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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi everyone, I am Martín Acuña and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:10] Martín Acuña: Hey, hey, hey! Welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is, you can see both of our faces if you're watching the video, but I think that the emotion is pulling through the audio because we are over the moon to be in this interview. We're so excited! We are so, so excited. I have here with me Marilyn Caserta. She is thrilled to bring her Cuban-Italian roots to Broadway and to the musical theater world, specifically to the Queendom because Marilyn is the universal alternate on Broadway, on Aragon, and the Bolin Tours. We have seen her also in Radio City, Christmas Spectacular, West Side Story, Cabaret, and a lot of other shows. Also, Marilyn is the recipient of the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Swing for her Broadway debut in Six, which, congratulations, that is amazing!

[1:12] Marilyn Caserta: Thank you so much. Thank you.

[1:13] Martín Acuña: That is insane. I mean, and I'm just between nervous and ultra excited to have you over. So, Marilyn, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:25] Marilyn Caserta: Thank you, Mateen. It is such an honor to be here. I've really been so excited about this for a few days, so I can't wait to get into it.

[1:33] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. So, let's go back to your roots because you're here thanks to Joella Costa and the BBB press team, so big and huge thank you to all of them. But we know that you're from Miami, too, and you've been on Broadway with Six doing an incredible job as the universal alternate, but let's go back to your roots. Tell us a little bit more about you.

[2:03] Marilyn Caserta: My roots. Okay. Hey, everyone. I'm Marilyn Caserta. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, as are a few of the people you've interviewed on this podcast. Cuban-American. I'm actually Cuban-Italian-American. So, on my mom's side, I'm Cuban. On my dad's side, I'm Italian. And yeah, I lived in Miami until I was 18. I grew up. I'm a Leo, so I love attention. When I was little, I would be stealing the microphone at parties, at family events, performing for my family, being like, everybody be quiet, I have a song. So, I was just like, I knew that I was a performer and my parents could see that I was a performer from a young age. And so, I studied at local children's theater groups and teen groups when I was growing up in Miami.

And I think my love of theater was really fostered there. South Florida has a really fantastic theater education community. There's just so many incredible, talented people, I feel like, who've come from South Florida and who stay there and educate children growing up. And so, yeah, I moved to New York when I was 18 years old and hit the ground running and trained there and started auditioning. And that's how we've come to be where we are here. It's been such a crazy journey.

[3:23] Martín Acuña: I love it. I need to ask, how does your work, you can see my nervousness, but how does your brain work to cover almost every single role on a show like Six? I need to understand it. I literally do not know. Genuinely, this is a question I get asked as if I have the magic answer. People are like, how do you do it? And I'm like, girl, I don't know. I think it's one of those things that, and yes, at this point, I have given myself the credit and said, okay, you've put in work, you definitely have the ability to swing. I think it's a special ability that people have. But I also think you don't really know that you could do it until you are quite literally thrown into the deep end and made to do it.

Six was a first of a lot of things for me. It was my first show back out in the pandemic. It was my first pop contemporary musical. It was my first time swinging a show. It was just a lot of firsts. And at the very beginning, there was a lot of doubt. I wasn't sure. I called my parents many a time being like, I don't know if this is for me. I don't know if I can do this. And somehow, you know, with organization and notes and charts, and I've been able to kind of separate each of my tracks and almost like put them in little compartments in my brain and being like, okay, this is what my entire show looks like when I am Aragon on Broadway. This is what my entire show looks like when I'm Cleves.

And I think being okay to put some in the back burner while you're focusing on the others is also like part of the gig. Like I need to, you know, I sometimes need like a minute to reset and be like, okay, I'm going to this company and I'm going to be playing this role. So now I can refresh that. And it's okay to put these over on the side and come back to them. You know, it's an ever-changing thing that I think I discover. I've been doing it now for several months and I think I just discover new ways to make it a little easier on myself every day. It's a crazy job. It really is.

[5:31] Marilyn Caserta: It is. I mean, being a performer alone for one single character is a big thing, but for six, I mean, it's mind-blowing, mind-blowing, but I love that. Can you tell us a little bit about like your audition process and your Broadway debut and going to the other six companies and all of that?

[5:46] Marilyn Caserta: Yes. My sixth journey has been nothing I could have ever anticipated it being like. So like I said, coming out of the pandemic, I had not really sung a lot. I had kind of taken time off as we all did, you know, in our own ways. And the audition for six came in at the summer of 2021. So we were still, you know, just coming out of lockdown and it was for the cruise ship production of six. One of the cruise lines, it was going to be their first voyage out and they were casting the show on the ship and they were auditioning. It was going to be the second ever American cast of six, the first being the Broadway company. And so these auditions were the wildest auditions. It was for the Broadway team.

It was for the cruise team. Everyone was in that room. It was like six rounds of callbacks. There were so many people there. And I just remember walking in and being like, I don't know if I'm going to get this. We're just going to give it a shot. And by the sixth callback, I was like, this might happen. This is crazy. And a few months later they called and said, all right, we have a position for you as an onboard swing in six. And I ended up getting on the ship and doing the show on there for the first time with the most incredible cast. Those girls are absolutely the most talented people I've ever known. I call them my forever Queens because they're the ones that I started this six journey with.

And we were actually on the ship for about four months. And because of COVID and other things, we left the show early. We left the ship early. And I kind of at that point was like, okay, that was my time of six. We're moving on. That's when I did West Side Story at another theater in North Carolina at Flat Rock Playhouse and had kind of just switched gears and been like, all right, we're doing something else. And 10 days after I closed West Side Story, I'm back at home in Miami. I'm like literally napping with my dog. I wake up from my nap and go to get my phone that had been charging. And when I kid you not, I had 30 missed calls from my agent. She was messaging me through Instagram, through Messenger, through texts, like FaceTime calls.

I was like, what is happening? And I finally call her back. I'm like, hello, is everything okay? And she goes, hey girl. I remember she was trying to be so chill. She's like, hey girl, what are you doing? What's up? Is there any chance you could maybe be in New York tomorrow morning by 10 a.m.? And I was like, why? And she was like, so Six on Broadway called me that they're having an emergency right now on Broadway and have lack of coverage. And they just reached out and asked if you could be here in a rehearsal room tomorrow. And I remember my sweet parents, I was sitting on the phone, my jaw probably on the floor. My parents were across from me, both like gripping each other, just like, like none of us knew what was happening. And I was like, yes. Cause that's the only, my brain couldn't process what I was being asked, but I was like, I'm going to say yes and figure it out.

[9:04] Marilyn Caserta: Yeah. Yeah. You'll figure out the flights or transportation or whatever. You would have gone into New York in a bike if it was necessary. And bless my agent, Katie. She calls me. She's like, I already have a flight. I've been looking up flights. Like we can do this. We can take care of this. And I was like, okay. And the one thing I remember asking, just sitting there, I was like, can my mom come? And she was like, yes. And so my sweet mom, we packed a bag. I have videos of myself that day. Just like I had to call a friend. We were going to go to dinner. And I was like, Hey, sorry. I have to bail. Broadway's calling. Like it was just the most insane night of my life. And woke up at 6 AM the next morning, got on a plane, literally hopped off the plane and went straight to the stage door of the Lena Horne theater.

And I have a few photos. My mom took of me outside the theater of me, just like in my airport clothes, like greasy hair, just like what's happening. And I walk in and the original alternates from the original production are currently on stage doing like a run of the show with Benita, the resident director. And I kind of just walk up and they're like, Hey, Marilyn. So we're just going to plug you in, um, Catherine of Aragon. And that's the, she kicks off the show. They were like, let's just take it from the top and see what you remember. And like, mind you, it had been like six or seven months since I had done the show at all, or played that role or sung the song, whatever. And we just start walking through the show.

And this is the part where I'm like, I can't explain it, but like pat on my back, like muscle memory is an amazing thing. And adrenaline is an amazing thing because when your body needs to do what it needs to do it, sometimes it just happens. And we got through most of the show, not all of it in like a three-hour walkthrough rehearsal. And honestly, shout out to those alternates. Like those girls made me feel so welcomed and calmed. And these are people that I had like seen online and like admired from afar for a long time. And suddenly they were just like, Hey girl, walk there, stand on that X. Come on. And like taking my hand and like helping me out. And I was then rushed into a two-hour dance rehearsal because a lot of the choreography was different from what we had done on Broadway.

I mean, on the ships. So then I was learning new choreography for the show and then thrown into a music rehearsal. And our MD was like, let's come up with new riffs. And I was like, yeah, why not? Let's just make some new riffs. I can do that. No problem. And so that was just like this insane day of rehearsal. The next day I, um, I went to the theater and I watched a put in rehearsal. I watched the girls that I had been working with do a put in. Cause they were like, just sit in the balcony, watch the show. Cause I'd never seen it on Broadway. So I was just kind of taking it in, taking in how it moves. And then the next day was a Saturday and I watched from the house for the matinee. And I remember that's when it started creeping in the, like, what are you doing here?

Like, what, what is going on? I can't do this. Like all those thoughts I had been running on adrenaline and all those thoughts started creeping in. And I remember getting back, like meeting up with my mom after and almost like breaking down, like almost being like, why, what is going on? Like, this can't be real. I don't really know what I'm doing. I can't possibly. And of course, as the universe would have it, a phone call starts coming in and I looked down and it just says like six stage management. And I was like, Oh, and I answer and it's Peyton or incredible stage manager. And she just goes, Hey, so how do you feel about making your Broadway debut tonight in three hours as Catherine of Aragon?

And I was like, yeah, yeah, for sure. Love that for me. And I was rushed to the theater, did an emergency costume fitting. They just styled my own hair. I didn't even have a wig. And I made my Broadway debut on a Saturday night on Broadway as Catherine of Aragon. And my sweet mom was just panicking in the audience right there center. And it was, it was just wild. And I was there.

[13:05] Marilyn Caserta: Ended up doing three shows in the two weeks that I was there covering as Catherine of Aragon and went back home after that to process everything and a few months later got the official offer to come back and be the universal alternate and cover for the roles.

[13:20] Martín Acuña: Oh my god. That is insane.

[13:25] Marilyn Caserta: Insane.

[13:26] Martín Acuña: Insane. Textbook definition of insane.

[13:30] Marilyn Caserta: It's the actor's nightmare. Do you know what I mean? You know how we like have that nightmare where you're like, it's like I get thrown on stage and I don't, I'm not rehearsed and I don't know what I'm doing. My Broadway debut was the textbook actor's nightmare.

[13:40] Martín Acuña: Oh my god. Oh my god. But how exciting at the same time. I mean, it was, it was, wow. I mean, I'm speechless. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that.

[13:54] Marilyn Caserta: And I love that you remember everything with so much detail.

[13:58] Marilyn Caserta: Oh yeah. Because I remember experiencing it and, and thank God my mom was there too, because she kept looking at me saying, this is crazy, but what a story. Like, and it's true. Like, I just remember trying to soak things in. I'm very big into like video journaling, like just taking it in, taking photos, just trying to like, remember what everything is feeling like. And I knew that there were moments I was going to fully black out during that day. So I really tried to like soak in what I could and yeah. I mean, what a story. Like now that I'm out of it, I'm like, whew. But crazy. Yeah. Absolutely insane. I love that. I love that.

[14:40] Martín Acuña: I want to like move towards your heritage as this Cuban-Italian incredible performer. How has your heritage influenced your artistry?

[14:50] Marilyn Caserta: So much. I feel like being Cuban American, especially because, you know, I was born and raised in Miami and I feel like my Cuban culture is really what I know. And I think it's influenced me so much in my artistry, like not to mention the, just the music and the food and the dancing. Like that's something that you throw a Bad Bunny on or Pitbull on in the club. And like, I'm about to throw it up like that. That has influenced me to the core of who I am as a person. But I think like my, my mom immigrated with my grandparents here from Cuba when she was very young and quite literally had to rebuild their lives, had to build everything from the ground up and found so much success. And I think that that's something that has been instilled in me from a young age, that like, there is nothing that is truly impossible, even in the face of adversity, even with the outward things you cannot control.

If you set your mind to something and you work toward it and you take care of those around you and like lean on your loved ones for support, you can achieve that. And I think that that's like a value that I so much carry into my artistry and that influences how I move through this industry every day. Yeah. Just that, that work ethic, that cherishing your family and the people around you who are your support system, whether that's chosen family or birth family or friends. I am one of the, I'm very lucky to have had, have that support system in my, my family that I was born into. And I think that they're so much a part of my artistry.

[16:36] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I love that. I love that. What is for you the best thing about being a Latin artist? Now that you, you've mentioned that also your Italian side has been very much present.

[16:42] Marilyn Caserta: Yes. Well, there's a bite that we have. There's like a, an energy and a fire that I think comes with like my Latin roots and my Italian roots. And I think that that goes so much into the like the, the working hard and the grit and the like desire to be in this industry, because it is a tough one and it requires so much self-care and self-assurance and confidence. And I think that that's something from day one. I always, something that I always come back to when I'm having moments, cause as you get older, sometimes like your confidence and all that can take a hit while you've been in this industry for such a long time. But I always think back to like little Marilyn and who I was being in Miami and being surrounded by my family and just having this level of like, I got this.

And I think, yeah, that's something that I just like carry with me in this business. And I always go back to that, that is like at the core of it. It's just innate being Latin. I think that's just something that we value and we like, yeah, bring it to our lives. I love it. I absolutely love it.

[18:04] Martín Acuña: One of my last questions would be what is your, or who is your biggest Latin inspiration?

[18:09] Marilyn Caserta: Oh my God, my biggest Latin inspiration. Okay. I like, like I obviously grew up learning and getting to know musical theater by watching like movie musicals and listening to cast albums. And I think what was so exciting was like getting to see these like strong Latina women playing incredible Latin roles in these shows. And so people like Rita Moreno and like Chita Rivera and Priscilla Lopez were such inspirations to me. And actually it was an absolute dream come true. Priscilla Lopez is who awarded me my theater world award when I got that a couple of months ago. And I genuinely remember sitting there as she's like giving this speech and like saying my name, being like, I have heard that iconic voice sing, be on so many cast albums.

Like I grew up with the A Chorus Line cast album within the Heights. And like to hear this voice now speaking my name and celebrating my achievements is like, what? Like what an absolute gift. And so I think those are at least in the arts, like my inspiration. And then just my life inspiration is my mom. She is my Latin inspiration. Like my mom is everything to me. I love it. I love it.

[19:32] Martín Acuña: Final question. Yes. What are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[19:40] Marilyn Caserta: It's so hard to pick. I think of course, because I've done these shows and they're so near and dear to my heart. West Side Story has to be up there. Cabaret, I think is definitely one of my top theater shows. I love Phantom of the Opera. What can I say? My dream is to play Christine Daaé one day, putting that out into the universe.

[19:57] Martín Acuña: Oh yes. Manifested because yes. We're manifesting.

[20:03] Marilyn Caserta: Phantom was like one of the first movie musicals I watched. And I just remember being blown away by the story, by the music, everything. Into the Woods. I love Into the Woods. And I think one that's special, and it's a specific production, is the Spring Awakening Deaf West revival on Broadway. Spring Awakening, I think, is an incredible show to begin with, but the production specifically that the Deaf West Theater did on Broadway was so unbelievable. And these actors that came in and the marriage of music and silence and sign language, and the way that they just turned that story into something that meant so much more than the original. It was such a special show to begin with, but that was like, that is the magic of theater. And I think that show specifically is one of my favorites that will always stick with me. I love that.

[21:01] Martín Acuña: Marilyn, thank you so much. So, so much for being here. I absolutely loved this episode. Thank you for your openness. I am still, I think it's going to be a couple of days for me to process your Broadway debut story.

[21:14] Marilyn Caserta: Welcome. Welcome to the club.

[21:17] Martín Acuña: I love it. Thank you so much for being part of this season. And I cannot wait to see you succeed more than you already are.

[21:23] Marilyn Caserta: Thank you. Thank you so much.

[21:30] Martín Acuña: Thanks everyone for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.

[26:10] Martín Acuña: Welcome back to Backstage Talk! Today, we have the incredible Marilyn Caserta with us. Marilyn, how are you doing today?

[26:40] Marilyn Caserta: I'm doing great, Martín! Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

[27:10] Martín Acuña: It's a pleasure to have you! So, let's dive right in. You recently made your Broadway debut in SIX: the Musical. Can you tell us about that experience?

[27:40] Marilyn Caserta: Absolutely! It was surreal. I mean, growing up, I always dreamed of being on Broadway, and to finally step onto that stage was just magical. The energy, the audience—it was everything I hoped it would be and more.

[28:10] Martín Acuña: That’s amazing! What was the moment like when you first stepped on stage for your debut?

[28:40] Marilyn Caserta: Oh, it was a whirlwind of emotions! I remember feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. But once the music started and I got into character, it all just clicked. I felt at home.

[29:10] Martín Acuña: I can only imagine! You mentioned your Cuban-Italian heritage. How has that influenced your journey in the performing arts?

[29:40] Marilyn Caserta: It has played a huge role in shaping who I am as an artist. My background has given me a unique perspective and a rich cultural foundation that I draw from in my performances. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of.

[30:10] Martín Acuña: That’s beautiful. Representation is so important in the arts. How do you feel about the current state of representation in Broadway?

[30:40] Marilyn Caserta: I think we're making strides, but there’s still a long way to go. It's crucial for more diverse stories to be told and for artists from all backgrounds to have opportunities. I hope to be part of that change.

[31:10] Martín Acuña: Absolutely! Speaking of change, what advice would you give to young performers who are trying to break into the industry?

[31:40] Marilyn Caserta: I would say to stay true to yourself and your art. Don't be afraid to embrace your uniqueness. Also, be persistent. Rejection is part of the journey, but every "no" brings you closer to a "yes."

[32:10] Martín Acuña: Wise words! Now, let’s talk about your role in SIX. What do you love most about playing your character?

[32:40] Marilyn Caserta: I love the empowerment that comes with the character. Each of the queens has such a strong story, and I get to portray that strength and resilience. It’s inspiring to bring that to life every night.

[33:10] Martín Acuña: That’s fantastic! Can you share a memorable moment from your time in the show so far?

[33:40] Marilyn Caserta: One moment that stands out was during my first performance. The audience's energy was electric, and I could feel their support. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

[34:10] Martín Acuña: That sounds incredible! As you celebrate your Broadway-Universal Alternate-debut anniversary, what are you looking forward to in the future?

[34:40] Marilyn Caserta: I’m looking forward to continuing to grow as an artist and hopefully taking on new challenges. I want to explore different roles and projects that push me creatively.

[35:10] Martín Acuña: That’s the spirit! We can’t wait to see what you do next. Before we wrap up, where can our listeners find you on social media?

[35:40] Marilyn Caserta: You can find me on Instagram @marilyncaserta. I love connecting with fans and sharing my journey!

[36:10] Martín Acuña: Perfect! Thank you so much for joining us today, Marilyn. It’s been a pleasure hearing your story.

[36:40] Marilyn Caserta: Thank you for having me, Martín! It’s been wonderful chatting with you.

[37:10] Martín Acuña: And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Backstage Talk. Don’t forget to follow us on social media and check out our website for more episodes. Until next time!