This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

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

[0:16] Martín Acuña: Jonathan Larson asked how can you make someone take off and fly in one of his songs from Tick Tick Boom, and I, for the past two years, have learned one way to do it, through the power of community. Welcome to the Latinx in Musical Theatre special for Season 3 of Backstage Talk, where we will be featuring artists from across all positions in musical theatre, from several Latin American countries and different Latin heritages. I am proud to showcase my Latinx family. I hope you enjoy.

[0:51] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. I have here with me Andrés Quintero. He was most recently seen in the world premiere of A Crossing at Barrington Stage, and his selected credits include Bat Out of Hell at the New York City Center, Alter Boys the National Tour, Fandango for Butterflies at La Mama New York City, Law & Order SVU, and He Will Hit the Road as Babydoll, an ensemble member of Moulin Rouge!, the first national North American tour. Andrés, I am super happy to have you here. I am honored, utterly honored to have you. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:42] Andrés Quintero: Thank you for having me, Martín. I'm so happy to be here.

[1:44] Martín Acuña: I want to ask you first, what made you choose the thespian path in life?

[1:49] Andrés Quintero: That, I think it chose me. I started at a very young age. I actually don't usually, you know, people come from family of artists or have some sort of connection to the performing arts, and I don't come from a family of performers. I come from a family who likes the arts, so I was exposed to the arts in the way of going to see the ballet and theater and symphonies and whatnot. And when I was very young, I just, I just, I just took a liking to it. And so I started playing the violin when I was seven. And then when I moved to the States, I started doing theater, and I've been doing it ever since, ever since I was seven years old. I love it.

[2:42] Martín Acuña: I want to double click on that part of your journey in musical theater. You started as a musician initially, but then things turned wild. You went as a performer and you ended up in Moulin Rouge! How, tell us a little bit more about that journey.

[3:02] Andrés Quintero: Yeah, I started as a musician and I was really bad at it. And so, but I did it for seven years. And then one day I was, I started high school in the States, in Colorado, and I just kind of was sick of playing the violin because I really was not good. And I just like never got good, but I could, I knew I could sing. I never, I was never, I never sang out loud, but I would sing by myself and I was like, I'm a good singer. And so I auditioned for the musical in my high school and I was a freshman and I booked like the lead. I booked, like they were doing Les Mis and I booked Marius and I was like, oh, and everyone was like, oh my God, you booked a lead as a freshman. And I was like, I guess I'm good at this.

And so the rest is history. I did every single musical and play that I could do in my high school. And then I decided to do that professionally. So I came to New York and studied it at the American Academy of Musical and Dramatic Arts. And then I graduated there and then immediately I started working. I went on tour and, you know, it's been on and off for the, what is it now? 13 years. Yeah. So that's kind of how it all went down. I love it. I absolutely love it.

[4:32] Martín Acuña: So I want to know your approach to performing in musical theater.

[4:42] Andrés Quintero: Yeah. I am an actor first. So, you know, in musical theater, as you know, they always talk about the concept of, if you can't act it, then you sing it. If you can't sing it, then you dance it. And that's what it becomes a musical theater, right? What's what becomes a musical theater piece. So for me, it always starts with the acting. So everything that I do, it's related to the action that I'm trying to do. Some of my favorite musical theater actors are not the best singers. Not, I'm not saying that they're bad singers, but I'm just saying I am focused on their acting and the choices that they're making through singing or dancing. So for me, when I look at a song, when I look at a song, I first look at the lyrics before I even look at the melody.

I'm just like, what are we saying here? What is this about? What am I trying to get here? What's my character trying to get through here? So I always start with the action. I always start with the acting. And that is what's going to determine how I'm going to sing a song or a vowel or a phrase or how long I'm going to, you know, whether I'm going to belt it or where I'm going to like keep it low or whether I'm going to, you know, give it more or less energy or whether sometimes I'm not even going to maybe sing it too much, you know, or whether I'm going to like speak it some more than I would sing it. So acting is my first thing. And then everything else builds from there. I love it.

[6:18] Martín Acuña: So what piece of advice would you tell a younger version of yourself?

[6:28] Andrés Quintero: That's a really good question. I don't, I'm very cautious with that question because I don't, I don't, I think the only advice that I would say, it's just to keep going. Because I'm still searching. And I think just as much as the younger version of myself was searching. And what works sometimes doesn't work some other times. So the only thing that I think that I would tell my younger self, it's just to keep going. It's just to keep exploring. It's to keep researching, to keep learning, to keep growing, to keep exposing himself, to keep meeting more people, to keep traveling, to keep being a human. Because that's what we do as artists is we try to bring human life to the stage. So if you're not a human, a real human, then you can't be a real actor. So I would just say keep going. Yep. Keep going and never ever stop learning and educating yourself about stuff.

[7:29] Andrés Quintero: Yeah, never stop learning. Like I said, it's not just about keep going like professionally, like it's not don't give up. It's just keep going in all senses of life. Keep living, keep growing, keep loving, keep hating, keep exploring, keep doing it all.

[7:51] Martín Acuña: So you've had the chance to perform with a lot of shows. And you moved very young from Venezuela to Denver. I want to ask you, what is visibility and representation for you?

[8:00] Andrés Quintero: Visibility and representation for me is everything. There's different aspects to that answer. First, how it affected me as an actor, Andrés, as an actor. I had a really tough time breaking into the business when I started. Or it was very on and off for me because of the type of representation that there was when I started. So we're talking like 2008. That's when we were starting to see different kinds of Latin representation in the theater. The biggest thing that we had in musical theater particularly was In the Heights. And that was the first time we saw Latin musical theater actors not play either gang members, drug dealers, rapists, or sex characters. And so I had a really hard time tapping into the business when I started because those were the

[9:49] Martín Acuña: Yes, I agree with you and it's just like the beginning of change and sometimes that can take a bit more time to get the ball rolling.

[10:19] Martín Acuña: But we will get, hopefully, a way better place for us in terms of visibility and representation. But how do you think we can increase Latin visibility and representation on Broadway?

[11:17] Andrés Quintero: Right. I think it needs to start from the Latin actors. We need to demand that visibility. Not just on stage or in front of the camera, but behind the camera because really the decisions are made behind the camera. And that's the issue, right? When the problem is you are not going to see accurate or you're not going to see Latin representation or accurate Latin representation if everyone that's behind the camera is white. Because they are going to either not cast us or cast the version of Latin people that they think Latin people are. Which is 95% of the time, let me correct that, 99% of the time wrong because that's who they think we are. And a lot of those times that's why you only see us as stereotypes.

So if we demand for representation behind the table, casting directors, agents, producers, choreographers, writers, associate producers, associate directors, everyone that's behind the table that you never see. Then we will get more people, Latin people on stage. Not just on stage, but telling accurate portrayals of Latin characters. And so that's what we need. And that starts at the bottom, that starts from education, that starts educating young, that starts promoting writers, Latin writers, that starts promoting Latin directors, that starts promoting Latin choreographers, producers. That starts promoting, helping promote youth programs that go to Colombia, Venezuela, the Bronx, Queens, Mexico, and bringing those people to the States.

That starts with helping Latin theater companies, repertorio, companies that are in New York City that do Latin material, Spanish material, giving them money and money, money. That's what it takes because we live in a capitalist society and the real change starts when you get plata, dinero, green, money. That's how it works.

[13:58] Martín Acuña: So what is the most important part of creating Latin characters in musical theater for you?

[14:06] Andrés Quintero: The most important part for me is the activism and visibility factor. There's something about growing and doing and being part of a business where you did not see yourself when you were an aspiring actor, that when you are on stage, you always carry that with you. So I was mentioning to you earlier that anytime you see a bio of mine in any project that I'm a part of, you will always see originally from Caracas, Venezuela, because I always think, first of all, I'm proud of where I come from. I'm proud of where I come from and I am an American citizen. I'm also a Venezuelan citizen. I'm a citizen of the world and I like to give visibility to the parts of me that do not get visibility because of the impact that I think that might have on younger versions of Latin actors.

Some of the best moments I've ever had in my career have been when I have done Latin actors in a play or in a musical about Latin issues like immigration and seeing people in the audience come up to me afterwards and say, wow, I guess I've never even thought about the fact that I've never been to a musical about brown people crossing the border. That never even crossed my mind and I'm like, great, we're here. You know what I'm saying? And we're here for you. So it's about visibility and it's very important to me and it is probably the most important thing and it's probably the reason why I never quit when this job got really hard.

[16:00] Martín Acuña: And thank God you didn't. I think that's the reason why. I think that's the reason why and I also think that's the reason why God or whatever you want to believe in was like, no, you have to stay. No, you have to stay.

[16:16] Martín Acuña: Yes. Andrés, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to amplify your voice, to amplify your talent. I am honored, truly honored to have you here. If someone wants to follow you on social media to contact you, maybe offer you work or see what you're doing, how things will be on the road, on tour, where can they find you?

[16:40] Andrés Quintero: They can find me on Instagram at Andresquin21, the number 21. So Andresquin21. So if anybody wants to offer me a ticket to Bogota, I can be there tomorrow.

[16:58] Martín Acuña: I love it. And one last question before we wrap up, which are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[17:06] Andrés Quintero: Oh, wow. I hate this question, but I will answer it. Don't judge me. You know, I love my pop musicals. So No Order, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, In the Heights, Gypsy. And honestly, I like Moulin Rouge. I think Moulin Rouge is a great musical.

[17:32] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I loved it, honestly.

[17:35] Andrés Quintero: It's pretty amazing, actually.

[17:38] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I hated the movie, but the stage version is amazing.

[17:42] Andrés Quintero: Don't say that! That's my favorite movie!

[17:45] Martín Acuña: I know, I'm sorry. The movie and I are not good together.

[17:51] Andrés Quintero: You liked the stage musical?

[17:53] Martín Acuña: Yes, I loved it.

[17:55] Andrés Quintero: It was great.

[17:56] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I absolutely love it. Andrés, again, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for being here. And I cannot wait to see the success that is waiting for you in the future. Thank you for being here.

[18:11] Andrés Quintero: Thank you so much, Martín. I appreciate you.