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[0:13] Sarah Goodman: Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm a sound designer and professional lesbian theater geek. I'm a huge fan of all things Broadway, cabaret, and pop culture. I've got tattoos of Bernadette Peters and Liza Minelli. In my podcast, I'm looking at theater through a queer lens and discussing the intersection between the craft and the LGBTQ+ community. AKA me, my friends, and my family. Welcome to Good Show, Sandra Valls.

[0:42] Sandra Valls: Thank you. Yay! I said that right. Sandra? Sandra. Sandra? Sandra. Sandra Valls. So excited. Don't call me Sandy because Sandy Vols. Look how it sounds. Sounds so Sandy Valls. Oh. What? We'll skip that. Skip it.

[0:58] Sarah Goodman: Okay. This is your Broadway debut.

[1:01] Sandra Valls: I can't. You're gonna make me cry from the get-go. Oh my god! This is so cool.

[1:07] Sarah Goodman: It is. That is fantastic. Congratulations.

[1:11] Sandra Valls: No, thank you. And what a beautiful show to be your Broadway debut.

[1:15] Sandra Valls: It's like when you get so angry at the universe for you, like, oh, is it my turn? Yeah. When am I? It couldn't be a better show, a better time. Like I'm like, oh, sorry. Got it. So sorry. I was impatient. The universe has a plan.

[1:33] Sarah Goodman: Thank you.

[1:34] Sandra Valls: Yeah. It has, and it's a perfect plan. I mean, look at the character I'm playing. Look at the show I'm in. With the people I'm working with. And look at the times that the show is actually being produced.

[1:47] Sarah Goodman: Truly so timely. Tell the audience a little bit about the show in case they don't know.

[1:52] Sandra Valls: Oh, okay. Let me see what I'm give a little simple. I'm just kidding. Whatever angle. The show is about hope. It's about joy. It's about inspiration. It's about dreaming bigger. It's about si se puede. It's about love. It's about just wanting to be happy and living and let live, like let me just be who I am. It's about just being your authentic self and just wanting to bloom in a place where sometimes it's kind of eh. The show's about, let me see. One of the angles, it's about Anna. Anna is a young woman who is the only documented person in her family. She falls in love. Uh to side little side, beautiful story. She's finding and figuring out herself. She gets into a huge university and she wants to go.

She wants to go to New York and spread her wings and fly. And the family is undocumented and they want her to stay and help with the factory, with the family business. And she's like, uh, but I want this. And it's also about the immigration issue. It's about um, like I said, dreaming bigger and going for your dreams. It's about it's the love story. It's about what? What else is it about? Um body positivity. Oh my gosh. Oh my god, it's about body positivity, self-acceptance, it's about women's empowerment. All of that in one show in two and twenty minutes, two hours and twenty minutes. Yeah, with a fabulous score with an incredible book, with so many heartfelt moments, with so many laughs. It's really fantastic. It's one of my favorite things I've seen all season.

[3:29] Sarah Goodman: I absolutely loved, loved, loved it.

[3:31] Sandra Valls: Thank you. How long have you been involved with the show?

[3:33] Sandra Valls: I've been involved with the show for about two years. And how I got involved is this is what I tell everybody. I'm like, please don't give up on your dreams. The road doesn't always look like from here to there. It looks windy. Um, I auditioned for a show in Austin, Texas called Roe. Okay. And Lisa Loomer wrote Roe. And she also wrote Real Women Have Curves. At the time I didn't know it. Um, but a person who directed me in the 80s at a bar show is now the artistic director for Zachary Scott. His name is Dave Stakely. Cool. And he contacts me and he goes, I think you'd be perfect for this role. And I'm like, okay, thanks. Out of the blue. I auditioned for Roe. The pandemic hit. Roe came back.

But in the meantime, Lisa was like, I really love your audition. We have a reading in New York. Would you happen to be in New York? I'm all, yeah. Yeah. So I come to New York and that started the ball rolling. I do the reading, then I did self-tapes, then I did one thing after another. I did the development. Um, and then we did the Boston ART production, and now this. So had I not auditioned for Roe, it might not have happened. It might not have happened. I mean, she said my audition was really great. I was like, okay. So she's like, please come here.

[4:51] Sarah Goodman: That's incredible. Meanwhile, you've been a very successful comedian all over everywhere. Like top 100, top 10 lesbian comedians of all time. So funny. I've seen so many of your specials. You're absolutely hilarious. And like so cool that you've been so authentically yourself for like your whole career. And really wild that that all led back to this.

[5:15] Sandra Valls: 100%. I mean, when I started doing comedy, it still wasn't cool to be like out. Yeah. And say you're, you know, I'm this is my girlfriend and joke about your girlfriend. Yeah. And when I did the LATIN DIVAS of Comedy and on Showtime 2007, it still wasn't like so cool to be out. As a matter of fact, I was asked to gay it down.

[5:35] Sarah Goodman: Wow, really?

[5:36] Sandra Valls: And I'm like, nope. I was asked to gay it down a lot. And I'm like, how am I gaying it down when she's literally talking about I can't say you can say anything you want. She's talking about blowjobs and making the sounds. Okay. And I am just talking about my girlfriend, and you know, no, no, no, too gay.

[5:54] Sarah Goodman: Wow.

[5:54] Sandra Valls: Well, I'm not too gay, but whatever. Yeah. And so I just kept representing and just kept being myself. I'm too gay enough. What's the deal here? Okay, I guess I am too gay for you for some people, but I don't give a shit. So for this, it was like playing the queer character in Real Women Have Curves is all that I've ever done, all like siphoned into Fulvia and just being and just she just she's just there and she's just who she is and does not apologize for it.

[6:26] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, and I love that it's just you just exist in the show. It's not a problem. We don't have to talk about it. Nobody's like, oh the gay one over here. You know, and it's set in the 80s where you'd think like, oh, is it gonna be a problem? But like well, I mean it was a problem in the 80s. I was gay in the 80s. I lived in New York in the 80s. But it's not like part of the plot to bother you as your character, which is so cool and so amazing, and like you get to dress the character gets to dress in her authentic way. In the big moment of the show that gets a standing ovation, mid-show every night when they take off the clothes, you get to wear boxers. It's like so cool. I'm like getting chills, just talking about it.

[7:09] Sandra Valls: So um I love that the writing team and the creative team was very open, are very open to our input. Yeah. And the collaboration of this whole thing. And uh when I got the images of which underwear would Fulvia wear, I'm like, none of those. And they're like, but it's the 80s. I'm like, yeah, okay. She went to the men's department in the 80s. Is there another page? This it's not those. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm like, let me just let me just tell you I think she should wear boxers. And we discussed it, and they were like, okay, perfect. And that's what she was.

[7:44] Sarah Goodman: I love it. It's really so cool. And like truly very little representation for lesbians in musical theater. Like very, very little.

[7:51] Sandra Valls: Butch lesbians.

[7:52] Sarah Goodman: Especially Butch lesbians.

[7:54] Sandra Valls: But not none of the above, really, but especially, especially. And especially Butch women in general, just in entertainment. It's like very rare to see that portrayed. So it's so so cool and affirming to see that on a Broadway stage.

[8:06] Sandra Valls: Thank you. I love Fulvia. I love her so much. Fulvia's my character, by the way. She is so she is a combination of about five people that I've known. And um I lived in LA for a long, long time, and I lived in Echo Park. And so it's that kind of Echo Park Boyle Heights kind of feeling that she has. And um, she's just, I love her. Like I would hang out with her if she was a real person.

[8:29] Sarah Goodman: Me too. Would you now? Let's go hang out.

[8:32] Sandra Valls: Let's go hang out. Yes. Uh tell me what's been your favorite thing about the process of doing this show.

[8:40] Sandra Valls: That's a hard one because there's so many. I mean, the music, yeah, singing those beautiful songs. I guess my favorite favorite thing is what I've discovered in myself.

[8:51] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, same way that.

[8:53] Sandra Valls: You're gonna make me cry.

[8:55] Sarah Goodman: It's okay. I'm a Pisces.

[8:56] Sandra Valls: I love it. Yeah, okay. Because it's like there is, you know, we all have self-acceptance and we all love ourselves, of course. But to truly go, here is who I am, like I've done that my whole life. Yes, here is who I am, take it or leave it, big deal. But the show is like so many things that I am Mexican, um queer older than most.

[9:24] Sarah Goodman: Um you have amazing skin. Can you just say?

[9:27] Sandra Valls: Thank you. Thank you.

[9:29] Sarah Goodman: Um give you the secret later. Okay, go ahead.

[9:32] Sandra Valls: Uh I need it. This show is is everything that I'd love to do, and I mean singing, acting, but to be able to stand up for what you believe in and just literally stand in strength and faith is huge for me as a person. Yeah. And these characters, they're so resilient and so determined and so persistent and so um hopeful and strong that to me I'm all, oh shit, I'm all those things. Wow, what a great um uh reminder. But also, oh, where do I lack? Where do I need more of this that I can improve on myself?

[10:14] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[10:14] Sandra Valls: Um, the big thing when now that when you were talking about taking the clothes off, it wasn't even that I have what I called my menopanza. I mean, I was never like a thin person. I'm okay. I mean, this is like me, I'm chunky. It was more my white skin. Like my pale Casper white skin, like the color of this table. I'll be very honest with you. I was like, I'm not really concerned about like showing you my curves. I'm so self-conscious about my pale skin, like I never show arms. And I never show, because I mean literally I glow in the dark. But to say, I don't care for like thousands of people a night like hey, this is who I am. Yeah. So empowering to me as a person.

[10:22] Sarah Goodman: That's amazing.

[10:22] Sandra Valls: I mean, I was like, wow, that is something that I'll take with me forever.

[11:04] Sarah Goodman: That's so cool. It's really amazing that you feel that way as the character because it's so empowering watching that.

[11:10] Sandra Valls: Like it really is so incredibly powerful and like validating. And my favorite thing is to stand there in my power and to feel the audience like with us. Like, yes, and we're like, yes. Like, yes. Now you go out there and change the world.

[11:28] Sandra Valls: Yes. Because I believe, like, I believe in one person's human revolution can create a domino effect to change the world. I believe that I don't care if it sounds woo-woo. I don't care if you think it's cringe. I believe that one person can create a domino effect to change the world.

[11:45] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[11:45] Sandra Valls: That's why art's so important.

[11:46] Sarah Goodman: That is why.

[11:47] Sandra Valls: Yeah. People leave transformed. People leave healed. There's a healing that happens and people leave inspired and determined and hopeful and joyful and validated. That is most important. When people do like validate it, like, yeah, I feel the same way, me too. Therefore, si se puede. And we're out there and we're gonna just be ourselves and create the change that we need. Do you see what I'm saying? Like you can absolutely you can really inspire some people and influence other people just by being your authentic self.

[12:16] Sandra Valls: I love this quote that Marianne Williamson says that when you allow your light to shine, and I'm not saying it correctly, but when you shine your light, you automatically give people permission to do the same.

[12:29] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[12:30] Sandra Valls: So it's kind of like that party when nobody's dancing and one person starts to dance and then everybody wants to dance. It's the same thing with when you live in your power. You automatically give permission to somebody else.

[12:43] Sarah Goodman: And don't we need that right now?

[12:45] Sandra Valls: We really do, more than ever. The show does that. It's really like we need the joy. Also, it's so timely. The story about the deportation is like so present right now in the situation we're in. And it's told in such a beautiful way that I think it doesn't hit people over the head with it. It's just very humanizing and beautiful. And I hope that people who are maybe not necessarily as liberal as we'd like will leave the theater feeling a little more empathy for the other human beings that we share this planet with.

[13:17] Sandra Valls: There was this one person who talked to Lisa Loomer, and I'll share her story, and she won't mind. This woman came up to Lisa, the writer, and said, you know, I voted for what's his name? And after I saw the show, I can't. I want to go there. I was just very empowering. It's just I just raised my frequency.

[13:37] Sarah Goodman: That's right, that's right.

[13:37] Sandra Valls: We don't need to get down in that. And so she said, I voted for what's his name? And after watching the show, I'm so sad that I did. Oh, she goes, I never saw this point of view. And that one person will then go and create change around, but that's what art does. That's what the good amazing shows do.

[14:04] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[14:04] Sandra Valls: And this show is what it does. Oh, it's so good. Have you always been a musical theater fan? Were you a theater kid growing up?

[14:11] Sandra Valls: I mean, yeah, I grew up in Laredo, not too much theater in Laredo. But I mean, what was your exposure to theater as a young person?

[14:18] Sandra Valls: I mean, actually, my mother signed up for this subscription. Like we would go like monthly to shows. It was our big night out. Uh-huh. And West Side Story came by Laredo. We were like, I was like, West Side Story. Yeah. And we saw live theater with like music and singing and dancing. And I thought that's just beautiful and I want to do that. But that was the extent of it. And then the little theater, Laredo Little Theater, which I was a hedgehog, my first show. I mean, and then like musicals every summer would come along, and I'm like, oh, Pippin. Yeah. Oh, My Fair Lady, you know, and whatever. And I would just audition and we'd just be part of the chorus and have fun. I've always loved it. I majored in musical theater at UT Austin. And it just combines everything I love to do. It's singing, dancing, acting. Yeah. Maybe not in that order, but all three of them.

[15:07] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, and you have a beautiful voice. I did like a deep dive on your YouTube channel.

[15:11] Sandra Valls: You did.

[15:12] Sarah Goodman: And oh my god, gorgeous, gorgeous voice. I love you singing "Dreams." That's one of my favorite songs of all time.

[15:17] Sandra Valls: My sweetheart. It's really one of the touch the pearls. I love that. I have to say I love my cover for that. I have a good one.

[15:25] Sarah Goodman: No, it's beautiful. Also, you play instruments. Talk to me about your musicianship.

[15:29] Sandra Valls: I learned how to play the piano on my own. Like my parents really never had the means to put me in piano lessons, and when they did, I never had the time. And my dad actually bought me one of these little keyboards from like Walgreens or Woolworth or wherever. And he had an A-track. That's how old I am. So we had A-Tracks of Polkas. Oh my gosh. And also amazing. I'm in Texas. I'm in Laredo, Texas. So he had an eight-track of like these accordion polkas. And you know, as a sixth grader, I'm all this is a nice song. And I literally would hear the song and would try to play it on the right hand. And I taught myself how to play on an A-track, which is really hard because you have to wait an hour for the thing to come around. You can't rewind it. Oh, but you have to wait. You can't. Yeah, you can't. So when it comes, you go back.

[16:18] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[16:18] Sandra Valls: That's wild. So I taught myself to play the keyboard and piano, and I still do. Wow. And I just I love it. It's a beautiful thing. And I've covered I mean, I had a band in high school. I was like I had a cover band when MTV came out. It was called Bad Habit.

[16:32] Sarah Goodman: Bad Habit. What a cool name.

[16:34] Sandra Valls: Because I went to a Catholic school.

[16:35] Sarah Goodman: Stop. That's so good.

[16:36] Sandra Valls: The pun. Oh, I love it. The wordplay. That's so good. And so we were three girls in the front and three guys in the back. And we sang all the songs on MTV. I mean, what a dream to like have your own band at 15. Right? That's pretty badass.

[16:49] Sandra Valls: Professional badass. Thank you. We sang all the songs of the 80s.

[16:54] Sarah Goodman: Oh fun.

[16:54] Sandra Valls: And then I was in different bands. Like I was in this eight-piece horn band in Boston. Cool. It's great. And then stand-up comedy fell in my lap. I was like, wow, this is beautiful. And it's just me, I don't know how to deal with drunken guys not coming to rehearsal. And you know. But I love both. I love both things. It's not, it's not like you can't compare. It's but actually when I was younger when I saw Bette Midler, I was like, that is what I want to do. She's funny, she sings with a band, she does both things.

[17:23] Sarah Goodman: I love that.

[17:24] Sandra Valls: Yeah, and she does definitely have like kind of a stand-up element. She was always doing jokes and doing like Midwest stuff and doing bits.

[17:31] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, that's amazing. I love Bette Midler too.

[17:33] Sandra Valls: I love so sad. Hi, Bette Midler, if you're watching.

[17:35] Sarah Goodman: But she definitely listens to my back.

[17:37] Sandra Valls: Bette, come to the show. We're creating change here.

[17:41] Sarah Goodman: You're right. We never know.

[17:42] Sandra Valls: Somebody knows. It's gonna blow up Bette Midler. Get on the pod. Watch our podcast. We'll invite you over. We'll all go out for drinks at Ardi's after the show. Can you imagine she's like, I saw your podcast? You're like dead. Amazing. Amazing. Well, you're welcome.

[17:58] Sarah Goodman: Oh my god. So good. Let's throw that out into the universe.

[18:00] Sandra Valls: We have to.

[18:01] Sarah Goodman: Why not? This is so cool. I'm so excited for you that this is your Broadway debut. The show is so amazing. I'm gonna check my notes and make sure I haven't missed any really important questions.

[18:13] Sandra Valls: I'd like to add, and I always say this because it inspires other people, that is my Broadway debut at 59 years old.

[18:19] Sarah Goodman: That is so nice.

[18:20] Sandra Valls: And when people write me and they were like, I wanted to do this, and I'm 40. I'm like, what? You have so much time. Actually, I talked to a young person after the show one time and they were like, any advice? They were like 24. They were like, I keep getting rejected, and I don't want to do this anymore. And I'm all, did you happen to read my bio? You're 24 and you're getting rejected. I'm like, sit it out. Deal with it, wipe your tears, and get back on the horse. Like it's fine to like chill and then come back on. I mean, if this is not what you want to do, it's fine. And I hope it doesn't take people that long as long as me. But life gets in the way. I mean, people break up with you. I don't know. I don't know, I'm bad like that. I can't like jump on the wagon and be all funny when someone breaks up.

[19:08] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, it's tough.

[19:09] Sandra Valls: Parents get sick, people die. People I mean, not to be a downer, but life gets in the way, and for sure. You use your life in your art and you just keep going.

[19:20] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, yeah.

[19:21] Sandra Valls: It really is so inspiring. You know, I personally like used to be a performer for all of my childhood, and then in my early 20s, kind of like gave it up, was like, this isn't working for me. And then I moved to New York four years ago and I started singing again. And now I have like a little blossoming cabaret career.

[19:36] Sandra Valls: And I'm like, I saw.

[19:37] Sarah Goodman: Oh my god, I'm gonna follow my dreams again.

[19:41] Sandra Valls: Scary but exciting. And it's just so cool to see people like really getting their dream come true. And like in your case, it being such kismet, like the show, the perfect, it's such a beautiful show. It's so meaningful. I'm so glad that it's like finding its audience and getting some recognition because it's really, really fantastic.

[20:02] Sandra Valls: It's magical, this show, I gotta say.

[20:05] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[20:05] Sandra Valls: I mean, literally, we get the note every time a Sergio, the director, Sergio Trujillo is in the audience. He's like, stop crying. You cannot cry. And I'm like, it's I mean, and I've heard these songs for over two years, and yeah, we're there standing and we're like, not right now, and we just get all emotional because the music is beautiful and so beautiful. The theme, the plot, what it's about. Yeah, it still moves us.

[20:28] Sarah Goodman: What was it like recording the cast album?

[20:30] Sandra Valls: Oh my god, that was so amazing.

[20:32] Sandra Valls: Yeah, that was so.

[20:39] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, it's such a cool place, isn't it?

[20:41] Sandra Valls: I was like taken overwhelmed and taken aback. So dumb. I was just looking around there. What it was so amazing, and it was just the cast is so brilliant. I mean, I even sometimes stand and just look at people like, look at how amazing these people are. And like when I was at the studio, I was like, these people sound so good. Like, I'm still blown away. Yeah, it was such a great experience.

[21:06] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, it comes out really soon, right? There's already a few songs.

[21:09] Sandra Valls: Yeah, I'm not sure exactly when. I think June 6th.

[21:13] Sarah Goodman: Oh, we got it. Oh my god, that's so good. June 6th. Just a few days before the Tonies, y'all. How exciting. Way to get pumped up.

[21:18] Sandra Valls: Oh, exciting.

[21:20] Sarah Goodman: Tell me. Um, one of my last questions I will ask, which I ask everyone is what is important about theater today?

[21:28] Sandra Valls: Today or any day?

[21:30] Sarah Goodman: Today.

[21:31] Sandra Valls: I guess any day, but especially today. To heal people. Even though it doesn't seem like it is. I mean, theater, the arts, people. It's important for not just the audience to absorb and make them think. Art makes you think. Makes you think, it validates, it reminds you of who you are. But also the creatives. It's important for the creatives to have a vessel to show you what we do. Yeah. It's important for actors to act and writers to write and musicians to play and set designers to design. And I can go on down with this. It's important. That's who we are. I try to tell people it's not separated from you. It's like you are the performer. That's who you are. It's not a job that you leave and then come home. And so it's important to express your creativity on this side of the stage, but it's also important to receive. It's such a beautiful dynamic.

[22:36] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[22:37] Sandra Valls: And it's a beautiful connection. Um, it's important always. It's not just today, but today, especially to validate who we are, to entertain, to lose, to forget our problems for a little bit, to entertain, to feel better, and then go out and do better in the world.

[22:57] Sarah Goodman: Yeah.

[22:58] Sandra Valls: That's in a nutshell what I could say.

[23:01] Sarah Goodman: Yeah, I love that. How can people follow you, Sandra?

[23:05] Sandra Valls: WeLoveSandra.com is my website, but also on Instagram, SandraValls1. Because can you believe or Sandra One? There's another Sandra Valls. How dare she? I think she's a soccer player.

[23:16] Sandra Valls: Oh, that's cool. I know. She's kind of cute, too.

[23:18] Sarah Goodman: Oh, all right. Hey.

[23:19] Sandra Valls: Hi, Sandra Valls. And uh let's see. TikTok it's Sandra One. I think.

[23:27] Sarah Goodman: Amazing. And go see Real Women Have Curves at the James Earl Jones Theater.

[23:31] Sandra Valls: Yes, it's so good. So, so good. I can't say it enough. It's truly one of my favorite things I've ever seen. It's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Congratulations.

[23:39] Sandra Valls: Thank you, Sarah. Thank you so much for joining me. This was great.

[23:41] Sarah Goodman: Thank you. Yay. New best friend.

[23:44] Sandra Valls: Totally. Let's go.

[23:45] Sarah Goodman: Thank you. Let's go to Cubby Hole.

[23:47] Sandra Valls: Bye.

[23:49] Sarah Goodman: I'm still around.

[23:50] Sandra Valls: Yes.

[23:53] Sarah Goodman: Thanks for listening. Follow Good Show on TikTok and Instagram at GoodShowPodcast. Good Show is available at bpn.fm/goodshow on the Broadway Podcast Network and everywhere.