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[0:05] Jan Svendsen: Welcome to the Broadway Gives Back Podcast.

[0:07] Jan Svendsen: I'm your host, Jan Svendsen.

[0:10] Jan Svendsen: This podcast spotlights Broadway actors, shows, and organizations in their pursuit of social impact and philanthropy.

[0:17] Jan Svendsen: Join us as some of the brightest lights on Broadway share their stories about their favorite charities and how they got involved and the people and the causes who benefited from these philanthropic efforts.

[0:33] Jan Svendsen: My guest this week made her Broadway debut as Roxy Hart in the hit revival of Chicago.

[0:39] Jan Svendsen: And now she's returned to that show during Broadway's reopening, but this time as Velma Kelly.

[0:54] Jan Svendsen: She's also starred in In The Heights and PAJAMA GAME on Broadway.

[0:58] Jan Svendsen: And she played Chita Rivera in FX's Fosse/Verdon and will soon star in the Apple TV series Acapulco this fall.

[1:06] Jan Svendsen: Bianca is also the Viva Broadway ambassador helping to bridge the gap between Broadway and the Latinx community.

[1:12] Jan Svendsen: I'm so thrilled to have her here today.

[1:18] Bianca Marroquín: Jan, it's so good to speak to you.

[1:21] Bianca Marroquín: So good to hear your voice.

[1:22] Bianca Marroquín: Thank you.

[1:23] Bianca Marroquín: Thank you so much.

[1:24] Bianca Marroquín: Well, I feel so lucky to know you.

[1:26] Bianca Marroquín: You are one of the most beautiful people I know, both inside and outside.

[1:39] Jan Svendsen: Are you game for that?

[1:40] Bianca Marroquín: I'm game.

[1:41] Jan Svendsen: Okay.

[1:42] Jan Svendsen: All right. So what is the first thing you notice about somebody?

[1:46] Bianca Marroquín: Ha.

[1:48] Bianca Marroquín: If they make eye contact with you, their eyes.

[1:50] Jan Svendsen: Yeah.

[1:51] Jan Svendsen: So Halloween is coming up. What is your favorite costume?

[1:55] Bianca Marroquín: I remember I'm very proud of a Wonder Woman costume I made for myself.

[2:00] Bianca Marroquín: I think this was 2014.

[2:03] Bianca Marroquín: And I went to this party at the Soho House I was invited to, and I made it all.

[2:07] Bianca Marroquín: I sewed it, I did it all myself, and I truly felt like a Wonder Woman.

[2:11] Jan Svendsen: You are a Wonder Woman.

[2:14] Jan Svendsen: So Bianca, if I had a time machine and I could transport you anywhere in the world to any time, where would you go?

[2:21] Bianca Marroquín: Anytime with my mother.

[2:26] Bianca Marroquín: And I need her now more than ever.

[2:29] Bianca Marroquín: And so I dream about her a lot.

[2:31] Bianca Marroquín: So I would give anything to have like a lunch with my mother to ask her so many questions.

[2:37] Jan Svendsen: Now you're making me cry.

[2:40] Jan Svendsen: Describe yourself in three words.

[2:43] Bianca Marroquín: Energetic, honest, and music.

[2:49] Jan Svendsen: What do you most give a damn about?

[2:52] Bianca Marroquín: Justice.

[2:53] Jan Svendsen: What is the biggest mistake you think you've ever made in your life?

[2:57] Bianca Marroquín: Being afraid of taking on some challenges in my past during the pandemic, the things that woke me up in the middle of the night were those opportunities that I let go by.

[3:08] Jan Svendsen: And what are you most proud of?

[3:11] Bianca Marroquín: I am most proud of not giving up.

[3:15] Bianca Marroquín: Not giving up, and every time, doesn't matter where, any show that I do right before, I'm very grateful.

[3:23] Bianca Marroquín: I say a little prayer, I'm grateful, and I'm proud of the person I've become and the place where I'm standing now, because now is the perfect moment and is the only thing we have now, now, now.

[3:36] Jan Svendsen: And right now, what are you most grateful for today?

[3:41] Bianca Marroquín: My husband, my marriage, Chicago, my new challenge, Velma, and the audience.

[3:48] Bianca Marroquín: Every time we start that show and I hear them yell and scream, it takes a lot for me not to cry and yell with them.

[3:55] Bianca Marroquín: And just the strength that I am grateful for getting every single night to be able to come up there and be their Velma.

[4:04] Jan Svendsen: I am so happy you're here today.

[4:06] Jan Svendsen: We were talking before this recording that it's been many years since we actually were in person together, and it's just so nice to see you and talk to you.

[4:14] Bianca Marroquín: Finally, I know.

[4:16] Bianca Marroquín: When you come to New York, we have to go get have one of our famous lunches.

[4:19] Jan Svendsen: Let's do that.

[4:20] Jan Svendsen: So I wanted to start with some timely topics.

[4:22] Jan Svendsen: This is Hispanic Heritage Month, and you are the ambassador for Viva Broadway.

[4:28] Jan Svendsen: And you I helped actually start that program back when I worked at the Broadway League, which is how we met.

[4:33] Jan Svendsen: And I wondered if you could just talk a little bit about your role and how the program is doing now, because I'm actually curious to hear too.

[4:40] Bianca Marroquín: Yeah, well, I am very excited on that note to talk about that during Chicago, we're going to have a Viva Broadway night.

[4:49] Bianca Marroquín: I am very proud of Chicago for actually taking it on and dedicating a whole show and a whole evening to Viva Broadway.

[4:56] Bianca Marroquín: We've come a long way.

[4:57] Bianca Marroquín: I'm very proud of that.

[4:58] Bianca Marroquín: Throughout the years, we've done events, and it's our job to sort of let the Latino community know that Broadway is for them as well.

[5:06] Bianca Marroquín: To sort of attract them and let them know that there are Latinos and Latinas representing that people from their community are on Broadway in the productions all over, and to let them know about the latest news, right?

[5:22] Bianca Marroquín: Who's in, who's out, some discounts, what are the events that the latest one that I am so proud of was the Times Square massive concert that we had between shows on a Saturday, my first weekend back in Chicago.

[5:39] Bianca Marroquín: And I'm like, of course I'm there.

[5:40] Bianca Marroquín: I don't care, but it's your first weekend back.

[5:42] Bianca Marroquín: I don't care, I'm gonna do this.

[5:43] Bianca Marroquín: I need to be there.

[5:44] Bianca Marroquín: And I opened the show.

[5:45] Bianca Marroquín: So like when my curtain came down exactly at five, the concert started at five.

[5:49] Bianca Marroquín: I got out of my costume and I put whatever wardrobe big color that I was gonna wear, and I made my way from 49th Street to 44th, and there was the stage and they were waiting for me, and I came out, and it was such an honor to go back in time.

[6:04] Bianca Marroquín: This is about 11 years, 10 years back in time when I was part of In the Heights on Broadway, and I did Daniela for four months, and they allowed me to open the show with Carnaval.

[6:14] Bianca Marroquín: So there to see all the Latin community that came out to support and more, to see this amazing lineup that Luis Salgado and Gabriela Garcia put together.

[6:27] Bianca Marroquín: I was so proud of them for directing this, and then meeting with all the Latin artists backstage and coming together, and you know, it was just it was explosive, and that's when it hit me.

[6:41] Bianca Marroquín: We've come a long way.

[6:42] Jan Svendsen: Yeah, this is just the beginning.

[6:45] Bianca Marroquín: Indeed.

[6:45] Bianca Marroquín: But speaking of that, you know, a few weeks ago we had the Tony Awards, and I was there listening to Matthew Lopez as he became the first Latino playwright to win a Tony Award for The Inheritance.

[6:56] Jan Svendsen: Wow, yeah.

[6:57] Bianca Marroquín: And I started thinking about, you know, there's roughly about 50,000 or so active members at Actor's Equity, but only three percent are Latino.

[7:06] Bianca Marroquín: And the statistics for writers, directors, and producers is even less.

[7:11] Bianca Marroquín: Um, but yet the Latino community makes up 19% of our population.

[7:15] Jan Svendsen: So I just wanted to talk about like how do you think that we can move these numbers to be more representative of our country?

[7:22] Bianca Marroquín: And with Broadway's reopening, what do you think that means for the Latino and Hispanic communities?

[7:28] Bianca Marroquín: Well, of course, there is a big light shining on now with inclusion and diversity, and it's people are speaking up, and people are saying, raising their hands and saying, Hey, what about us?

[7:44] Bianca Marroquín: Hey, everyone, all races and cultures, and I think it's very important to remind everyone that this is, I mean, United States, we're made of everybody, and we're all here and we've always been here.

[7:59] Bianca Marroquín: That's the thing.

[8:00] Bianca Marroquín: You know, like I've been a part of Chicago for 20 years this month, the 24th.

[8:04] Bianca Marroquín: It becomes officially 20 years that I form part of the Chicago family.

[8:12] Bianca Marroquín: And this is the very first time that we have three Latinos on stage at the very same time.

[8:12] Bianca Marroquín: Ana Villafañe's Roxy, me as Velma, and our beautiful Paulo Sot as Billy Flynn.

[8:23] Bianca Marroquín: And they ask me, wow, you know, this is amazing.

[8:27] Bianca Marroquín: And I say, Yeah, it's nice to have more people with me.

[8:27] Bianca Marroquín: For the longest time, I felt in a way like so alone, not until I came to In the Heights was the very first show where I felt part of the Latin community.

[8:41] Bianca Marroquín: Lin-Manuel like paved a huge path, and he's one of these pioneers that said, Oh no, I'm gonna get my voice is gonna be heard, and I'm gonna include everybody.

[8:50] Bianca Marroquín: I'm gonna call upon everyone with this powerful show In the Heights, it's still playing everywhere and it's still sounding.

[8:57] Bianca Marroquín: The movie just came out.

[8:58] Bianca Marroquín: Like it's gonna, you know, it takes people like him to shine lights upon our writers and our choreographers and our producers and Sergio Trujillo, you know, and Salgado, and Graciela, Daniel, and it people have been here all the time.

[9:16] Bianca Marroquín: It's just we need to give them more platforms so they can keep inspiring other upcoming, aspiring professionals, artists.

[9:27] Bianca Marroquín: But I think it's a good time for everybody to step up, step up.

[9:32] Bianca Marroquín: And that's why I feel so proud of everyone and these events, we gotta keep them going, you know.

[9:37] Bianca Marroquín: And I hope that we have more a year because I feel that there's very few productions or events or parties or celebrations.

[9:47] Bianca Marroquín: I think there needs to be all year round and not just in October.

[9:50] Jan Svendsen: Yes, agreed.

[9:51] Jan Svendsen: It should just be a part of our, you know, normal life, right?

[9:55] Jan Svendsen: Well, you know, Lynn and his dad Luis have been guests on this podcast.

[9:59] Jan Svendsen: Anna has been a guest on the podcast and Luis Salgado.

[10:04] Jan Svendsen: So I feel like you know, these topics are so timely and so important to discuss.

[10:07] Jan Svendsen: So I'm really excited that you're here too.

[10:09] Bianca Marroquín: Thank you.

[10:10] Bianca Marroquín: You know, when I thought of the idea for this podcast, I was thinking about philanthropy or social impact, charity, cause, purpose.

[10:19] Bianca Marroquín: There's so many words for this, being of service, giving back.

[10:22] Bianca Marroquín: And I um that's really the main theme of this podcast.

[10:26] Bianca Marroquín: And I wanted to ask you in your personal life and in your professional life.

[10:31] Bianca Marroquín: What causes are important to you and you know, and why do you get involved?

[10:35] Bianca Marroquín: Well, since I, because everybody has a different journey, right?

[10:38] Bianca Marroquín: Of how we got to New York, my journey started in Mexico.

[10:42] Bianca Marroquín: I was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and I started my career down in Mexico City.

[10:45] Bianca Marroquín: The reason I speak English is because I grew up on the border.

[10:48] Bianca Marroquín: So I lived in Matamoros but I would cross the bridge every morning to go to school in Brownsville, Texas.

[10:52] Bianca Marroquín: And that allowed me to grow up with both cultures and both traditions and both languages and here I am now thanks to my mother who was a Latina born in Texas and because of her I have the privilege of having the dual citizenship.

[11:04] Bianca Marroquín: So all that to say that when I was in Mexico City starting my career I started becoming involved with giving back by singing at a lot of benefits and finding those organizations that were important to me like kids to begin with.

[11:29] Bianca Marroquín: And this was my friend's little cousin Andres died of leukemia and then his mother Laura such a warrior, such a warrior started this organization and helps kids with cancer and has always invited me to do all these events to raise money for it.

[11:46] Bianca Marroquín: And that's when I that's the first like sort of event that organization that I became a part of and then I started saying yes to all these people that started including me and asking me for help. I said of course and I'm like but what how much do you charge to sing at this benefit? Nothing if I can people are listening and they want to come hear me sing and if I can help you raise money that is my I mean I've received so much in my own life the support of my parents to do this career to do what I love which is already huge right and all the obstacles and challenges that came my way and it and I'm so grateful for everything I've received my way of giving back is saying yes to organizations that need my help and so that and also for instance something that I did a lot during pandemic was saying yes to all these master classes that people started to ask me for universities and that was my way of giving back after being busy being really busy never really having the time when we were working or pre-pandemic so I took the time to connect on Zoom and give them like a three hour class a dance class and sharing my experiences everything that I've learned and that's what I also oh my god this is the best connection and the best way to give back give it give it to the new generations tell them everything you learned and everything that I learned the hard way so maybe you can save them time or maybe if they're listening and they're and they're willing to open up their minds and learn and receive this from me that is huge for me if I can some way motivate inspire somebody to continue on their path and say hey it's not easy a little girl from Matamoros Tamaulipas got to Broadway if it happened to me it can happen to you right uh when I got married two years ago my husband and I and the invitations gifts they said gifts I said no no no gifts donate to these two organizations which was the aquí nadie se rinde and the other one was when all um the you know the whole situation with the kids being separated from their families down on the at the border and that was my my border so I we found we dug in like looked for organizations and put those links onto our invitations.

[14:04] Bianca Marroquín: And we had people do that. And so any little chance I can get, any invitation I get. Bianca, can you sing at this? Bianca, can you come and speak at this? Bianca, can you whatever? I'm like, sure, I'm there. I'm there. You don't need to ask me twice, but there's nothing there's not on my don't worry about it. I can do it for that. It's just a natural way, also as human beings on this planet to you, you get, you receive, and you give. And that is the normal cycle.

[14:27] Jan Svendsen: To the folks listening to this podcast, Bianca, what kind of advice would you give them? I'm assuming that people listening are interested in philanthropy and giving back. And you know, how do like how do people do that? How do people start? You know, not everybody has your amazing talent. Um, so how should people what advice would you give people to give back?

[14:46] Bianca Marroquín: Even just the um, like whenever I've watched documentaries or whenever I and then I I become very compassionate about somebody's story that inspired me, and I go Google them and I look, how can I help this person? Or and then I find their go fund me or their uh platforms or websites, or you know, and and just supporting that way, just find something that moved you, something that you believe in, somebody that you want to help out, some injustice that that that makes you feel uneasy about and do something about it. That's it. And oh my god, we have our phones, we have the luxury, and it's so easy to to look and explore and Google uh on anything. All the information is out there, it's so easy to find.

And it's just if you're it's just find something that moves you and that you want to make a difference and you want to help this person out. Any little cent helps, even even all these organizations of people helping the children, starving children all over the world, you know, just being a part of something. You don't need to be uh an artist, a singer, or any anything, a talented person, none of that. You just need to have a heart. You just need to have a good heart and the want to give because trust me, that that's the way the universe works. When you give and you help, it comes back to you in other different kinds of blessings in your life. You'll see that it's only natural.

[16:13] Jan Svendsen: Did you do you feel like you learned um or saw it modeled from your parents on how to be a socially responsible person? What did when you were growing up, how like what ex what experiences did you have watching them?

[16:27] Bianca Marroquín: Oh, for sure. First of all, my father is a doctor, um, anesthesiologist, and I would work in my summers as a little girl, put my scrubs on and go to the clinic and and be with the nurses, and they would teach me how to like it with the babies were just born. They would teach me how to, I don't that that thing that sucks out the mucus from the baby. Yeah, well, I don't even like I remember doing that. They would allow me to like hold this like this, and let's make little cotton balls for this, or let's make it for the babies or for the mothers that just delivered. And they would give me little tasks like like that, right? So they they make me work, and then we go to the kitchen, and I'd see all the food being made, and I'd deliver the food with the nurses to the to the patients, and then I would sit and talk to the patients and just talk to them and because they were lonely or whatever, and then they tip me.

I'm like, what is this? Oh, they just said to for the little girl, please give her this. And uh and I started like, why it's just some it's it's a it's a gesture, it's something they're grateful, so they're giving you this. And I started learning about that. I didn't do to do it for the tips. I enjoyed always speaking to people and and making people laugh, entertaining them, spending time with them. And that's my dad, and then my mother, she was the administrator of the clinic, and just watching her how she treated all the nurses and the doctors and how active she was. And then she because we were raised Catholic, and every Wednesday, she would go uh teach catechism. So she would go to poor uh neighborhoods and teach the ladies, give them take milk for them and bring them, you know, things that they were they were lacking, and teach them about how to be a housewife, how to be a good wife, how to be a good mother, how to create their homes and to make them into like homey, cozy places, peaceful, harmonious places for their kids and for their how to run a house.

And so my mom did this a lot. So I watched her and how she every time I went to church with her every Sunday, the way she would speak to all the people on the streets and and talk to everybody, treated everybody equal. And imagine that that was my example.

[18:38] Jan Svendsen: This lady, yeah. I've talked about this on my podcast before, but I also lost my mother, and she was definitely my inspiration as well. So yes, every time they ask me, who do you look up to? Who's your you know inspiration? It's my mom, it's my mom, and just how humble she was, but how gracious and how grand and how super smart and just so classy, but at the same time so down to earth.

[19:04] Bianca Marroquín: So that's what she taught me. I do think that like the seeing that modeled, you know, as a child, seeing that philanthropic, that charitable heart really does make such an impact on people, and that's those small acts of kindness, right? Of just being kind people and giving back.

[19:20] Jan Svendsen: That's right. So let's talk a little bit about the arts. Um, because your career has been amazing, and I did 20 years in Chicago, that's just amazing in that Chicago family. So now you're back in the family again, but you've switched roles this time. So I would have to ask you, how does it feel to play Velma instead of um Roxy?

[19:40] Bianca Marroquín: Oh my god. First of all, I've had the privilege of having this long relationship with the longest American musical running show in you know, Broadway history. So just that alone has been an honor. Roxy, I've grown up with her, I've explored with her. I have it matured in every way with this role. And all of a sudden, after pandemic, they call me and say, What do you think about coming back? But this time as Velma. And I remember just freezing, going, Oh my god, feeling my the butterflies in my stomach. And I knew this was an amazing opportunity. And they said it's gonna be a challenge, but a delicious challenge. And that's and I that's what I always preach. If it scares you, do it. More the reason.

If it scares you, it you should be doing it. Because that's what we're here for. Uh conquering our fears and getting out of our comfort zones because nothing blooms in comfort zones. So if you want to keep learning, growing, it's there. It's it's in the challenges, it's in the uncomfort. So that's why to begin with, I said, Of course. And now it's like a mind screw, if you may, because uh Velma's very different in every way. Her personality, her characteristics, her journey, her path. And then the dance-wise, she's more athletic and she's more aerobic. So the choreography is very, very, very different. She's shot out of a cannon for each one of her numbers, and it's it's just crazy the stamina that I have to, you know, build and also vocally very different, and in many, many, many ways. And at the same time, you have my ex-role right there in front of me the entire time, right?

[21:20] Bianca Marroquín: So in your head, you're going, I know that. I know that. Yes. So what a challenge because my brain wants to go there automatically. I hear an entrance, I hear a music that my every single part of my body responds to. Even if I'm over here not even looking, my arm will want to go on stage if I hear some some imagine 20 years of listening to the same cues. Right. That's my cue to go down the stairs and be ready, or that's my cue to like and and I still go through that. Uh, we've this is our third week, and I'm still my Velmas with pins and email. I have to be super focused on every single number number. Uh Sister Act, Velma takes a stand. There's so so difficult and intricate. And it takes my entire brain to be there because I if I place the chair uh a little off, I kill myself.

You know, I'll hit myself or bruise myself, I'll fall off the chair, I'll something will happen, I'll you know, go out of my center. And that's what's so delicious about it too, being a dancer. Uh, this is what we look for the challenges, the things that'll make us work and sweat and bleed and uh bruises and scratches everywhere, and I it feels amazing because dancers, if it bleeds, it's good, you know.

[22:29] Jan Svendsen: So when you have your Viva Broadway um uh performance um on well, you say October 18th, right?

[22:36] Bianca Marroquín: Yes, October 18th.

[22:37] Jan Svendsen: So some parts of it are gonna be in Spanish, right?

[22:40] Bianca Marroquín: Yes, little little gifts, little gestures here and there to include because I know that we're going to have a lot of Latino press in the house, and uh, not too much. We don't want to, you know, disturb uh you know, go out and turn our show into something different, but just little things to acknowledge and to celebrate and be proud.

[22:58] Jan Svendsen: What do you feel like is on the horizon for you? I know you have a concert coming up in November too, right?

[23:02] Bianca Marroquín: Where's the house?

[23:03] Bianca Marroquín: Yes, thank you. That the Green Room 42. I'm returning this November 10th. It's a Wednesday, my day off from Chicago. Uh, Shannon Lewis is going to stage it for me. She's gonna be helping me, collaborating with me. I can't wait to work with this goddess. I love her and admire her so much. And this beautiful uh young, talented musical director, his name is Sean Forte, and I also invited him. So everything is fresh and new, and I'm very proud of the song list and the story, you know, coming from pandemic, everything that we've learned. I consider myself a different person after pandemic and a very, very fortunate person.

[23:41] Jan Svendsen: Let's talk about that. What if what have you been doing for what I mean? How was the pandemic for you? I mean, I know that's a crazy question to ask, but you know, everybody's had their own story and their own journey through the last 18 months. What's what's happened for you?

[23:53] Bianca Marroquín: Well, of course, you know, it wasn't easy. This is what we came to the world to do, and our mission, the stage, music, dance, singing, working, and all of a sudden it doesn't exist. The curtain comes down, lights are off, and that's it. So everything that comes with it, with the uncertainty of when does it come back? Does it come back? Who am I now? If I don't do this, what's my identity now? What do I do? I don't, and so reinventing yourself and try to focus your energy on other things. So the master classes and the teaching, if you may, became a very important thing in my life, but also my stepkids spending time with them and focusing on them and helping them throughout their experience with pandemic, you know, the kids suffering, not going to school and their friends and the lack of social activities and all of that and being home and helping them with uh doing schoolwork at home and doing their school at home.

[24:54] Jan Svendsen: Yeah. How old how old are they?

[24:56] Bianca Marroquín: And I've got four stepdaughters.

[24:59] Jan Svendsen: Wow.

[24:59] Bianca Marroquín: So now they're 16, 13, 12, and eight.

[25:04] Jan Svendsen: Wow.

[25:05] Bianca Marroquín: So yeah, I ran a whole school at home. And so I was my own Mary Poppins and and Maria and because I did those two shows. Right, I know. So you're conjuring those roles right as you're sitting there. Never did I know they were preparing me. It was like a premonition, right? So life imitating art, which was kind of like spooky. But that's what I that's what I did family and our home. My husband and I were so fortunate to buy a home upstate. So we ran from the city in last July and we were just uh concentrated on building our home and putting our home together and uh getting through the pandemic and making it as fun and um harmonious as we could for the for the girls.

[25:51] Jan Svendsen: Where were you when like the week of March uh whatever March 9th or 10th where were you that week when everything shut down?

[25:51] Bianca Marroquín: I was at Susan Strowman's apartment. We were getting ready to do a workshop for New York New York with John Candor's music them both collaborating and I was very lucky to have been invited to do a role in that and so I had just left her house when then we received the email that evening or in the morning saying, okay, everybody paused. And then I had just finished one of my TV shows in Miami. So that had just concluded. And then I was getting ready to do another concert of mine, which I had to cancel. And all the concerts that I would do, I was doing with John Cander, Chicago in concert, very different from the Broadway version. This is with a symphony. We had done Dallas and we had done Kansas City because he's from Kansas City.

And then we had to also stop at other concerts that I was doing in San Diego. That is is um resuming now in San Diego, actually October 22nd and 23rd, which I will take some time off Broadway to go do this because I already had this before Velma. So I built it into my contract. And so we did do the workshop, the the John Candor and Susa Strowman's workshop during pandemic over Zoom, two weeks, six to seven hours each day from Monday to Saturday. And we recorded three or four takes of every single scene, and we had to learn how to use garage band and order all this lighting equipment and sound equipment, and so that we could do this at home, create our studios, and uh it was very fascinating the way they did this, and we did it, and they did a presentational video in the end.

We were invited to watch in December, and everybody with a glass of wine we watched with the the stars of all of this were really the editors who put together an amazing sh virtual show. And uh, I don't know what's going to happen with that, but I hope something good. But we all learned and it allowed us to still sort of work and connect, sing and dance, and it was it was beautiful.

[28:01] Jan Svendsen: It's amazing how things people have adapted and the resilience, and now the comeback. So it must have been the the first night you were back on Chicago on stage. What was it like with the audience? That like we guess when the curtain came up, it must have been just incredible, right?

[28:15] Bianca Marroquín: Yes, because apart, I mean, it was a new role for me. So I was very nervous about that. And then I'm in the elevator because as everyone knows, the iconic entrance of Velma Kelly in Chicago is to the elevator. And so I'm downloaded into the hole, right? Waiting so from the beginning of the show. And so I hear everything. And I'm right there in between all the musicians, and the audience was just going wild, and I was so emotional, and I was so worried and praying, please God give me the strength to come up as their Velma with all the confidence and the um strength. And that was please allow me to sing this song without crying. You know, because it was so so emotional. We were all so grateful to be back, and it was just a massive emotional explosion in that theater that day and the weeks to follow. It didn't, we thought, oh, it's just it was just because it was the first night back. No, it's still happening.

[29:16] Bianca Marroquín: Wow. It's still happening because we we still have audiences, you know, that are coming back for the first time after missing the theater. It was theater also the lack of theater also happened to them.

[29:27] Jan Svendsen: Exactly.

[29:27] Bianca Marroquín: They were missing it, they missed it, they missed it, and they value it so much to sit and have two and a half hours or two hours and 45 minutes of of um it take them away from their everyday lives to you know to vibrate in another frequency that heals and that exports you and that allows you to dream and it allows you to again be inspired and be motivated.

[29:52] Jan Svendsen: That's so true. I am one of them, so I felt that way for sure. I have to say though, when I went back to my first show, like the first half hour, I was, I don't know, I was having this weird sensation in my body. Like I wasn't comfortable. It took me like a little while to kind of settle in, you know.

[30:08] Bianca Marroquín: Yeah.

[30:09] Jan Svendsen: But then, you know, then it's fine. You're double masked and you're just, you know, trusting everybody and feeling that exchange of energy with your fellow theater goers and with all the people on stage and the musicians and the story. And it really was, it was just incredible.

[30:22] Bianca Marroquín: So well, and I guess we just have all become more flexible. And who knows what'll happen in the next few months or the next year. And um, I think you're a perfect example of how people learn to be flexible flyers, you know, and they learn to pivot. And you did an amazing thing where you had this full life, and then you changed your full life to a digital life and helping your stepdaughters and um cooking and taking care of your plants, and now you're back. And um do you feel like you have a different sensibility right now? Do you feel like there's a different kind of um balance in your life that you want to keep from sort of the pandemic life to the real life or the post-pandemic, whatever we're in right now?

[31:02] Bianca Marroquín: Or sure, living with the pandemic life. Yeah, that's a great question because like I said, I think we all we're not the same people after pandemic and everything that we were allowed to live and to taste, us as performers, gypsies being on the road on on the, you know, on airplanes, living out of the suitcase hotels here and there, all of a sudden we stopped and took the time to live a personal life. You I think we're all gonna miss it a little bit. It's hard to like explain to my my my girls, right? Like, uh sorry I wasn't there. I get home when you're asleep, and then in the morning I try to get up with them and sometimes, but but Velma kicks my butt. So it doesn't allow me, so I have to sleep to recover in every way roxy i could do with my eyes closed literally just had to put my heart in it and that was it my body responded but velma really takes a lot out of me still i i'm not in the moment where i can just do lots of other activities uh right now i can only feed her.

[31:42] Jan Svendsen: I don't think people realize you know how much it takes to become velma right every single performance.

[31:44] Bianca Marroquín: Oh yeah but you know what I'm I'm so proud of you and I I love the fact that you've taken on this new role and this challenge and um you know any last words to people about sort of this idea of being grateful or giving back being philanthropic philanthropic well giving back always like uh take a little bit of time to go out of your little little bubble and see what's going on out there and see how you can make a difference it it's just a wonderful feeling to give back and I think one of the the things that I learned on during the pandemic was paciencia y fe which is uh one of the you know patience and faith in and patience and faith and in in the heights and boy did that come in handy and that was the only way to live and survive during pandemic you know trust that there's a reason why all this is happening trust that there is light after this darkness that there is beauty and art out of this this suffering or pain or this loss um and patience to let it all enroll just let it happen you know do your part but the let the universe do its art and and uh the the best way is also to find find the ways to give back and help somebody.

[33:20] Jan Svendsen: Those are perfect last words. Thank you you. You've inspired me so much.

[33:22] Bianca Marroquín: Oh, thank you, Jen. Thank you so much for being part of this podcast.

[33:28] Bianca Marroquín: Of course. Thank you for inviting me. It was so good to talk to you and to see you again. Love you.

[33:35] Jan Svendsen: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Broadway Gives Back Podcast. Broadway Gives Back is part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Special thanks to my producing partner, writer, editor, and friend Jim Lochner. And thank you to everyone at BPN, including Dori Berinstein, Alan Seales, and Kimberlee Garris. I'd also like to thank Julian Hills from the Bulldog Agency and Eric Becker from Broader Street Music. If you like what you hear, don't forget to subscribe and rate this podcast wherever you stream your podcasts. And on Twitter at Broadway Gives. To learn more, visit VPN.fm slash Broadway Gives Back. Thanks so much.