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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hello there, and welcome to Backstage Talk, a podcast about performing arts, films, and other things. This is your host, Martín Acuña speaking. Welcome to the first episode of this podcast. I've named it Episode 0.1, Introduction, or Introducing Me. The purpose of this first episode is to, I've been really redundant, to introduce myself to you, so you get to know me better and why I do this podcast. The first thing you will need to know about me is I am a 25-year-old performing artist and filmmaker from Bogota, Colombia. I recently graduated from college, and this is my first project out of school, so I am excited. I've never done a podcast, and I've re-recorded this episode many times because I am also a perfectionist, so bear with me if I ever commit a mistake.

I do not do it on purpose, but I'm doing this to have fun. So, what I've done and prepared for today is my top five favorite musical theater plays, and then I want to explain a bit the reasons why I am doing this podcast, and finally, before I say goodbye, I want to leave you with a recommendation of a musical that is right now in New York. So, let's start.

[1:44] Martín Acuña: My top five favorite musical theater plays. The first one is The Lion King. This is the first musical I ever saw on Broadway. I saw it on my second time in New York. I was traveling with my dad, my brother, and my grandmother, and one night my dad walked us to the Minskoff Theater entrance on 45th, and he took out of his pocket an envelope with three tickets, and he was like, guys, I've seen this before. This is your turn to see it. The Lion King is my favorite Disney animated movie, and I was really excited, and the moment I stepped into the theater, I couldn't stop crying, basically. I was in the staircase, and if you've ever been to the Minskoff Theater, you will remember the giant Mufasa mask that is on the ceiling of the entrance, and I remember, like, getting all nervous and getting goosebumps, and I cried all through Act One and Act Two.

That was the moment I knew I wanted to be a performer. Like, watching The Lion King on Broadway, I knew that I wanted to be on a stage for the rest of my life, either if it was doing musical theater or doing straight plays, but I knew I wanted to be a performer for the rest of my whole life. I have done several papers in college about this musical, so I know a lot of facts about that director, the performers, and the people that worked on the music. So, what I really love about this musical is Julie Taymor's innovative way of mixing the costumes, the animal costumes, into the performers' bodies. That is the first thing I want to talk about inside The Lion King section, because I really do think the art and the custom-making of this musical is a land of discoveries for Broadway.

Secondly, the music work Julie Taymor did with Lebo M, the African musician, Elton John, and Hans Zimmer is absolutely amazing. My favorite songs from this musical are Nala's Shadowland. I think this is an empowering anthem to never give up, even when you're in rock bottom. And my second song is Simba's Endless Night. I don't know why I love it so much, because Simba speaks about abandonment, but I think that when you are in the lowest low you can ever be, the only thing you can rely on is yourself. And I think what Simba's doing in this song is exactly that. He is knowing that even if he feels alone or lonely, he has himself, and he will have to fight for what he loves, doing it by himself.

[5:00] Martín Acuña: Moving on to my number two on the list is Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Tom Kitt was the composer and Brian Yorkey was the writer. He wrote the book and the lyrics. I think they do a great, amazing couple. I got the chance to see an adaptation of this musical in Madrid back in December 2018. I saw it in Spanish and I loved the translation. I think it was really faithful to the Broadway or the English original musical. That was one of the things that I really enjoyed. Right now Tom Kitt worked on the musical arrangements for Jagged Little Pill. I got the chance to see that show a couple of weeks ago in January in New York. I think that Jagged Little Pill will be one for the books, and I'm preparing an episode only on Jagged Little Pill, so be sure to be back to listen to that episode, because I'm going deeper on why I loved it so much.

Back to Next to Normal, my favorite character from this musical is Gabe. It was originally played in the Broadway cast by Aaron Tveit, and Aaron Tveit, if you ever listen to this podcast, I saw you three weeks ago in Moulin Rouge. This is the first time I ever saw you live, and I just need to tell you that you are a total inspiration for me. You're the reason I am a performer. I've followed you since Next to Normal back in 2008, and I just need to confess my love for you, and you are an amazing performer. Your talent is overwhelming, and since I got into this musical theater vibe, you were one of the first performers I ever followed. You're the reason I am a performer. And one funny story, I saw Moulin Rouge on a Friday, and the next day I was walking in New York.

I was going to see another off-Broadway musical, and I was walking through 53rd Street, and suddenly I listened to someone's voice. He was on a call on his phone, and he had his AirPods on, and it was snowing a lot, so everyone was like fully covered, only faces showing. And when I listened to his voice, I instantly knew I know this person. And I turned around, and behind me, it was Aaron Tveit himself on a call. And to this day, I do regret not stopping him and interrupting his call just to say that I love him. But the funny part is, and this is going to sound really stalker, and maybe I am a bit, but we were at the entrance in the lobby of a really big building, and the entrance had these big windows. And when I saw that it was Aaron Tveit, I stopped my tracks, turned around, and waited for him to hang up.

[8:20] Martín Acuña: When he did, he instantly ran into the building's entrance, and I didn't get the chance to talk to him. And I had spare time, so I said to myself, let's wait. Moulin Rouge! has a show today at 8, so maybe Aaron Tveit will leave the building to go to the theater at 6, 6:30. This happened around 5 p.m., and I was like, okay, I'm going to wait until 6 p.m., until he leaves the building to tell him that I love him. And I waited. It was snowing, it was freezing, and I waited for over an hour, and he never left the building. To this day, I do not regret waiting. I do regret not interrupting his call. But yeah, a lot of musical theater geeks will understand my feeling that when you've followed an artist or performer for such a long time, you can recognize them anywhere, and you would do anything to get a selfie or to get an autograph.

So yeah, that's my story with Aaron Tveit. Moving on into my third favorite musical. It's a classic, and it's Singing in the Rain. I love this musical because I love tap dance. I took a lot of classes back in college only on tap dance, and I did a lot of papers about tap dance history. And specifically from this musical, what I love is not only the performance making. I saw this in Paris. It was translated to English, but it had subtitles in French. And they do honors to Gene Kelly's choreography. Gene Kelly is one of my forever favorite dancers. He is the reason I started tap dancing. I do remember when I saw Singing in the Rain and American in Paris for the first time, and I saw Gene dancing, and he was the reason I began taking tap dance.

Now, my next musical is another work from Elton John. So you may recognize it and may know that it's an amazing musical, and it's Billy Elliot. I love the movie, and first I saw the musical recorded in West End in London. I saw the movie. It was on Netflix, and then I got the chance to see it in Madrid back in 2018. Another fun fact about this musical is that I saw it in 2016 when I was taking my ballet course in college. And I remember telling my teacher that all I ever wanted to do in ballet was to have a perfect pirouette. And having that, doing that, he walked me through the mechanics of how to do a pirouette, and then I started training. But it wasn't until I saw Elliot Hanna doing pirouettes and doing fouettés in the live version of Billy Elliot that my body fully understood the technique about doing a pirouette.

So yeah, that is why I love Billy Elliot, because it helped me get a perfect pirouette. Now, last but not least, the award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. One of the things I love from this musical is the pop sound it has. I think Pasek and Paul are amazing writers and amazing composers and amazing lyricists. I saw this also in 2018 in New York when Taylor Trench and Alex Boniello were playing part of the cast. And specifically from this musical, what I loved was one song, and it's the end of Act 1, and it is You Will Be Found. I think this song is an anthem for all musical theater geeks, because we've all wanted to belong somewhere, or some community, or someplace. And this song has been a source of strength for me when I am in my deepest lows.

One last thing to end this top five favorite musical theater list is the five of them have cast recordings. If you have the chance to listen to it, do it. They are amazing. The music is amazing, and you've probably heard at least one song from the musical. Now, I'm going to explain really quick why I am making this podcast. I've always wanted to start writing a blog, or doing a podcast, or getting my critics somewhere. I've had a lot of conversations with my dad. He has been the most supportive person ever in my life, and he has always been there when I start talking about a performer, or an actor, or a director, or a production, or a film. And he always says that I really know a lot of details about everything, and that is why I wanted to start this as a podcast that has reviews and recommendations of theater plays, or a movie, or a series, or a documentary, based on what I have studied in college.

I also did, besides my Performing Arts Bachelor, I did a Communications Bachelor with a concentration in Filmmaking, and what I mostly did was write stories. So what I do first when I see something is go to the story and then start talking about performers, about the direction, about the performance making, about the costumes, the art, or the hair and wigs. So yeah, this is my first attempt at doing something like that. I started writing reviews about shows back in January when I was in New York for a week, and I'm gonna leave all my social media around if you want to follow me, if you want to text me. I always reply because I love getting to know new people. I do a lot of networking through Instagram.

[15:03] Martín Acuña: Well, thank you for listening. This is me saying goodbye, but I am not going to leave without leaving you a recommendation about a show that I saw in New York, and I absolutely loved it. Romeo and Bernadette is a new musical that takes the traditional Romeo and Juliet to Brooklyn in the 1960s. I loved the music. I think it's really well written, both the music and the book. The lyrics are amazing, and it's really clever. It's really fun, and part of the cast was debuting on a New York stage, so congrats. I think that Nikita Bershteyn and Anna Kostoky's work in Romeo and Bernadette is just amazing. I was starstruck with the talent of these two performers. And, well, this is the end of the first episode. Thank you for listening. I hope you're back to another Backstage Talk episode in the near future. This is Martín Acuña, and this is goodbye. See ya.

[16:17] This is an ad from Anchor.fm, the app and the platform that has helped me do the podcast. If you want to start doing a podcast, this is the app for you. It has a lot of tools. It can help you edit and record on your phone or on your computer. And, yeah, it's amazing. Go check it out.