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[0:24] Joe Rosko: Hi, welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast.

[0:26] Joe Rosko: This is Joe Rosko, founder of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform.

[0:26] Joe Rosko: If you want to try a free trial, go to the website builtforthestage.com or click the link in the description of this episode, and you can work for seven days with your own Broadway fitness coach on an online app.

[0:26] Joe Rosko: So check it out.

[0:24] Joe Rosko: No catch, no gimmicks.

[0:26] Joe Rosko: Builtforthestage.com.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: If you like Built for the Stage podcast, please rate, subscribe, and leave a comment.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: It'd be greatly appreciated.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: All right.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: Please enjoy this conversation.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: We got a vet in the house here.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: Her name is Nina LaFarga, and she's been in 82 Broadway shows, and I cannot wait to ask her all the questions.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: We have uh headphones on here in our studio.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: She's ready to sing some impromptu harmonies together.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: We've been chatting it up.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: Song selection is unknown, but we're just gonna vibe with it and just see what happens.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: Uh she was first seen on the Broadway stage in Aida, rolled on to Sweet Charity, In the Heights, Woman on the Verge, On Your Feet, and maybe that one.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: I love that album.

[1:26] Nina LaFarga: Oh, I love it.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: Frozen is the current show that Miss Nina LaFarga is uh a part of.

[1:26] Joe Rosko: So welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast.

[1:29] Nina LaFarga: Thank you.

[1:30] Nina LaFarga: Thank you for joining us.

[1:31] Joe Rosko: All right.

[1:32] Joe Rosko: First off, out of this list, do you have a favorite?

[1:36] Joe Rosko: Just by chance.

[1:37] Joe Rosko: Not to, you know, say that one was better than the other, but out of any of them where you're like, oh man, just my heart on that one.

[1:46] Nina LaFarga: I mean, I'd have to say In the Heights, for sure.

[1:49] Nina LaFarga: Uh, that was my first original company.

[1:52] Nina LaFarga: It was really one of those experiences that you really hope for as a Broadway performer, you know.

[1:58] Nina LaFarga: We got to really um have some freedom creating our characters, and it was just this awesome blend of great music, people, story.

[2:10] Nina LaFarga: I mean, you know, and it was sort of my family's story too.

[2:13] Joe Rosko: So it was cool.

[2:14] Joe Rosko: Cool.

[2:14] Joe Rosko: How how so was it your family's story?

[2:17] Nina LaFarga: Um, well, similar to On Your Feet, it was you know, similar in different ways.

[2:21] Nina LaFarga: Uh, but In the Heights was the first time I got to be in a show with Latin music.

[2:32] Nina LaFarga: Um and the hip hop as well.

[2:33] Nina LaFarga: It was just uh I love hip hop, so that was awesome that I got to do that on Broadway.

[2:37] Nina LaFarga: There was like this awesome mix of things that I didn't think I was gonna get to do on Broadway, um, and got to.

[2:44] Nina LaFarga: And as far as my family goes, I mean, it's it's a story that many people can relate to, not just Latinos, but um, you know, just there were just so many parallels in the story between my family, how I grew up um in a Latin community, and um, you know, I mean, Abu La Claudia, the cute, you know, the Cuban grandmother, and yeah, you know, watching the dad and his relationship with Nina, and you know, so there were just so many parallels with my own personal life.

[3:16] Joe Rosko: Sure.

[3:17] Joe Rosko: I just saw a recent post of yours on the gram.

[3:20] Joe Rosko: It was six days ago.

[3:22] Joe Rosko: Today's uh the 12th of September, so six days ago, you guys can track that on her insta.

[3:27] Nina LaFarga: Don't be scared.

[3:27] Nina LaFarga: I'm like, what didn't I put on in that?

[3:30] Nina LaFarga: It's just like a cute little TBD of like uh the Today Show, um, going back to a couple of different experiences you had.

[3:37] Joe Rosko: So we're talking In the Heights a little bit, and you said that you got to show Kathy Lee how to dance salsa.

[3:43] Nina LaFarga: Yeah.

[3:44] Joe Rosko: Do do a little like fun recollection of that for us.

[3:48] Nina LaFarga: So any any funny story from that or that experience?

[3:50] Nina LaFarga: I mean, it was just funny.

[3:52] Nina LaFarga: It was just a moment where okay, so Luis Salgado and myself, he was we were partners in the show, and we got to perform a little snippet of um one of our big sections in the club number, and then we got to teach her how to dance salsa.

[4:12] Nina LaFarga: And uh it was just one of those really fun, like improv on TV moments because she's a hoot, and you know we taught her some basic moves, and then of course the cameras went on, and you know, she went you know for it.

[4:27] Nina LaFarga: Went for it, but like improved and was putting in bits, and we just had to like she kind of created her own choreography, which is why she's so funny, and so we just had to improv.

[4:38] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[4:39] Joe Rosko: It was fun.

[4:40] Joe Rosko: Cool.

[4:41] Joe Rosko: Uh, question for you about just maintaining uh I guess it's a mental health question to kind of parallel with fitness.

[4:51] Joe Rosko: Um, some people can be consumed with their fitness or consumed with like their goals that they have, but yet the consumption of it kind of is more of a hindrance than it is a help.

[5:02] Joe Rosko: Something to combat that, I feel like is to find something outside of that to draw towards that will inevitably make what you're focusing so much on better.

[5:13] Joe Rosko: So my question for you is what's important to you outside of the theater?

[5:17] Joe Rosko: Something that you know you take time for, and that it ends up bettering you when you do get to the theater.

[5:24] Joe Rosko: Does that make sense?

[5:27] Nina LaFarga: You mean uh like if what outside of the theater, like a hobby or something that you make time for in your life that takes your focus away from performing, but at the same time it aids your performing, it makes it better because of you taking that time away from it.

[5:48] Joe Rosko: That's a good question.

[5:49] Nina LaFarga: Um I am trying to do that more.

[5:53] Nina LaFarga: I feel like so much of my current life and every day does surround my performing because I'm doing my eight shows a week, but then on top of my eight shows a week, um, I'm doing a lot of other projects and things um that call to me that inspire me if someone reaches out and is doing something cool, you know.

[6:11] Nina LaFarga: I want to be part of it.

[6:12] Nina LaFarga: So a and then, of course, the constant um looking for new things to be a part of, and it's just part of our business.

[6:21] Nina LaFarga: So I feel like I'm a lot of my life is the performing.

[6:26] Nina LaFarga: So yes, I'm always looking for the balance of doing the things that recharge me and center me.

[6:34] Joe Rosko: Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

[6:36] Nina LaFarga: So, yeah.

[6:38] Nina LaFarga: So, and it really depends where I am.

[6:40] Nina LaFarga: Am I in a show?

[6:41] Nina LaFarga: Am I not in a show, which determines what I'm capable of doing more of?

[6:45] Nina LaFarga: I think in a small way, I love meditation, uh, meditate every day, I write in a journaling kind of way as well.

[6:57] Nina LaFarga: Um, these are quick things that I think are ways that I can keep coming back to myself and connecting to myself outside of the work and outside of all of you know what we do here.

[7:14] Nina LaFarga: So that's one way.

[7:17] Nina LaFarga: I do love to take yoga.

[7:19] Nina LaFarga: Um and I also think it's important to be able to step away to spend time with family.

[7:26] Nina LaFarga: Um I'm from Miami, so I like to go down there as often as I can and just kind of do things that feed my soul, you know, be in nature, go to the beach, you know, whatever that is.

[7:36] Nina LaFarga: Sort of like ways to kind of calm down my nervous system, you know, detach from the stimulus, you know, the overstimulation of the city every once in a while.

[7:46] Nina LaFarga: And I think uh when I do, I come back to my performing as an actor, dancer, singer, whatever I'm up to.

[7:55] Nina LaFarga: And I'm more aware of who I am, I'm more confident, and I just think it makes me a better performer.

[8:02] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[8:03] Joe Rosko: Who is Nina as a performer in Aida?

[8:06] Joe Rosko: And who has she grown to become as a performer now in Frozen?

[8:12] Nina LaFarga: Whoa, okay.

[8:14] Nina LaFarga: Good question.

[8:15] Nina LaFarga: Um I mean, totally different.

[8:18] Nina LaFarga: Right, exactly.

[8:19] Nina LaFarga: That's the hope.

[8:20] Nina LaFarga: Totally different.

[8:21] Nina LaFarga: Yeah.

[8:22] Nina LaFarga: That's a good question.

[8:24] Nina LaFarga: Okay.

[8:24] Nina LaFarga: Well, Nina that was in Aida was uh I mean that was my debut.

[8:30] Nina LaFarga: Um I didn't like grow up training in musical theater per se.

[8:44] Nina LaFarga: So the idea of me being on Broadway at that moment and so young was something that was relatively new.

[8:52] Nina LaFarga: I've had and still have a whole other section to my career that's commercial TV film, you know, at the So I at the time, you know, I remember seeing the show and seeing my friends in it.

[9:09] Nina LaFarga: Um, I had a lot of training as a concert dancer and commercial dancer, and um sang and acted, but it wasn't my my work at the time was really dancing and in the dance world.

[9:22] Nina LaFarga: And so I saw some of my friends in Aida, people that I admired as dancers, um, at the time, and it was the first time that I sort of was like, oh wow, this is a cool like combo of different kinds of styles of things, the music, the dance, like that I was attracted to, and I was like, oh, I think I could do this, and um, so I just like stumbled upon an audition, really.

[9:52] Nina LaFarga: Uh, I didn't have an agent, I don't think at the time, and um see just came across my headshot somehow and called me in, and I booked that as a vacation swing.

[10:03] Nina LaFarga: And I mean, I remember loving the audition.

[10:08] Nina LaFarga: I remember like living in the audition and being like, oh my god, this is yes, this is awesome.

[10:14] Nina LaFarga: And then booking it was sort of the icing on the cake.

[10:18] Nina LaFarga: And then when I got to the show, I mean, I honestly, this makes me laugh when I think about it, but I didn't even know that like theater used numbers on a stage at that moment.

[10:33] Nina LaFarga: I was so used to like commercial and concert dance where it was like spatial awareness.

[10:37] Nina LaFarga: Like you just get on stage and you sense each other and you're spacing.

[10:40] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[10:41] Nina LaFarga: So the idea of like learning a show by numbers essentially was like blew my mind.

[10:46] Nina LaFarga: I was like, what?

[10:47] Nina LaFarga: I have to learn the show by numbers, and then like I get one rehearsal with everyone, and which is the put in, and that's it.

[10:54] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[10:55] Nina LaFarga: And then I'm on.

[10:56] Nina LaFarga: So going back to your question, it was uh it was like uh I was in this new world, and um and it was all just fascinating.

[10:56] Nina LaFarga: It was all just fascinating that I was putting all these things together I loved, I was singing and and acting and understudying, and like all these things just started to come to me, and it was just really it was a fascinating new world.

[11:24] Nina LaFarga: So that was that me.

[11:45] Nina LaFarga: I think I mean, I've seen a lot more, I've done a lot more, I've pushed myself in ways that I never imagined I would.

[11:57] Nina LaFarga: I feel like I've surpassed a lot of my childhood dreams, and of course, now I have like a whole new set of dreams.

[12:07] Joe Rosko: What did it take to push yourself to places you didn't think you can go or achieve things you didn't think you could achieve? Was it just simply time and experience, or was there something that opened your eyes a bit more as to what you were fully capable of?

[12:29] Nina LaFarga: I think it was just like an unfolding along the way. Yeah, I think it was opportunities presenting themselves along the way and me sort of feeling like an inclination to be like, I think I can do that, but I don't know, and having fear and then somehow overcoming the fear and jumping into that thing and being totally scared and then coming out of the other end and being like, oh my god, I just did that, and then it would be the next and the next.

[13:05] Nina LaFarga: So yeah, when the fear just because that's a great question in like in fitness, I don't think I can do this this quickly, I don't think I can lift this much, I don't think I can move my body in this certain way, and then something happens along in your training and you start to get that little glimmer of hope for lack of better terms, of like, oh wait, maybe I can do this.

[13:31] Joe Rosko: When you talk about the fear, or you could talk like negative self-talk, how do you overcome something like that? How do you say, like, no, Nina? Like, don't listen to that, the bad voice inside, like, how do you give yourself that positive reinforcement?

[13:47] Nina LaFarga: Because I know for actors and actresses and people in fitness a lot, self-talk, it's important for everyone. I mean, don't get me wrong, but the negative or positive self-talk that you feed yourself with is sometimes the make or break of a career or of a show or of an audition.

[14:06] Joe Rosko: Yeah. So how do you combat that? How do you personally keep yourself on track and steering away from like negative self-talk or fear?

[14:15] Nina LaFarga: You can call it fear. Honestly, it's something I work on every day. It's not something I feel like I've nailed.

[14:23] Nina LaFarga: But I definitely am, I mean, have grown so much from when I first started in the business for sure. And honestly, it is something I work on daily because as I accomplish something or bust through fear, there's a new goal around the corner and the fear.

[14:43] Nina LaFarga: And then, you know, so it's like a never-ending thing. So honestly, it's like, I mean, I feel like I have tools that I draw from in terms of getting past fear, and the negative self-talk.

[15:03] Nina LaFarga: One thing is really also the people I surround myself with. I really believe that if you surround yourself with people that think negatively or you know, negatively speak to themselves, you're going it's, you know, you're gonna take it on.

[15:21] Nina LaFarga: You're gonna start, even if you don't realize it, you're gonna start thinking of yourself that way and viewing the world that way. And I think that can be poisonous.

[15:30] Nina LaFarga: So I think the people you surround yourself with, that's important, that they're encouraging and that they also see when you're in your fear and they can say, Hey, why don't you consider it this way? Like people that can shift your perspective, finding ways to shift your own perspective.

[15:47] Nina LaFarga: And I think there's just a bunch of different ways that people can do that. I think it can be having mentors around you, people that are positive influences, it could be your spirituality, it could be your faith, it could be meditation, journaling, writing.

[16:04] Nina LaFarga: You know, there's so many ways to like quiet that chatter in your head.

[16:14] Joe Rosko: Yeah, the tribe is important or the squad.

[16:17] Nina LaFarga: For sure. I'm a huge believer in you are the company you keep. Like no matter how much you can say, I'm my own person or I have my own thoughts, whatever.

[16:26] Nina LaFarga: Like the people you surround yourself with on a day in and day out basis, yeah, are either gonna lift you up or bring you down.

[16:34] Nina LaFarga: Even if, you know, and it's tough. I mean, you know, like we live in this big city, we're around so many different energies and different kinds of people.

[16:43] Nina LaFarga: I think even if you just have like a couple of key people, when you find yourself in that self-doubt negative thinking place, like I have a couple of people that I will call and be like, listen, here's what I'm going through. Can I bounce this off of you?

[16:56] Nina LaFarga: And I know that they are we're like-minded, and they're gonna try to shift my view around. So that's important, I think.

[17:11] Joe Rosko: Yeah, for sure. I have one more question. Do you have the time?

[17:15] Nina LaFarga: Yeah, you have a show tonight for Frozen, right?

[17:19] Joe Rosko: I do.

[17:20] Nina LaFarga: You've been in Frozen for over a year, right?

[17:25] Joe Rosko: Probably like over two years at the end.

[17:27] Nina LaFarga: Two years now. Okay, cool.

[17:29] Joe Rosko: How do you in fitness, the pursuit can get it has the ups and downs? It's fun one day, it's not so fun another day. It's fresh one day, it's old another day.

[17:42] Joe Rosko: How do you keep opening the stage door, walking through it, and not only giving your best, but being feeling your best, whether that's physically, mentally, how do you do Frozen for over two years and still grow in it or still better yourself in it?

[18:05] Nina LaFarga: Yeah. I always I'm always grateful that I get to do what I do for a living. You know, as simple as I come to the stage door, and I always have this moment where I'm like, I'm on Broadway, you know, like this is awesome, you know, and I think like just the gratitude of that already puts me in a place of like this is great.

[18:35] Nina LaFarga: Like, and I'm ready to do the show again for a new audience for new people. I know, like you mentioned in fitness every day, you know, some days are easier than others to motivate, and yes, I've been doing this show, and when you're in a long-running show, you are doing the same show for an extended period of time.

[18:57] Nina LaFarga: And yeah, some days I come in and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna nail this, this is gonna be awesome. And then some days I had a bad day, you know, or I'm not feeling well, or my body hurts or something, you know, and I mean for me, I always try to do some sort of a warm-up vocally and physically every day at some point, so I making sure my body is ready to do the show is important, you know.

[19:29] Nina LaFarga: I don't want to just scroll up at half hour and hit the stage and just do what I can. I mean, I definitely want to prep myself. But yeah, I think it's, you know, I don't really I'm not sure how to answer that entirely outside of that.

[19:47] Nina LaFarga: I think it's just this energy or this force that's just in me to perform every day, and I just know how to dial into it, and some days are easier than others in the same way.

[19:58] Nina LaFarga: And I think that right there, the force, the something greater than you about the drive to perform.

[20:04] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[20:05] Nina LaFarga: I think that for me in the gym or pursuing something in fitness, when it is the bad day, when it is a day that you don't really want to be there, it's the center of you, the core goal or the core desire to accomplish that that hierarchy, that thing that's greater than your bad day.

[20:29] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[20:29] Nina LaFarga: And that's what pushes you through the bad day is that it's not just about that day, it's about the sum of the passion within you.

[20:39] Nina LaFarga: And I also think it's accepting like not being a perfectionist. Because there is a part of me that holds myself to very high standards and I, you know, but in those moments I'm clapping over here.

[20:55] Nina LaFarga: You know, because I am, you know, and listen we as performers have worked most of us have worked most of our lives very hard to be here, and it does require a lot of sacrifice.

[21:07] Nina LaFarga: So there is a part of me that wants to be perfect all the time and on, and I think it's those days that I also have to tell myself, like, I just have to be good enough today.

[21:21] Nina LaFarga: It's okay. Like, meaning it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Like, I don't feel great, so I'm gonna call out today. No, I'm gonna go today, and I'm gonna, and I imagine it's the same with fitness.

[21:30] Nina LaFarga: It's like even if this workout is not good enough, I'm gonna give 100% of the best of what I can give today, which might be different to what was yesterday, but you're gonna be steps ahead than if you were to have like not shown up that day.

[21:50] Joe Rosko: If you didn't catch anything in the whole podcast, I hope you just caught that last part because for me that was gold, something that I definitely need to hear. So thank you.

[21:58] Nina LaFarga: And thanks for being on the podcast.

[22:01] Joe Rosko: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

[22:06] Joe Rosko: All right, that'll do it with Built for the Stage Podcast. Our guest today, Nina LaFarga. Thank you so much for being on the podcast again.

[22:14] Joe Rosko: Once again, also if you want to try that free trial with Built for the Stage, go to the website BuiltForTheStage.com. You can just fill out your name in the email and we'll be on our way.

[22:23] Joe Rosko: Or you can go to the Instagram, follow us at Built for the Stage, and shoot me a DM. Don't forget about Broadway Podcast Network.

[22:31] Joe Rosko: Go to the website BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com. Go to the Instagram, Broadway Podcast Network. There's tons of good content on our network, like Josh Swallows, Broadway.

[22:44] Joe Rosko: Or Ensembleist or Equity One or the Theater Podcast. There's like 90 of them. Just go see which one you like the best after you've listened to mine.

[22:55] Joe Rosko: And yeah, you guys have yourself a good day. It's me, Rosko, signing off.