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[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.

[0:50] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is Felipe Salazar. He is a Colombian musical theatre performer, director, and educator. He is now the director of Misi Producciones, one of the biggest musical theatre academies in the country. And he now leads her aunt, María Isabel. May she rest in peace. Pioneering efforts to create a musical theatre industry in Colombia. Felipe, I am truly honored and happy to have you over. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:22] Felipe Salazar: Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to be here with you.

[1:27] Martín Acuña: So, tell us a little bit about what made you choose the thespian path in life.

[1:33] Felipe Salazar: Well, I didn't have much of a choice, because my family was very guided to music. My grandparents, my parents, my aunt, everybody was into music. Everybody played instruments and sung, as well as dancing and enjoying life through music. Not professionally, but very, like, in a lyric way. And so, just at four years, I was introduced into music. And then I started singing, enjoying life through music. And then, just by, like, what happens in life, I ended up here in the musical theatre industry. And it already has been 35 years of working hard in this musical theatre industry. I love it.

[2:24] Martín Acuña: But let's click, let's double click on those 35 years of your work in musical theatre. Tell us a little bit about that journey in musicals, from where you started, all the way through being the lead head of this big production company that is Misi Producciones.

[2:45] Felipe Salazar: Well, I started as a kid, singing and dancing in really, like, basic shows, back there in 1985. And right now, and then the journey started, the company got bigger, and we started doing bigger musicals. And then at, I remember, like, in 2000, around the year 2000, we started doing like repertoire musicals. We started working on, like, West Side Story. We worked on Oliver, The Sound of Music, like, typical repertoire musicals. And then we started on touring our own musicals. We started touring our own musicals around Colombia and around different countries around the world. And now I'm here leading this company and still performing and still teaching and guiding, like, this musical theatre environment here in Colombia.

[3:48] Martín Acuña: Yeah, and it's been an amazing wild ride, not only for you, but the whole company. And I want to know, what's your approach to directing, performing, and educating in musical theatre?

[4:02] Felipe Salazar: Well, it's a tough mission, but it depends on what you have done in, like, in this industry. I have been blessed because I have been able to produce, act, teach, lead, and guide this whole business company around musical theatre. So I have learned about every aspect of these little sections that you have been talking about. And this mission is really, like, it's hard, but it's encouraging because you can, you're always, like, finding new challenges. And it's a defying world and a defying environment because we're always, like, cultural needs in South America are always, like, hard to develop and hard to lead and hard to move and to let them get bigger. So it's always a challenge, and it has been really a journey.

And learning, I haven't stopped learning, like, for my entire life. Every day teaches us a lesson and teaches me, personally, a specific lesson. So it's really, really encouraging, and it takes a lot of your time and a lot of your stamina, but it always gives back a lot in terms of seeing kids getting lessons and starting to learn more about musical theatre and getting your audiences to see great musicals. And, like, looking back and seeing that you have done so much work that has, like, getting this company to the level that it is right now, and letting musical theatre, like, being established in a country where cultural and performing arts needs are not as important as so much more. So it has been really a journey.

[6:10] Felipe Salazar: Yes, and I love it, and I absolutely agree with every single thing you've said. So what would be a piece of advice you would tell a younger version of yourself?

[6:24] Felipe Salazar: I would certainly tell the younger version of myself that be focused in the present, in enjoying life at the time, not being, not thinking in the past nor the future, just enjoying the present as a gift, because the present is a beautiful gift, and it lets you, when you're right here and now, you just are enjoying, enjoying and fulfilling every second of that present, of that gift. So that would be my greatest advice for that younger version of me.

[6:59] Martín Acuña: Yes, I agree with you. So you've had the chance to perform and take shows, not only all across Colombia, but also to other countries. You've mentioned before that you could have a performance at the Lincoln Center in New York. So in terms, or in the big topic of Latins in musical theater, what is visibility and representation for you?

[7:24] Felipe Salazar: Well, visibility is just letting you, letting you be present and like being just in a place where someone can see you. I think that right now, and like with all this pandemic environment, I think that internet is a great like world where you can make yourself visible, but it's not enough. You have to get yourself visible on stage for performing arts and for musical theater and for Latin culture.

[8:02] Felipe Salazar: So I think visibility has, maybe it could start in a virtual environment, but you have to move fast into a real environment and get into stage. But in terms of visibility, it's just letting everyone see you, letting the most people around, like getting to see you. That's visibility. And representation is just, I think for me, it's basically taking your own culture, your cultural basis and like your cultural, just pillars in order to show them to other cultures and other people. That's representation, taking your culture to different cultures and different countries and show your culture, not get immersed into a different culture, but take your culture to different people and different environments and different countries around the world.

That's representation. So in that order of ideas, under the premise of immersing and bringing the whole culture part into an industry like Broadway, how do you think we can increase Latin visibility and representation on those stages? I think it takes a lot of work and in this pandemic environment, it will take a little bit of time to get into that. But I think that the best way to get visibility and representation in the Broadway environment is to try to get some space around there to take our culture over there, not to show the American culture through Latin interpretations, but to take the Latin culture. I mean, the different cultures that we have around South America and Latin America. I mean, Mexico has a different culture.

Colombia is different. Chile is different. Argentina is different. Brazil is different. Every culture is different. So I think that taking your own culture and making it possible to be on stage on Broadway, that is like the cherry on top of the ice cream in terms of visibility and representation. And it doesn't have to be like in a huge stage and with a huge musical for a beginning. You can do it on a small stage, maybe community theater, but just get a show or a musical piece where your culture is visible and your culture is visible and represents a whole country or a whole region for everyone in Broadway or on Broadway or in New York City to start to know that culture, not to let you be a Latin interpreter, like getting to interpret different American culture representations, but to take your own culture over there and let them see you and see through you a whole culture and a whole country and a whole region.

[11:09] Martín Acuña: Yes, I absolutely agree. And I'm really happy that you have this other point of view towards visibility and representation, Latin visibility and representation on Broadway. So what is the most important part of creating Latin characters in musical theater?

[11:27] Felipe Salazar: I think that the importance of having Latin characters, it's like a redundance around the questions that you asked me before, because the importance of that Latin character is to get that Latin culture, to show that Latin culture, to let the audiences know the culture through your interpretation, through a Latin interpreter. And that's very important because when you get to a different country and you start to get immersed into that culture, you start losing your roots, your cultural roots. And it's very important for us, for the region, for the whole region to get established and to let the whole world know that we can produce musical theater and our own musical theater. It's great to take those interpretations, but to, through those interpretations, let our culture be seen on those stages.

[12:31] Martín Acuña: Yes, absolutely. Felipe, thank you so much for coming over. If someone wants to contact you to see more of the work that you're doing, more of this production company, where can people find you and get more information?

[12:46] Felipe Salazar: It's very easy. We're clearly visible in our website, www.misi.com.co, or our Facebook and Instagram accounts, at Misiproducciones, where you can find everything about our musical theater developments, every step of our way through the year. And you can contact us through those channels whenever you like. And we are at every corner of the world, visible for everyone through those virtual channels.

[13:29] Martín Acuña: Awesome. And last question before we wrap up, what are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[13:37] Felipe Salazar: Well, I have like two lists for me, which are my favorite musicals which I've seen, but I haven't interpreted, and my favorite musicals that I have been able to perform. So in that first list, I would certainly place Les Miserables. I would place Wicked. I would place The Phantom of the Opera as a classic. Definitely, I would place Kinky Boots, which I love. And maybe I could include, which I just remembered, The Book of Mormon, which I love that show as well, because they make that comic version, that comic version of things, and with great music and a great book, make really, really, and they make a really great musical around it. And for my list of the performed shows, I would certainly put in first, in the first, like, step.

Yeah. Yeah, first place or step, La Más Grande Historia Jamás Cantada, which was a show which we took to Lincoln Center in 2012. And it was beautiful. I performed Jesus Christ in that show, and it was absolutely beautiful. Disney shows, which I performed Beast in Beauty and the Beast, and the Genie at Aladdin. And I also did Danny in Greece, which I loved. I also played Riff in West Side Story, which I enjoyed a lot. And I think those are my favorites.

[15:11] Martín Acuña: Awesome. Felipe, thank you so much for coming over. Thank you so much for giving us your insights on this topic of Latinx in musical theater. I cannot wait to keep seeing you not only perform, but take this company to new places. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for building and paving a way for musical theater in our country here in Colombia. Thank you so much for coming over.

[15:39] Felipe Salazar: Thank you very much.

[15:43] 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.