If anyone wants to laugh their Aztec off, come visit Hartford in June and see the pre-Broadway engagement of KISS MY AZTEC with our kick-ass cast and incredible production team!
Here we goooooo!!!
After nearly two years since hearing this show out loud pre-pandemic, what a thrill to be in a room with a full company of actors, musicians, and crew to bring this piece to life in it’s latest form! (Check out the article in Broadway World) Thank you to everyone involved, including Director Sarna Lapine, Music Director David Gardos, Producer Josh Goodman, Choreographer Joann Hunter, Sound Designer Leon Rothenberg, Stage Manager Ryan Gohsman, and the ridiculous cast of Lincoln Clauss, Brandon Contreras, Matt Dallal, Micaela Diamond, Amina Faye, Jasmine Forsberg, Kerri George, Kennedy Kanagawa, Marissa Rosen, Andrew Samonsky, Jennifer Sanchez, Frank Viveros and Marisha Wallace. And of course my brilliant partner in crime, Book writer Aryanna Garber. Here’s to next steps and a production!
GAH! We’re bring Kiss My Aztec to the East Coast! I’m excited to bring this show to life again at Hartford Stage, currently set to run in June of 2022, with many changes and updates in tow. Can’t wait to show it to new audiences! Check out the announcement HERE!
Check out the full video from my Larson Legacy Concert @ Adelphi University featuring a phenomenal cast of performers and musicians! You can find all videos HERE.
I am THRILLED to get to work with these talented artists on my upcoming Larson Legacy concert at Adelphi University!! Over a year ago I had the honor of receiving a Jonathan Larson grant, so it’s exciting to FINALLY get to showcase my work in person and celebrate Jonathan’s Legacy.
Join me Saturday, Sep 25th @ 3pm where I’ll be featuring songs from a bunch of my musicals in development. The concert is co-produced by Ruthie Fierberg and myself, and Music Directed by David Gardos.
Featuring: Micaela Diamond, Hannah Corneau, Lincoln Clauss, Troy Iwata, Jon-Michael Reese, Marissa Rosen, Florrie Bagel, Vishal Vaidya, and myself.
With an incredible ensemble featuring: KC Dela Cruz, Joseph Fierberg, Alesha Jeter, Joey Miceli, Kianna Kelly-Futch, Bill FitzPatrick, Paul Esswein and Alexia Sanchez.
CLICK HERE to get tickets! And check out the write up on Broadway World HERE.
Thanks to Jennifer Jancuska and her miraculous group of BringAbout artists, Joél Perez and I were invited to workshop our new show LOST CITY RADIO for two days in a rare opportunity to hear and see work on its feet early in the development process.
Thanks to Jennifer for her leadership and choreography, to Scott Wasserman and his music team for bringing these songs to life for the first time EVER, to the incomparable Taylor Iman Jones for giving me all the chills with her epic performance, and all the performers for reminding me what real talent and artistry feels like.
We’ll have footage to share soon, but in the meantime, check out photos of the process!
I was thrilled to be the special guest on this week’s episode of “In Between The Lines,” a phenomenal podcast that showcases new Musical Theater Writers, lead by the fantastic duo of Laura Josepher and David Sisco. They featured my song “Erica Save Me,” performed by myself and the brilliant Alysha Umphress, as part of their “Duets” episode, which you can now listen to in full on SoundCloud! My segment begins at 7:45!
Tune in for other duets from Adam Mathias Brett Ryback, Brad Alexander and David Alan Davis!
I had a blast writing this song with David Kamp for La Jolla Playhouse celebrating that we can all taste the imminent return of Live Theater! It's coming y'all! Thank you to the ridiculously talented Storm Lever, Joél Perez, Raymond J. Lee, and Allison Spratt Pearce for bringing it to life!! And thank you to Eric Keen-Louie and Gabe Greene for giving us the opportunity! The song starts around 2 minutes in!
While this song was written in 2011 for my musical AFTERLAND, the unaltered lyrics feel extremely prescient right here, right now, as we approach the end of a contentious election and the prospect of millions of votes not being counted. My friend Nic Cory had the brilliant idea to make a video of “Old Country” to promote ProtectTheResults.com, and Katie and I said HELL YES! It’s a rollicking ride of a video that I hope you enjoy, and please make sure your vote gets counted!!
FEATURING Benjamin Velez, Katie Hathaway, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Joél Perez, Emma Hathaway (Fiddle), and Antwayn Hopper (Narrator) ANIMATION by Jay Marks / EDITING by Roberto Araujo PRODUCED & DIRECTED by Nic Cory
Aryanna and I were lucky to be able to share two songs from our musical BORDERLINE, along with our director Sarna Lapine, as part of the NY Theater Barn’s New Work series! They’ve already featured 50 new musicals in development and we were honored to get to join that line up. We chatted about the origin of the show, and what the process has been like thus far. Plus, we featured two kick ass performances from Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) and Bryonha Marie Parham (Prince of Broadway).
You can watch the full show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSBLoNYG5Gs
Our section begins at the 17:00 Minute mark! Thank you to the wonderful Joe Barros and Jen Sandler for having us on!!
I’m excited to share that Kiss My Aztec will be presenting a digital version of our opening number as part of Playbill and The Broadway League’s upcoming ¡VIVA Broadway! concert!! Directed by Sergio Trujillo and hosted by Andréa Burns, the concert special is packed with star-studded performances to mark milestones and contributions by the Latinx community to Broadway and theatre at large. Some of the MEGA stars involved include Lucie Arnaz, Gloria Estefan, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Thalía!!
The concert will premiere on Playbill.com, Playbill’s YouTube Channel and on The Broadway League’s website (Viva.Broadway) on Thursday October 1, 2020 at 8PM ET and remain available for viewing until Monday October 5 at 8PM ET.
I’m thrilled to be one of the three recipients of this year’s Thom Thomas award, honoring the late Playwright and Screenwriter Thom Thomas. Thank you to the Dramatist Guild Foundation for this honor, which is a lifeline of support during this time of Covid when the theater world is facing an uncertain future. Congratulations to my two fellow awardees, Erika Dickerson-Despenza and Julia Meinwald!
In this time of crisis, quarantine, and social distancing, BroadwayWorld featured a video of my song “Wanna Go Out?” from BORDERLINE in their Living Room Concert series! It feels like an apt song for these times when instead of going out, Anna and Jesse decide to stay in. Thank you to David Gardos for helping with the guitar arrangement, and to Micaela Diamond and Nathan Salstone for recording this together from their isolation. They do me proud!
Check out the feature on BroadwayWorld’s site here!
We’ve also posted the video on YouTube:
I’m am OVER THE MOON to be a recipient of one of this year’s Jonathan Larson Grants. Everything that it represents and everything that it does to elevate new work is what gives me hope when working on challenging new shows that may not seem at first to be the usual fodder for a musical. Thank you to the American Theater Wing for this crazy ridiculous honor, alongside the talented Rona Siddiqui, Anna K. Jacobs, and The Bengsons!
Kate Baldwin was there to introduce us with a beautiful speech about Fred Ebb.
I’m still reeling from Monday night when I had the privilege to accept the 2019 Fred Ebb Award and share some songs from my musical Borderline. Thank you to everyone who was there to share it with me and to my phenomenal performers Sarah Lynn Marion and Matt Dallal and my MD David Gardos for their extraordinary talents making me look good!! Nights like this don’t come often or at all when you’re an aspiring writer, so I’m feeling gobsmacked, grateful, and hella lucky that some stars aligned to make me this giddy and humbled on this snowy Monday evening :)
Thank you to Kate Baldwin for her beautiful speech about Fred and what he means to all of us, thank you to Mitch Bernard and the foundation for supporting new writers, and thank you to my co-winner Angela Sclafani for her talent!
I’m OVER THE MOON to be the 2019 winner of the Fred Ebb award, along with Angela Sclafani!!
Kate Baldwin will present the award at the Fred Ebb Foundation's ceremony December 2
Fred Ebb is an icon of the theater whose songs I’ve sung in my head, on the street, in my bedroom since I was a kid growing up in Miami. After living in New York for 12 years now, it still makes me tear up every time I hear “New York, New York” and hear the lyric “If you can make it there you’ll make it anywhere,” a mantra for aspiring artists in New York that rings so true and has been a guiding light for me during many dark moments of doubt. This is a very VERY difficult business to break into, and it takes years and years of trying and trying without results, many failures, many dead ends, and a lot of luck. And while I know things like this award are mostly luck, it’s wonderful to have that affirmation to keep going and keep writing. Thank you to the Fred Ebb Foundation for this honor!
I had a blast presenting material from Borderline at the DGF Fellows Showcase at the Signature Theater! Aryanna and I had a wonderful experience developing Borderline in the Fellows Program over the last year under the guidance of Michael Korie, Larry O’Keefe, and Allison Gold. It was a thrill to see the work presented by our other fellows, such a phenomenal showcase of talent.
Special thanks to Associate Director Signe V. Harriday, Director Candis C. Jones and Music Director Josh Kight, not to mention Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty who created the program in the first place!
You can check out more pictures from the event on Lia Chang’s site or on BroadwayWorld!
1st Row: Michael Korie, Benjamin Velez, Jay Adana, Kit Yan. 2nd Row: Michael Korie, Charles Gershman, Melissa Li, Ericka Dickerson-Despenza, Aryanna Garber, Nambi E. Kelley, Zeniba Now, Rae Binstock, Zack Zadek, Mathilde Dratwa, Laurence O’Keefe. Photo by Lia Chang
Thrilled that “Kiss My Aztec” finally opened at La Jolla Playhouse and that the critics and audience seem to be having a blast! Shout out to my peerless collaborators John Leguizamo, Tony Taccone, and David Kamp. We still run until October 13th, so be sure to check it out if you’re going to be in southern California before then!!
Some review highlights:
“A little like “In the Heights” crashing into “The Book of Mormon” somewhere along “Avenue Q.”
“The show has the vibrant musical diversity (and welcome multi-ethnic mix) of that first show; the R-rated impudence and unfettered showiness of the second; and, along with the buoyant spirit, the fuzzy puppets of the third.”
“Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do” (one of scads of strong tunes by the gifted young composer Benjamin Velez)
“cheeky, salty, irreverent, playfully wicked (even a little scandalous)”
“The most potent musical numbers bookend the piece and provide the most resonance with today”
“You have to be impressed by the palpable energy and ebullience on display”
“fun folklore fantasy that entertains as it touches upon issues that still resonate today.
“This musical has a feverish energy, and biting commentary”
“funny, high energy, bold and brash, deliberately challenging”
“Music by Benjamin Velez, and lyrics by David Kamp, Velez, and Leguizamo have created genre-hopping song infused with salsa, jazz, hip-hop, and more. It's a fitting mix for a show about forced integration of diametrically opposed forces that the show doesn't fit any one musical style.”
“the best part of the show is the songs. Benjamin Velez's music is a rich mix of styles. The melodies please the ear and energize the action”
Excited to have been asked to do a Take Five feature for Columbia College Today and reminisce about those good old days in undergrad!
You can check it out here on their online version.
Aryanna and I are so thrilled to be able to workshop “Borderline” at the O’Neill this summer, and had a great feature done about us and the show in the local paper! Check it out on their site HERE.
Thank you to everyone who made this show possible! Including our fabulous director Jaki Bradley, our incomparable music director David Gardos, our brilliant dramaturg Carrie Chapter, our incredible stage manager Lizzy Lee, and the O’Neill’s Alexander Gemignani and Lexy Leuszler for giving us the opportunity in the first place!
