia.  Did you act in college?

GCK:  I did. I acted in London where I went to grad school. When I returned, I did a couple of episodes here and there between writing gigs. So, for me,  acting and writing have always gone hand in hand. But I’ve always preferred the writing because I like being the boss. I might like being the boss too much.

CF: Oh, you know what I think is so great about writing? You get to be all the characters.

GCK: Yes, it’s true.

CF: Actors only get to be their one character. Writers get to explore all the characters in the whole bloody thing.  

GCK: Yeah, it’s great. It’s the best.

CF:  You’re quoted as saying that for you With Love’s most exciting episode was when the Diaz family simply threw a party night — like so many families do in America. You hoped that With Love would “normalize” the Latinx image on TV. I think that’s so important. 

GCK: Yes. It boggles the mind to know that we are 20% of the American population and only 5% of the speaking roles. 

CF: Yes. Statistically we’re less represented in the scripted media than before when you factor in the ever-growing content. 

GCK: It hurts my brain because I can’t quite make sense of it. And that 5% are still largely stereotyped characters, even today. I personally take grievance with the proliferation of narco narratives. If we had other representative narratives I wouldn’t mind as much. But so many of our stories being set in that world is damaging to the community. Plus, they don’t represent the Latinos I grew up with in Oregon, San Diego and Los Angeles. They were all lovely, decent people and good citizens. I didn’t know gang bangers and drug dealers. What I saw was the hard working, kind people living their lives. And so it became really clear to me when I started in television that it was those real people that America needed to see. 

CF: Why do you feel real Latinos are still so underrepresented and misrepresented? What do you think is holding us back?

GCK: More access and more yeses from execs. There’s a deep contraction happening in production right now. That is worrisome to me because our projects are always the first to get cut. 

CF: That means our new stories won’t be seen. 

GCK: Exactly. I’ll never forget when Benito Martinez who played the father in With Love said that it was his first TV role where he played a dad with a full family – he wasn’t a cop or a villain. He was a man who loved his wife. Oh, and when his wife, played by the legendary Constance Marie, walked into the kitchen on the set, she started crying. Constance said, “Oh my gosh – we get to have a nice kitchen?! We never get to have nice kitchen on TV.”  So, it’s these small steps that hopefully will move the needle for us in the future. A future where we get to play what we truly are: just humans trying to make our way.

To see the brilliantly funny Gloria Calderón Kellett’s new comedic take on the contemporary Latinx family, be sure to catch One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse from March 13^th thru April 7^th.  For tickets & all show info: pasadenaplayhouse.org

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This year’s passing of one of the American theater’s most impactful and beloved composer/lyricists, Stephen Sondheim, has prompted theater companies worldwide to mount an unprecedented number of his groundbreaking works that include the iconic West Side Story, Gypsy, Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd.  

Los Angeles’s premier regional theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, is opening their six-month Sondheim Celebration with perhaps his most ingenious musical, Sunday in the Park with George. Winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Sunday” (as nicknamed by aficionados) is an unexpected story about an unorthodox love triangle between a man, a woman and a painting: pointillist Georges Seurat’s spellbinding A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte.

Recognized as a masterpiece of unbridled invention, Sunday’s emotionally complex plot relies heavily on its two lead actors: the male role who portrays both the French impressionist painter Georges Seurat and his American grandson (George). And the female role who plays Georges’s love interest (Dot) and her and Georges’s granddaughter (Marie). Both leading parts require singer/actors of the highest caliber to transport us into the time-traveling duality of Sunday in the Park with George. Decades ago, as a young New York actor/writer, this journalist had the good fortune to have seen the original Broadway production. At show’s end I recall exiting the theater walking on air, knowing I’d just witnessed a challenging (and highly entertaining) thesis on the price of artistic expression. If this sounds like heady stuff – it is. And just as Sunday poses some profound questions about life, art and a life in art, I was able to ask some of these same questions of the extremely talented Ms. Krystina Alabado, who portrays the characters of Dot/Marie in Pasadena Playhouse’s full mainstage production from Tuesday February 14, 2023 to Sunday March 19, 2023.

CRIS FRANCO (CF):  

Congratulations on landing the part that every musical comedy ingénue in Los Angeles wanted.  As a veteran of Broadway (American Psycho, American Idiot), national tours (Evita, Spring Awakening) and countless other productions — what in your childhood inspired you to pursue performing? 

KRYSTINA ALABADO (KA): 

I started out singing in Phoenix, Arizona where my father was a singer. My love for the arts began at age eight when I began gigging with him and his band. Once I got into junior high I joined the drama club, I performed in all the musicals and plays and never stopped since then. I always had a love for the arts and expressing myself through music and imagination, so theatre was the best outlet for me as a kid. I totally fell in love with everything about it! 

CF:  

What was your most memorable early acting job and how did you come to land the plumb role in Sunday in the Park with George?

KA: 

I have so many memorable acting jobs. Most recently I’d have to say it would be Mean Girls on Broadway playing the iconic Gretchen Wieners which is probably the most fun I have ever had on or off stage. I mean it’s written by Tina Fey! It was utterly hilarious, and people love the movie, so our audiences were always ready for fun. But I love all the shows I have done, they are all so different. As for Sunday, I auditioned back in December. I had never worked on this role before and I had to sing Dot’s very complicated opening song. It took a ton of work for me to learn it for the audition. But it was such fun working on Sondheim and it teaches you a lot. Then at the final callback, I worked with our director Sarna Lapine and that was that! 
 
CF:  

Sondheim’s material stretches an actor-singer’s capabilities. What’s the most challenging aspect of playing the youthful Dot and nonagenarian Marie in Sunday? 

KA:

Sondheim is a beast. This is the most thrilling and challenging musical I’ve had the honor of working on. He is a genius, and the craft and detail that he builds into his musicals is unmatched. It is everything you could ever want as an actor. The language is dense and each word matters. Though the music is insanely difficult it’s some of the most beautiful music I have ever sung. The lyrics are witty and boy are there a lot of them! I also think this role is unique because my first character Dot exists in the  1800’s. Then, in the second act, we fast forward to the 1980’s where I play Dots daughter, Marie, who is 98! I mean, there are few roles in musical theatre that require that big of an age range. That has been a great deal of fun for me, and so hard (in a good way). 

CF:   

Dot and George share most of the stage time in Sunday. How do you and your co-star Graham Phillips (series regular on The Good Wife) get along?  

KA:

 I love Graham! I feel so lucky that we get to play opposite each other. We had a fast connection, and that is a gift. We both enjoy the challenge and trying new approaches. We don’t let our egos get in the way. Working to serve the piece is very important to us both. We have each other’s backs on stage and off which makes doing this musical together very special. 

CF:  

I understand you are of both middle-eastern and Latinx heritage. Do you feel your cultural background has affected your artistic path? 

KA: 

Yes! I am a proud a first generation kid! My father came to the U.S. from Mexico, and my mother came here from Lebanon. I feel so proud of my heritage and background and it is incredibly important to me, as it is who I am. I think that artistically, much has changed in our industry since I started in 2008. There is way more opportunity for my type, and I am getting to do things I would have never been considered for in the past — like Dot my character in Sunday for instance. I wonder if I am the one of the first BIPOC Dots in a major production of Sunday? And that is insanely cool and special. I hope it inspires other kids that look like me to believe that they can do it, too! 

CF:

Sunday is such a multifaceted exploration of the creative process that any number of valid conclusions can be drawn from its story.  What do you hope audiences take away from the musical?

KA:

I hope that audiences walk away thinking about who they are, and finding inspiration in all of the incredibly deep messages that this piece poses to us as artists and humans. I feel like I learn a new lesson with every performance and it makes me want to create more, and live. My favorite quote of the show is “the choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not. You keep moving on”. 

CF: 

Along with the joy of creation, every actor experiences the feeling of rejection at not getting a part they truly wanted to portray. How do you handle those disappointments? 

KA: 

Rejection is such a huge part of being an actor, if not the biggest part. We are constantly auditioning, and constantly getting no’s and rejected. Constantly. That is just part of it, and there is a sort of acceptance of that that comes with doing this professionally because no matter at what level you are, the rejection does not go away. The rejection often increases because you are competing with more accomplished actors the longer you continue. So, it just gets more intense. But that is how it works — and it is never personal. Every film or stage production has a specific casting criteria. My job is to simply present my version, and then from there it is out of my hands. 

CF: 

Where did you study and along with your formal education what personal qualities have helped you succeed at the acting profession? 

KA:

I studied acting at Arizona State University for a year before I was plucked out of college to do the first national tour of the musical Spring Awakening in 2008. That was a very special time and a huge opportunity for me at so young an age. Two years later, after the tour ended, I moved to NYC and have been working since. I think my drive and passion for this field is a huge part of why I am working and why I am happy. I absolutely love what I do, and I love that it is hard and takes immense discipline and focus but that you emerge having created something beautiful. 

CF:  

Is anyone in your family in the arts and how do your parents and family feel about your career choice? 

KA:

Like I said, my dad was a singer when I was growing up in Phoenix, so music has always been an important part of my life. Both my parents were immensely supportive of my dreams to pursue acting. They encouraged me every step of the way and have always thought what I wanted and what I do is brave and exhilarating. I feel so lucky to have had that support. I wouldn’t be where I am at without them! 
CF:   

Do you have any advice for aspiring young actors? 

KA: 

Be yourself! I know that sounds cheesy and cliche, but the most important thing you can do as a young performer is find out who you are and really love and cultivate that. Don’t try to be like anyone else as your uniqueness is what people want!

To see the uniquely talented Ms. Krystina Alabado in Sondheim’s masterpiece Sunday in the Park with George CLICK HERE

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A tale of two, average American teens struggling with crushes, prom, graduation – and deportation. We caught up with this very busy young actor who states that her mission is to be part of the “necessary wave of Latinx representation and storytelling.”  Here’s how Ms. Chavez tells her story.

Cris Franco (CF):  What about your childhood inspired you to pursue acting? 

Ana Nicolle Chavez (ANC): I was born and raised in the Tucson, Arizona desert. Where it’s hot and sunny year-round. It does get cold– eventually, a little bit. There wasn’t much to do besides going to the movies or sporting events. I only cared for the movies due to the magic combination of theater’s strong A/C and how it allowed me to venture into a new world. I’d return to the movies for that feeling of being completely swallowed by the world of that giant screen presenter. It’s a comforting feeling of forgetting you exist! I have always been inspired by how storytelling can transport me to places I otherwise would have never known. Movies were the closest I could come to experiencing that in Arizona. Theatre has that same magic. I guess that it was my longing to be part of that magic that drew me to perform.

CF:  What was your most memorable early acting job and how did you come to land your role on the series Truth Be Told? 

ANC: My first acting job in Los Angeles was a commercial for TEXTNOW the app. It was a thrilling experience to be on set. It fired my determination to get more work. That determination led me to land my part on Truth Be Told.

CF:  In Sanctuary City, your co-star MILES FOWLER plays “B” and you play “G.”  What do the initials stand for and what is B and G’s relationship? 

ANC: The initials “B” and “G” are placeholders for “Boy” and “Girl.” But their names might begin with those letters as well.  The point is that these two characters live in a world where they don’t exist on paper, unknown to the government. Being undocumented comes with a lot of hiding. I think that not assigning these characters real names amplifies how the world treats those among us without legal identification. 

CF: Two-handers like Sanctuary City, require a certain trust and chemistry between the two actors. How do you and your co-star get along? 

ANC: I’m lucky because Miles (my co-star) and I really trusted and connected pretty early on in the rehearsal process. I can’t imagine spending this much time, working this intensely with someone I didn’t like. There’s a lot of trust and playfulness that makes it so much easier to feel safe in accessing the darker places we go into in this play. 

CF: Tell us about your heritage and how being a Latinx performer has affected your artistic path. 

ANC: I have always been proud of being Mexican. My parents and younger brother were born in Mexico. Which frankly made me feel a little left out. I’m joking, but I’m grateful to have grown up near the border so I could see my extended family a little more often. I would say noticing the lack of Latinx representation growing up ignited my conviction towards pursuing an acting career full throttle. All it took was Selena Gomez’s portrayal of Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place for me to realize it would be possible for me, too. 

CF: Who inspired you?

ANC: Growing up I loved Disney Channel. As I mentioned earlier, the character Alex Russo was monumental for me. I always loved action movies, especially how epic they felt in a movie theater. Musicals and their spectacle also left their mark on my imagination. Chicago, Moulin Rouge, and the like were a part of the same magic I later found in Shakespeare as well. Especially in Baz Luhrmann’s version of Romeo + Juliet, which had all the elements of storytelling that I love. 

CF: I understand that Sanctuary City addresses the question: How much do we as humans owe each other?  If that is, indeed, the play’s central question – what do you feel is the answer? 

ANC: I’m not sure we owe each other anything aside from perhaps kindness, respect, and compassion. And those expectations don’t apply unless a person holds themselves equally accountable to them, too. The truth is we are all free to do as we please, technically. 

CF: What do you hope audiences take away from the play? 

ANC: I hope people remember that undocumented people are already a part of your lives. Some are your friends and many are part of your community. They are people just like you and me and the status of their paperwork does not change their value as fellow human beings. 

CF: Along with the joy of creation, every actor experiences the feeling of rejection at not getting a part they truly wanted to portray. How do you handle those disappointments? 

ANC: Rejection is normal, I am a big believer in destiny and so when things don’t pan out the way I thought or wished they could I just remember it’s because it wasn’t meant to be. 

CF: You’re a graduate of State University of New York, Purchase College Acting Conservatory.  Along with your formal education what personal qualities have helped you succeed at the acting profession? 

ANC: I am stubborn. And I like what I do. 

CF:  Is anyone in your family in the arts and how do your parents and family feel about your career choice? 

ANC: My family has always known that I wanted to be an actress. Both my parents have artistic talents in writing, painting, and sculpting so the desire to be creative never felt strange. I’m endlessly grateful to my family for their support.

CF:   Do you have any advice for aspiring young actors? 

ANC: Do what your heart desires. No one but you can stop you from being creative! 

To see Ms. Anna Nicolle Chavez do what her heart desires in Sanctuary City at the Pasadena Playhouse log onto: www.pasadenaplayhouse.org or call 626-356-7529.

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From November 9 to December 12 of 2021, the Pasadena Playhouse will rock to the Go-Go’s fun-tastic musical Head Over Heels featuring two of Broadway’s busiest stage talents, George Salazar (Be More Chill, Godspell, Little Shop of Horrors) and Yurel Echezarreta (Moulin Rouge!, Aladdin, Matilda and Steven Spielberg’s new filmed version of West Side Story). I was privileged to interview both of these impressive artists who had plenty to say about ethnicity, career and Cheetos breath. 

CRIS FRANCO (CF):

To begin with, George, fill us in on your very unique background. 

GEORGE SALAZAR (GS):

My dad was born in Ecuador and my mom is Filipino. They met in New York City, which is about the only place that could happen. 

CF: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere! ?

GS:  Exactly, exactly. I was just in Indiana and I’ll tell you that wouldn’t happen there. There aren’t that many of me.

CF: Yes, I’d say you cornered the market on Ecuadorian-Filipino musical comedy stars. How ‘bout you, Yurel?

YUREL ECHEZARRETA (YE): I’m Cuban-American from Miami.  

CF:  You’re an outstanding dancer. You can tell you’ve trained in ballet. 

YE: Yes. Ballet is so well-respected in Cuba. I studied and found myself at a performing arts high school where I was accepted into a musical theater program. Then I studied at Orlando Ballet and moved to New York to begin my Broadway career.

CF:  You’ve both done so many hit shows. What would you say was your first big break? 

GS:  That’s a great question.

CF:  I only ask great questions.

YE:  I’m not sure I know what you mean by “big break”? 

CF:  Meaning, when did you know you could make a career of performing? 

YE: Oh, for me that would have to be La Cage Aux Folles because it was my second Broadway show. The 2009 stage revival of West Side Story was my first Broadway show. You always wonder if being hired was a fluke.  It’s easy to doubt yourself, especially at such a young age. But getting La Cage really bolstered my confidence because the dancing was so different from that of West Side Story. I knew I could do this. I’m not just a one-hit wonder. I belong here. 

GS: Because I grew up in a multi-racial, multi-cultural household, with workaholic parents who wanted to give us the good life they never knew, my parents were really frugal. They saved to send me to college so I could become a doctor. That was the game plan. But I was the class clown who liked attention. I’d write and sing Weird Al Yankovic-style parodies in high school. One day the president of the drama club asked me to audition for Little Shop of Horrors. 

Suddenly, I was in a musical. I’d never even heard a Broadway score before. I discovered I had a knack for it. My love for performing grew into a passion and then into a career. So, I’d have to say my “big break” was simply discovering theater. I’ve been really fortunate as a person in a brown body having gotten to do a lot in a very white art form. 

CF: And you’re an Ecua-pino, you’re a double minority. 

GS:  Actually, I’m a triple minority – because I’m also gay. 

CF:  So am I!  Wow, we’re two gay guys into musical theater. How not rare!  I don’t usually get into this aspect this early in an interview. But because you brought it up, how has being Latinx impacted your career? 

YE:  Honestly, for me, being a Latin male in theater has been a blessing. But I’ve been lucky to be hired in shows about embracing our differences: La Cage, Head Over Heels, Moulin Rouge!, Matilda – are all stories about questioning the norm and welcoming diversity. But, as awesome as it’s been — it’s been hard to break into the principal world. Some directors still resist casting actors of color in major speaking roles. That’s been my challenge.  

CF: Thanks for being so candid, because I wholeheartedly agree. You’ll see productions where diversity is very calculated and measured by casting one Black, one Asian, one Latinx, one trans, etc. Hamilton is rare because inclusion is part of its DNA. At least today producers are compelled to cast ethnically specific roles appropriately. So you’ll finally see an entire cast of hispanos playing the Sharks in West Side Story. But there are very few plays like West Side Story out there.  How about you, George?

GS: Wow. (Takes a deep breath) Okay, at first I really resented being brown. In my high school notebook, I remember writing a bunch of last names that started with the letter “S” – I wrote George Sanders, George Samson, George Seltzer…

CF: That’s hilarious — 

GS: But it’s also really fucking sad. I thought I had to do that or there wasn’t going to be a place for me. My white college friends were booking lots of jobs in summer stock, but not me. It really hurt my confidence. Then, I finally got some internships in New York where I saw Karen Olivo and Eden Espinoza — stage stars who were making it. Once I graduated, I moved from Florida to New York City where they strive to make good art with solid talent. I got work and learned to love and accept myself and my dual ethnicity. 

CF:  Although we continue to grow in numbers relative to our percentage of the U.S. population, we remain grossly underrepresented in entertainment. How did your families react to your career choice? Being Cuban, pursuing a ballet career shouldn’t have been such a stretch for you, Yurel. Get it, “stretch”?  

YE: Got it, Cris. It was weird. Cuba has produced so many world-class dancers. Yet, my dad didn’t want to see me dancing in tights. He felt it wasn’t, um, masculine. He’s come around now – but initially… 

CF: Initially, he copped the American boys don’t dance ‘tude not realizing the strength, coordination and athleticism it takes to dance professionally. 

YE: Right. 

GS:   I’ve gotta say that even though my parents were not totally on-board with the acting thing – while I was interning in New York they totally supported me. It’s a testament to them because I’m sure they worried whether their mixed-race son could survive in this business. 

CF: You’re both not only surviving, you’re thriving. Yurel, tell us about working on Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. The film’s trailer looks beautiful.

YE: It is beautiful. It was a dream experience. Steven Spielberg is a legend who is open with a generosity of spirit. He knew us all by name and invited us to watch playback. And what a budget! They dressed the city to look like the old streets of New York. They brought in cars and props from the 1950’s. 

CF: It looks really real. Doesn’t look like Spielberg used much CGI.

YE: I do not know for sure.  If there are any moments of CGI in the film. My guess would be no. Mr. Spielberg shot it on film, so it’s got that classic warmth to it. 

CF: Did your body take a beating dancing on the hard cement and asphalt like the original 1961 movie cast complained about?

YE: Yes, and the weather was hot. But we had fans and misters all around to keep us cool while waiting between takes. The choreography by Justin Peck is genius, very exciting. It honors Jerome Robbins’ iconic original choreography, but it’s new. 

CF: That brings us to the new production of Head Over Heels at the Pasadena Playhouse.  George, what can we expect? 

GS: Well, you can expect to walk into a party.  We’re doing an environmental 90-minute one-act version of Head Over Heels.  The orchestra seats have been removed and the stage level has been extended over the orchestra. So you’ll have three ticketing options: up in the mezzanine, seated onstage on risers, or on your feet to shake that booty. Those floor tickets are like a choose your own adventure.

CF: Yurel, you were in the original Broadway cast of the show and now under the direction of Jenny Koons and Sam Pinkleton, you’re creating a new role for this reimagined production, right? 

YE:  Yes! I play “The Player” who facilitates integrating the live audience into the story. This Pasadena Playhouse production is more fluid and set in a less-specific time than the original concept. We’re winking at the audience and letting them in on the fun. As George said, it’s a celebration. 

GS:  And it’s exactly what we need right now because we are emerging from two years of endless Zoom meetings. We sat on our couch, with Cheetos breath, in our pajamas, alone in the dark with the windows drawn, afraid of the outside world. Well, Head Over Heels is our welcome-back party and we’re going to blow the roof off!

CF:  With A-list cast members like Alaska 5000 (RuPaul’s Drag Race winner), Lea Delaria (Orange Is the New Black),  Tiffany Mann (Lucille Lortel Award-winner), Emily Skeggs (Tony and Grammy Award-nominee), Shanice Williams (“Dorothy” in NBC’s The Wiz Live!) and you two gents – the audience will be head over heels with delight. Did you guys notice how I brilliantly worked in the show’s title? Last question: You guys are making it. What advice do you have for aspiring actors?

YE:  Assuming that they’ve done the deep dive and concluded that this is the only thing that will fulfill them and they are willing to accept the rejection, I would tell them that it takes patience.  Separate your worth from your work. Yes, work on your craft but be kind and generous – especially to yourself. Even if you are not employed, you are not broken. You are whole. If you create a balanced life, the work will follow. Develop your own abilities and simply keep going. 

GS:  And go forth and conquer!  

To see the dazzling Yurel Echezarreta and the hilarious George Salazar in the Pasadena Playhouse’s Head Over Heels, log onto: pasadenaplayhouse.org. 

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