This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jayke Workman: Does anyone still wear a hat?

[0:03] Ana Villafañe: Yes, I do, because my hair looks horrible.

[0:12] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? Oh my god, guys. Oh my god! Oh my god, you guys! What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod U Guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast.

[0:34] Jayke Workman: You guys, I know this has nothing to do with musical theater or the arts, but what is going on in the ocean? What are the orcas actually banding together to like wreak havoc? What's going on? There's like some crazy algae thing growing that's like poisoning seals and making them go nuts and bite people. Like, hello? Is the ocean okay? Uh no thank you.

[1:05] Jayke Workman: Anyway, let's dive into this week's Broadway World recap because mama, there are some things that we need to discuss. You guys, Rent in concert at the Kennedy Center. This casting is insane. We just got the announcement that Allie Stroker, Miles Frost, Jimmy Herod, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Alex Boniello are all going to star in the production of Rent at the Kennedy Center.

[1:31] Jayke Workman: I can't even tell you how excited I am about this casting. Allie Stroker as Maureen. It is about damn time that we see someone who's differently abled play a character like Maureen in Rent. Allie Stroker is in a wheelchair, and she is going to absolutely slay this role, regardless of her physical ability. I cannot wait to hear her sing this role.

[1:53] Jayke Workman: Miles Frost is gonna play Benny, which I think is perfect casting. Andrew Barth Feldman as Mark. I mean, I honestly think he's a little young, but I do think he has the chutzpah, the charm to carry it through. I mean, Alex Boniello as Roger. Come on. This is gonna be amazing. And since it's a concert version, I feel like there's gonna be extra focus on the vocals and the storytelling, and I'm just so excited about it.

[2:19] Jayke Workman: I can't wait to see how this goes. Oh my god, and it was just announced that Lorna Courtney is joining the show as Mimi. Y'all, who is gonna play Angel? I'm not ready. Stay tuned. I of course will update you as soon as I know.

[2:36] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, we have to talk about the casting announcement of Bryce Pinkham returning to Little Shop of Horrors off Broadway as Orin the Dentist. You guys, this show is so so brilliant. I didn't get to see Bryce do it, so I'm very excited that he's coming back to play this role. I did get to see him as Monty in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, and he was absolutely sensational.

[3:00] Jayke Workman: Um, but I really really want to see him sink his teeth, pun intended, into The Dentist. So congrats, Bryce Pinkham, on returning to the show. Next, we have to talk about the casting announcement for Moulin Rouge on Broadway. Casey Cott of Riverdale is going to be joining the show as Christian.

[3:23] Jayke Workman: And I have to be honest, you guys, I don't know who this man is. I don't know who Casey Cott is. He's very handsome. Hello, Casey. Uh, but I'm not super familiar with Riverdale, so I hope that he is able to match sort of the vocal ability of the previous people who have played this role.

[3:44] Jayke Workman: I mean, Aaron Tveit and Derek Klena are both fantastic vocalists, and they turned it out for this show. So I hope that Casey is able to bring something new to the show while also maintaining the vocal chops. You guys, we also just got a first look on the Broadway World Instagram at the Who's Tommy being revived at the Goodman Theater in Chicago with my friend Aaliy James in the ensemble.

[4:12] Jayke Workman: The photos are insane. It looks so so beautiful. And I do believe that they have hopes to do a Broadway transfer, which I would be over the moon about. The show looks absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to get video footage very soon. So stay tuned for that. I'm sure we'll be seeing it on BroadwayWorld.com.

[4:31] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, in a bit of sad Broadway news, this week we lost one of the most iconic lyricists and songwriters in the Broadway canon, Mr. Sheldon Harnick, at the age of 99. Sheldon Harnick was a Tony and Grammy award-winning lyricist and songwriter, best known for writing the lyrics to incredible musicals like Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello, She Loves Me, and so many more.

[4:56] Jayke Workman: His collaboration with composer Jerry Bock won him the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Tenderloin. And aside from all of these accolades, he was notoriously a gem of a person in the theater community. So rest in peace, Mr. Sheldon Harnick. We will forever remember you and your legacy. And this has been the BroadwayWorld Recap.

[5:21] Jayke Workman: Oh my pod, you guys. I am so excited to welcome my next guest to the show. She is a star of the stage and screen, most notably originating the role of Gloria Estefan in Broadway's On Your Feet. Please welcome Miss Ana Villafañe.

[5:38] Ana Villafañe: Hi.

[5:39] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, how exciting.

[5:41] Ana Villafañe: Oh my god. Oh my pod. Oh my bad. How are you?

[5:45] Ana Villafañe: I'm like great, and it's weird because I'm great and I question it every day. I'm like, wait, we weren't allowed to be great. I'm like supposed to be struggling. This makes no sense. We're so conditioned, but I just um but yeah, I'm good, man. I'm like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[6:04] Jayke Workman: Where are you calling from?

[6:06] Ana Villafañe: So I am calling from my apartment in New York.

[6:09] Ana Villafañe: New York City. I'm spending as much time in New York City. I'm like trying to spend as much time here as humanly possible whenever I'm in town.

[6:19] Ana Villafañe: Um I love I live in the East Village and I like love how weird it is.

[6:23] Ana Villafañe: Oh yeah. I walk out and it's like, you know, like I there's all the little people, and I feel like Belle. I'm like, there goes the bigger. Except it's like, there goes the happy. It's like the darker version of that one scene in the opening of the movies.

[6:41] Jayke Workman: Amazing.

[6:42] Jayke Workman: Yeah, so you are you're kind of in and out of the city because you are a busy bee, ma'am. Tell me about what you guys what's your most recent thing that you've just done.

[6:51] Ana Villafañe: I mean, you are not only a Broadway star, but you do TV and film all over the place.

[7:00] Ana Villafañe: I do. I do. It's weird. Sometimes I have to check myself and be like, oh, like you're really like you're an actress now. Like it's not like we're trying. Like really we're doing we did we're doing it. But yes, I mean, since let me think.

[7:14] Ana Villafañe: Okay, so the last thing that I did was shoot my first film.

[7:18] Jayke Workman: And so I'm very excited about her.

[7:21] Ana Villafañe: Yes, tell us about it. If I'm not mistaken, this is this is Alina, right? Alina of Cuba?

[7:25] Ana Villafañe: Yes. Yes, which was now renamed. Mind you, it's been renamed like thrice.

[7:31] Ana Villafañe: Work. Um, which listen, I live for the drama, but um, it was originally supposed to be named after her autobiography, which it's based on, which is called Castro's Daughter, and then Ija de Reverde.

[7:43] Jayke Workman: Exactly.

[7:44] Ana Villafañe: One of the producers called and he's like, Well, we're gonna rename it Alina of Cuba La Ija Rebelde because we don't want her to belong to him. And I was like, fierce, I'm on board with that. We love the liberation aspect.

[7:56] Ana Villafañe: And then as soon as we finish the movie, they're like, Yeah, but also the name Castro's Daughter just has such an impact. It's so obvious, it's so clear what we're talking about from the get.

[8:08] Jayke Workman: Right.

[8:08] Ana Villafañe: Um, and so I think that marketing-wise, they just decided to go back to that. So it's now called Castro's Daughter again, and it is uh I play Castro's daughter, and then um Castro is played by James Franco, and so we spent all of last summer basically working on it, and we were filming in Colombia.

[8:31] Ana Villafañe: And yeah, and I feel like it's weird, it's like you know, theater, I get like that immediate, not I don't know, just immediate feedback. It's not about applause, it's not about whatever, you know, it's just it's just a connection that exists in the moment and and I thrive off of that, right? I mean, you know, as a theater queen yourself.

[8:51] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[8:51] Ana Villafañe: So it's like it's very um foreign, this this little aspect of of waiting. I'm not a patient girl. So I'm kind of it's it's weird. It's very, very different.

[9:06] Ana Villafañe: And a couple of my friends and my peers and like my I guess like community who have been in the same spot have been really helpful. Like randomly, Rachel Zegler and I have the same stylist, and like we were just like talking about it one day at Sarah Soletsky's studio, and we were just like she was like, I was depressed basically after shooting West Side Story because that that period of waiting where your life literally hinges on this one thing is is a lot, you know.

[9:37] Ana Villafañe: And so that's kind of been where I've where I dwell these days is in that waiting period kind of.

[9:44] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[9:44] Ana Villafañe: Um yeah, so it's like exciting, but also just terrifying.

[9:49] Jayke Workman: Totally. I mean, you touched on it a little bit already, but I I wanted to ask you sort of what like the difference is for you between being on stage and and working on you know TV shows or on a movie set because like you said, it's it's it's waiting in so many different aspects.

[10:05] Jayke Workman: You have like the ready set, hold on a second, we have to fix a light over here or something. And then, you know, on the flip side of it with with theater, you you do get that instant connection, that gratification from an audience where you can hear if your jokes are landing or if you're making an impact.

[10:24] Jayke Workman: Like I would just love to hear um how you navigate that. Like how how did you learn to make that shift?

[10:33] Ana Villafañe: I think, you know, I think I'm still learning. I think that the the in essence, like the storytelling part for me is the same, right? I think that it's just I love humans. I think we're all just insane.

[10:45] Ana Villafañe: Uh, in the best way I say that, like the in the most respectful way possible, because it's like we all are these like little worlds, right? And um, and and how do we all coexist basically is storytelling. Like it's like what happened to this one little world and how did it affect all these other little worlds?

[11:04] Ana Villafañe: And so um, I think that in terms of breaking down a character and getting into like the nuances and the specificity, which is what I love. And this is my second time doing uh a biographical piece, you know.

[11:18] Ana Villafañe: Um, a woman that I met, a woman that was on, you know, in in terms of Gloria, she was around throughout the entire rehearsal process and performances, and um now is like a dear friend, and then in terms of Alina, she was on set the entire time.

[11:35] Jayke Workman: Wow, you know, so yeah, so it's like all those specific things that make a person a person.

[11:42] Ana Villafañe: Um I find that really exciting and really uh it like gets me going, you know, it gets me all who it gets me tingly, and so so I think that's the same.

[11:53] Ana Villafañe: Um I think that it's just generating the same energy is different because when you're shooting out of order, for example, like you know, when you're doing a show, if you know, when we were doing Chicago, like the the the action, the narrative is linear and you're on that wave, and it can kind of carry you through.

[12:09] Ana Villafañe: So it'll bring up the emotions when they're supposed to come up. Because if something happened in scene two, cut to scene four, you're gonna feel the reaction from scene two, right?

[12:18] Ana Villafañe: Absolutely. Whereas you have to kind of really be um in the driver's seat of your brain and your emotions when you're on set, because you have to bring those out almost out of thin air, right? So you have to be it's a different sort of preparation. Although I think that thankfully coming from the theater has been helpful for me because I work on things as if they are a play or as if they're going to be on stage.

[12:46] Ana Villafañe: So I worked on the uh the Castro's Daughter script and on um Alina as a play, including the things that I'm not like there's little girls who play young Alina, you know, in the beginning of the exposition of the film, and I included those scenes in what I did with like my acting coach who went to Yale School of Drama, her name's Adina Verson, and is was the perfect person to go through this with, um, who I did a show off Broadway with, actually.

[13:14] Ana Villafañe: And we used even those scenes that the actress Anna was not in, but that little Alina was in in order to create that like evolution of a human, so that then by the time we did get to my scenes, all of the baby girl scenes did inform my performance. Absolutely still because you carry those traumas and whatever.

[13:33] Ana Villafañe: So you kind of I think I would say that you have to sort of take it upon yourself to do that research and to do that work because uh you know, you need it in order to be able to pull it out of you at a moment's notice.

[13:48] Ana Villafañe: Oh my god, 100%. And I also I booked this movie when I was in I booked this movie in 2018.

[13:54] Ana Villafañe: Wow. And I didn't think it was gonna happen because of the pandemic and just the world. And listen, I am not an epo baby, so I'm not, and I'm not shaming that, but it's just like, you know, when opportunity comes, like you either have to rise to the occasion or take a seat and be comfortable with the fact that you're gonna be watching music.

[14:12] Ana Villafañe: Absolutely, yeah. Period.

[14:16] Jayke Workman: Well, yeah.

[14:17] Jayke Workman: So obviously, we have I have so many things to ask you about because we met doing Chicago the Musical on Broadway, which was like the wildest experience of my life. That was my debut, and you were my first Roxy Hart.

[14:28] Ana Villafañe: Um, and I of course have sensational, by the way.

[14:31] Jayke Workman: You were Sen, you are very, very kind. I mean I was just like it was a match wouldn't have elated to just be in the building, but you also obviously did On Your Feet. But before I ask about those things, I'm really interested to hear about your upbringing and um how your childhood maybe formed who you are as an artist. You are a beautiful, proud Latino woman, and I would love to hear about how that culture and and your upbringing has informed who you are as a performer and an artist.

[15:06] Ana Villafañe: Totally. Um well, I grew up uh my family, I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and then my family moved to Miami when I was five. Um my dad came from El Salvador when he was 16, and he um is you know he's an engineer from Georgia Tech, like he like was highly educated, my mom too.

[15:25] Ana Villafañe: Um, but he, you know, racism is a thing, and so uh he couldn't get a job uh in Georgia in the 1980s. Um who knew? I mean, even now, like what are we talking about? But um, so but Miami is such a fascinating little place because it has um I don't know, I was kind of raised in a space where I was given the the freedom to have the audacity to see myself uh I guess in a in a different way, right?

[16:07] Ana Villafañe: And and to have self-esteem and to have confidence because I saw it all around me, you know. So my father went from not being able to get a job that he deserved in Atlanta to being exactly where he deserved in Miami.

[16:22] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[16:22] Ana Villafañe: Um and so I think that that was like really powerful. And I, you know, you think about uh I I I at least when when things happen nowadays, like in the country, like politically, and uh I I get sad for anybody raised in an environment where they're told that they can't, or where they're told that their access to being the fullest version of themselves uh does not exist.

[16:48] Jayke Workman: Right.

[16:49] Ana Villafañe: So I have the opposite. Um, you know, I was raised in an environment where it was like it wasn't weird that I was Latina. I didn't even realize I was like, I don't know, I didn't realize I was quote unquote other until I moved to LA, and until I was asked to change my last name in order to start working, and until I started noticing that like the auditions I was going in for at 18 years old when I didn't know anybody in LA, um, were all like just stereotypes that I didn't identify with because I came from a place where like Latin people are not um the minority.

[17:26] Ana Villafañe: And so it was a really big, it was a very interesting like learning process, I think for me. Um, but that I think is how I I'm very grateful for that. And it's been more and more on my mind recently, I think, just how grateful I am that I was not born, like that I was not raised to feel like shamed for who I am, because then I have that audacity to step into a room and be like, Yes, I do deserve to be here. Thank you.

[17:52] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[17:53] Jayke Workman: And I feel like it's it's now more than ever, it's so interesting because um, I mean, you mentioned it, you know, like people asking you to change your name or to to lean a certain way to either play into or out of a stereotype, and I think more and more we're seeing um that like your your presence in the room should include who you actually are, you know, and so um I would love to hear if there is um a difference for you or or if you have an opinion on playing a role that is written as a Latina character and for a Latina person to play, um, versus a role that could be anybody, and you just happen to bring your own personal self and heritage to a role like like Roxy Hart.

[18:41] Ana Villafañe: I mean, I thought it was just so fascinating that you know to reopen the show after this crazy pandemic and everything, you got to be the first Roxy, and you were it was you and Bianca Marquin, two Latin women. Like I was just that was so so exciting to see.

[18:58] Jayke Workman: Um so I'd love to hear like how yeah, yeah.

[19:01] Jayke Workman: How has that experience been for you?

[19:04] Ana Villafañe: Um, I think it's been I think it's been uh layered, yeah. Because there's that part of me that's you know, always anywhere that I go, I bring myself, like you said, right?

[19:19] Ana Villafañe: Um I think that sometimes there's the expectation to perform more of my culture, and I think if the script calls for it, if the character calls for it, if it's a if it makes sense socioeconomically, if it makes sense in their history, if it makes sense for their time period and their setting, let's do it.

[19:38] Ana Villafañe: But if it's gonna, if you're gonna arbitrarily ask me to brown face, um, then like not so much, right? And also I think, and then on the flip side of that is also like my worldview and my perspective makes me the artist that I am, right?

[19:58] Ana Villafañe: And so I can also play a you know, a role that is not inherently Latina, and maybe my levels of empathy or just like my again, my worldview can inform the level and the nuance that I can bring to that character and to that story.

[20:15] Ana Villafañe: I think it's all really, really specific on writing. Like I have a very huge respect for writers, and I read scripts like pretty much every single day, and if it keeps me engaged, you know, like if I'm like on page six and I want to start checking my phone, that's when I know that it's not for me, and there's somebody else out there who you can call and who's gonna be wonderful and who's gonna really want that part, because nobody wants like nobody wants any of us at 30%, right?

[20:44] Ana Villafañe: And so um, so I've learned to navigate that in a in a really like honest way and to look at myself and be like, do you want this part or to do the work, or do you want you know the press release and the headline and just to like go to the bank?

[20:59] Ana Villafañe: And that's and that I think that's where it gets like really um I think that's where like I'm definitely grateful that I have worked enough where I'm not like you know, needing to take a job that I'm gonna be like half assing.

[21:12] Ana Villafañe: Um, but I think especially when it comes to culture and for anything when it comes to authenticity in general of a human, whether that means it's a cultural thing, it's a racial thing, it's a you know uh a gender thing, like I think that if it feels inherent to you and authentic to you, and you feel like oh, I need to tell this story.

[21:35] Ana Villafañe: I feel that responsibility and this like draw to tell the story, then do it. Hell yeah. You know, and and if it's not for you, it's not for you. The end the end.

[21:46] Jayke Workman: Well, I would love to hear about your road to Chicago, Broadway, because there was so much I mean, like speculation, and you know, is it gonna happen? Are how how long do we have to wait before we can bring theater back? What was it like to um to audition through COVID to rehearse and you know have to wear masks backstage?

[22:09] Jayke Workman: I mean, that's that's like when I met you was was still we were masking when we were off stage. It was crazy.

[22:17] Ana Villafañe: It was the wild west. Um, during COVID, I was I was auditioning a lot, and I actually worked during COVID, which was great.

[22:28] Ana Villafañe: I did the final season of of Younger with Sutton Foster and uh and all that. And so that was a blast, right?

[22:35] Ana Villafañe: And so, and then when I shot a pilot in LA and and right around the same time, I got a call from my agent, and they were like, We just got an offer for you to go into a show.

[22:54] Ana Villafañe: They didn't say what show at first. They were like to go into a show to reopen Broadway. Are you interested? And I was like, Yes, are you kidding me? Like, I love being on stage. I'm I'm I I was craving, I think we were all craving community and craving just to do our things and to be anywhere to be honest.

[23:13] Ana Villafañe: Like I would do a freaking backyard production of whatever. Like after COVID, we were all we were all really hungry to connect, I think as well, right?

[23:24] Ana Villafañe: And then when they said it was Chicago, I was like, wow, well, that's kind of iconic. And I had never thought about it. And I've also never, I've still to this day I've never seen the show.

[23:32] Jayke Workman: Right.

[23:33] Ana Villafañe: I was like, oh wait, that sounds kind of cool. And so they asked me if I wanted to play Roxy or Velma.

[23:39] Ana Villafañe: Um, and I called, I called Lynn Manuel Miranda, and I was like, what do I do here? And he's like, Oh, Roxy all the way. Period.

[23:39] Ana Villafañe: And I was like, great. And so we did it, and and it I honestly I it I had so much fun, regardless of the hoops we had to jump through in terms of the testing, in terms of the, you know, the masking.

[24:00] Ana Villafañe: It was kind of like, and I and I felt this collectively from everybody, correct me if I'm wrong.

[24:04] Ana Villafañe: I mean, you were in the building. Um, everybody was kind of so down, like there was such an energy of we will do whatever, we will jump through all the hoops that we need to jump through in order to be here, to be working.

[24:20] Jayke Workman: Exactly a hundred percent.

[24:22] Ana Villafañe: So it was really kind of amazing, and it ended up being so magical because Walter Bobby, of course, who's the director, never comes back to teach people the show. But he did. And so we were in a studio for weeks, re I guess like putting the show on its feet again, and people who had even been with the show for years, uh were re-learning what they already knew. And then for me and the three of us that were joining the company for the first time, we were being taught as if it were brand new. So it was kind of incredible.

[24:54] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[24:55] Ana Villafañe: You know, like because all the I love rehearsal. I love like being in a studio and you know, with the mirrors and all the things, and you're sweating and like I love that part of the process. Like I like the getting your hands dirty part, and then it's almost like performing is the icing on the cake.

[25:10] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[25:11] Ana Villafañe: You know, by that mean it's almost like the reward.

[25:13] Jayke Workman: Right.

[25:13] Ana Villafañe: Um, so I'm like trying to tell myself that maybe that's what it's like to make a movie as well. That it's like filming the actual thing is the rehearsal, and that's so fun, and then like the reward is when it comes out. You get to see the model thing. I'm trying. Um, but yeah, I think that that COVID really re-established um for a lot of us just how much we love the thing, yeah, and to do the thing, and how we're kind of willing to um to do whatever it takes to do whatever's necessary to to be up there, yeah. And it was just amazing, the energy was out of control, even the group of people, the the group of principles. I mean, just to hear that I was gonna do it with you, I was like, what the hell is going on? But like Tom Hewitt, Earlius White, like all of these like insane, you know, just Robert Mets. It was crazy, but it was like electric, like it was you could just feel it, it really was.

[26:10] Jayke Workman: Well, obviously, I loved getting to do Chicago with you and your portrayal of Roxy Hart, but the time has come, the audience is chomping at the bit. We must hear about your star turn as Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet on Broadway. Tell me about I mean, even just the casting process alone for this, as far as I can tell, as far as I've gathered, was insane. What was it like to get the call that you were going to be Gloria?

[26:45] Ana Villafañe: Well, first of all, it was my first Broadway audition, right?

[26:48] Ana Villafañe: And so I fly in from LA. I auditioned for Jerry Mitchell. They give me the callback, which was the following day, which was for Jerry, Sergio Trujillo, Nick Scandalius, everybody at Niederlander, um, and the Estefans, right? And it was terrifying. Just little couple casual people. Um left when I left the studio where the callback was. And so I'm walking downtown, and I guess from getting to midtown, I walked all the way down to meet packing, and I was right around the Ganswort. Um, and my phone rings, and at the time I was not based in New York, I was based in Los Angeles. This was maybe 45 minutes post-callback. Right. Um, and it was Telsey's office, and they told me that I had gotten the part, and I lose it, obviously, and I start crying. Uh, and the next day I I flew back to LA in the morning, and I had two weeks to move out of my apartment, and my entire life just went completely from one day to the next, it completely changed.

[28:09] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[28:09] Ana Villafañe: Completely changed. Like it happens. Like it actually happens. Like I was in shock. I was on that plane, and I like still couldn't wrap my head around what was going on. But that that's the story. And I was Wow, 24. And it was just the most ridiculous reality and the most ridiculous like chain of events and circumstances. Also, right after the first audition, like round one, um, with Jerry, it was apparently everybody had been talking about this girl that came in to audition for Gloria Estefan. And so that following morning, I'm thinking, okay, well, before this big Broadway callback, I'll have like the date of myself, and I can like go to the gym and I can like walk around and like just like infuse myself in New York.

And obviously, I was like, I'm such a nerd, so I was nonstop listening to her because I had to sing like her for the show. Um, so I'm like listening, listening, listening, and then I and I get a call from the people at Telsey, and they're like, Oh, uh, can you come in for Lynn? He's doing a new show, it's like super random, but it's about like one of the founding fathers um of like the country, and like they did like a show at the public, and now they're gonna transfer to Broadway, but like they heard that you were in town and and they'd love to see you. So the afternoon of the callback, I was on 9th Avenue getting a bite to eat, and I was like, okay, I'll go in. And I go into Bernie Telsey's office and I sing from In the Heights for Lynn Manuel Miranda, Alex Lackamore, Tommy, like all of the people at Hamilton.

Isn't this crazy? And nobody knows this. And I go in and I and they were like, 'Do you have um your book? I'm like, what book? They're like, 'Well, do you have like your book, like the music that you sing for auditions? And I was like, No, because I came in to sing Gloria Estefan music, so I mean, I have that. And they're like, Okay, um, do you know other like musical theater? Mind you, all these people are now my friends, which so it makes it even more hilarious. And they're like, Do you know like other musical theater songs that you know you can sing right now for us as an audition for this thing that mind you was fucking Hamilton? And I was like, I was like, oh, uh yeah, for sure. And so I would look at Lynn and I was like, well, I know heights.

And so I sing, uh, it won't be long now, I think, or breathe, I'm not sure, one of the two. And Kirk Crowley was at the keys, who again literally I sang at his wedding years later. Oh my god. Um I sing you know, the In the Heights song, and I like walk out super awkward. Like, I think that I wish I could, I wish I could pay to have a recording of the moment when they asked me for a book, and I was like, What are you literally talking about? But I walked out, and apparently, like the rumor or like the I don't know, the fable is that when I walked out, Lynn was like, Well, we can't cast her in Hamilton because she's gonna be Gloria Estefan. Period! Isn't it wild?

[31:19] Jayke Workman: So wild.

[31:19] Ana Villafañe: And I mean, you know, just obviously the fact that now you're like friends with all those people is totally hilarious, but it's bananas. I mean, I guess we have Lynn Manuel to thank for speaking it into the universe that you were gonna be Gloria.

[31:33] Jayke Workman: So yeah, it's like he he willed it all.

[31:37] Ana Villafañe: Exactly. So was your first time meeting Gloria in your callback?

[31:44] Jayke Workman: Yes, yes and no.

[31:46] Ana Villafañe: So okay, stay with me. So I went to a really uh random, you know, I went to like a Catholic elementary school, and my older sister was in the same year as Gloria Estefan's niece, Jenia Stefan. And one time, I guess they were at a party or something, and the niece had an asthma attack, and my grandfather's a doctor, so they came to my house, and my grandfather took care of Gloria's niece. I was maybe like in third grade or fourth grade. Um fast forward, Emilio's brother, who is Jenny's father, yes, uh, came to my house to thank my family, to thank my my parents and my grandfather, and he was like, Oh, we know that you know that Carmen that the little your other daughter is a singer and like a fan of Gloria, so here this is for her.

So I was like a thank you for my grandfather saving Gloria Estefan's niece's life, I guess. Um, they gave me a signed headshot of Gloria that was like love and luck, um, Gloria Estefan. And I remember I can see it in my head, and I was like, Oh my god, this is the coolest thing I've ever received, right? I then met her kind of like as a fan at an event because of her niece, and um then it was the callback. So, yes, it was the first time we met that she knew my name, but she was very much part of my life.

[33:26] Jayke Workman: Wow, like way more that's so insane because then you not only got to play her to work alongside her in the rehearsal process and to get to ask her, you know, personally the the questions about herself and her life, but like now you guys are actually close friends. Like that is just such an incredible journey from signed headshot to Mitch. We're we're in the room together doing it.

[33:55] Ana Villafañe: Well, to her getting mad at me. One time we were at they have a uh house uh in Vero Beach, which is like a little north, and it's beautiful. They also have a hotel up there, and one of her I I don't know what year it was. It might have been like her birthday weekend of 2018 or something, and we all were over there and we're like in the backyard, and cut two, it went from sign headshot to her like getting mad at me as like a friend, being like, You're not drinking! Why are you not drinking like it's 10 in the morning? Like, I understand it's your birthday weekend. I promise I'll start drinking at like noon.

[34:32] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[34:33] Ana Villafañe: She's amazing. So did she uh were I mean, I'm sure that there were just you know tons and tons of like meetings and talks and you know questions that you had for her, but like were there any huge um takeaways or or big like moments of advice that she was able to give you in your process of creating this role?

[34:59] Ana Villafañe: For sure. I think um she she was very big on trusting me to to make discoveries and to not be like a micromanager, uh, which I appreciated. Um and I think the one thing she was very clear on was to not like ad lib, like to let the records just be the records and to sing them without trying to like you know how sometimes maybe like I think you're gonna get what I mean. You know how sometimes people like sing the national anthem and you're like that doesn't sound at all like a national anthem. Yes, and it's just way too much of whatever they're trying to put their you know their sauce on it. And it's like listen, pick two spots, do two ad libs, and that's it. The rest of it, you just need to give us O say can you see and sing the fucking Lily. Um basically she said that to me.

[35:52] Jayke Workman: Yes, great.

[35:53] Ana Villafañe: She was like, you know, my songs are like my babies, and I you know, if if that's the one thing that I'll ever really ask of you. Um the ol the other thing was just not to play the victim when it came to her surgery.

[36:06] Ana Villafañe: And that was, I think when we were bonded for life, was that conversation because I assured her that I would not be doing that, because of my own personal history with like physical things and my arthritis, which I'm super open about with people, and when she found out about that, I thought she was gonna immediately be like, oh great, now we need to recast for somebody who's not like broken.

[36:32] Ana Villafañe: Um, but instead she was like, Oh, so I can trust you. And I was like, and it was really liberating. So I think that that's the space that it all kind of came from, but that's exactly why I respect her so much, and that's exactly why I was able, I think, to honor her with um I don't know, like, I think there's a difference between like ego, everybody has ego, right? And like we're actors, like we're gonna like that's hello, like we're showing up for people to watch and clap and all the things we know what we're bringing to the table. But um, but it was really cool to be introduced to this whole world and especially to Broadway, and especially to in a Broadway commercial hit, approaching it from a place of humility and approaching it from a place of like this ain't about you, Ana.

This is about her, this is about them. And I think that that was only able to keep going, and I was only able to like sustain all the years that I did it because of my respect for her as a human being because I knew she wasn't a shit person, I could go to work and be breaking, you know, eight times a week of a show is hard. Broadway artists, are you I mean, you know, like it is insanely difficult that just to sustain that schedule and just to like put your whole life on hold, and it's like you know, you are putting your body through the ringer, and you are putting your mind like it's a lot of you've done it for so long.

[38:05] Ana Villafañe: I mean, like you were able to sustain it for what was it three or four years? I mean so it was technically three, I would say, because we you know, because like my process with it was about was more closer to four. Um but you know, we had a little space of time in between, like the lab when I joined was October of 2014, and we closed on Broadway in August of 2017. So three years, three years.

[38:35] Jayke Workman: Wow, yeah. How did you sold you? How did you um learn to have the stamina?

[38:43] Ana Villafañe: I mean, that was your Broadway debut. This was your first Broadway show, and you were the lead who was also a real person. And you're not just singing, you're also dancing the house down boots, shimmy shimmy, kickball change. Like what how did you go about approaching this gigantic show physically?

[39:03] Ana Villafañe: Trial and error. I was I had no idea what I was signing up for. I had no idea what I was doing. Um I had no idea that you need like I don't know, protein, um chicken, chicken, whatever. Like I was, you know, I was figuring it out as I went along, and I and I have to think all the time back to that, and I'm like, okay, like I I'm proud of her. I'm proud of that little girl who had no idea what she was doing. I also didn't know anybody in New York City, you know, so it was very lonely, actually. Um it was a very lonely chapter toward the beginning because my only identity was in that theater.

[39:45] Ana Villafañe: Yeah. Um my only existence. And like if I was on vocal rest, you know, I wouldn't speak. Anna did not exist. Like Anna really took a back seat for three years, and it was like I didn't speak, or I was in press talking about Gloria, or I was on stage being Gloria. Like that was it. There was no other um, there was no other uh I guess connection to myself other than what I needed to do in order to do the next show, yeah. What I needed to do to get through the next show, what I needed to do to get to the next day off, and even then, the day off was Fashion Week or whatever, or like whatever event that I had to do, or um, so it was it was a lot, and I'm so grateful because I had a cast that ended up really, and and not only the cast of the show, but like surrounding casts, going back to even the Hamilton conversation, like um people took me under their wing.

[40:44] Ana Villafañe: I think people did recognize that I was so incredibly out of my element, um, and that I was throwing myself so deeply into the show and throwing myself so deeply into her. Um, and I think that that's where Broadway and the theater community in general, because like Broadway is Broadway, but like there's also off Broadway and you know, just the theater community is so respectful of each other because we all know it's hard.

[41:09] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[41:10] Ana Villafañe: So I came into it, and it wasn't like, you know, that energy of like the Tanya Harding, like somebody wanting to break my knees. It was the energy of like, oh my God, how are you sleeping? You know, like I remember Jesse Mueller being incredibly kind to me for no reason. She didn't know me, you know, I was a stranger to all of these people, and Jesse Mueller, Patina Miller, these are icons who I look up to, who were incredibly kind to me and incredibly helpful, and um, and who really kind of like went out of their way to make me feel at least a little bit more safe, I think.

[41:49] Ana Villafañe: Um yeah, you don't know when you're 24 and book your dream gig, you're not and move across the country. Like, you don't know that you need an ENT, an acupuncturist, a nutritionist, a this and that. Like, like you need to do your laundry at some point. Like you can't just buy things. There were days where if I hadn't done laundry or I had I hadn't like sent it out, or I hadn't done it myself or whatever, and I would just have to buy things. Like I'd be like walking home from the theater and like you know, like I don't know, like HM is open or whatever. I'd or Zara, I would go in and just like buy clothes and stuff because I who has time that is so true.

[42:26] Ana Villafañe: It's so wild. You kind of I had um a friend of mine, Hannah Shankman on the pod, and she um she used the phrase golden handcuffs, which I think is such a brilliant way to describe it because it really is the most amazing and fulfilling thing, and it's also uh it can be all consuming. You your entire life can very easily slip away from you and and you have to dedicate your entire self to maintaining a show for eight times a week.

[42:52] Ana Villafañe: But um and I I'm sure that having your own personal experience with the actual Gloria Estefan, you know, was was praise enough for you in this role, but you were nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award, a drama league award, and a stare award. Like, what was it like to to be making your probably debut but have it be so critically uh acclaimed, you know?

[43:18] Ana Villafañe: I mean, like so so well received. Um it's so funny because I was about to say something on this point. Um it was overwhelming, you know, it was very overwhelming. I was very grateful, but at the same time it's hard because you can't watch what you're doing, right?

[43:38] Ana Villafañe: Um by now I've seen like 93 people do this. Like I've seen the show a million times in a million languages and all the things, but but at the time, you know, it's not like you can actually like see what you're doing, you can only feel it. And then if other people are feeling it, it's just like what? Like it's incredible. But um, it felt it felt great. I had some issues at the time going on because I felt almost like guilt.

[44:07] Ana Villafañe: I almost it was almost kind of like a version of like survivor guilt, I would assume, that it, you know, um, and that's when it started to get a little like more dicey. Like I did have certain people saying certain things and whatever, and then like when the Tony nominations came out and I didn't get one, and the New York Times runs this story about how me and Audra McDonald were snugged, and it was just like what first of all, that's a tiny in and of itself, just to be in the same sentence as Audra McDonald in terms of caliber of like what we're doing as artists is I mean, okay, bury me with that on the tombstone.

[44:46] Ana Villafañe: Like, and then she was incredibly classy and sent me flowers and sent me a note because this was during the like three minutes that Shuffle Along was still open. Um, and she sends me a handwritten note and she said something about how um the awards mean nothing, and how uh I already am doing the thing and whatever, and it was and it was beautiful, and I have it, like I have it like in a shadow box with like the dried flowers and whatnot.

[45:17] Ana Villafañe: Um, but you know, it's it's tough because like obviously this is an industry, right? And again, we're talking about making commercial theater, some of the most groundbreaking theater I've seen is not on Broadway and is not commercial theater. Absolutely, um, and to be like loved, I think is such a powerful drug.

[45:40] Ana Villafañe: Right. And I think that it's so beautiful. And you also have to acknowledge when it's okay, thank you. And and and I need to just keep going and keep doing my job. Like, do I love the accolades or do I love getting up, going to hot yoga, and doing a two show day?

[46:01] Ana Villafañe: Um, and look, sometimes, some days you're like that. There was there's one quick change at the top of act two of On Your Feet, that every time I think about it, I have to laugh. Because I was standing there with my arms outstretched, they're doing a full top to bottom, including a wig, like all a complete change, and into pants. It was never dresses. And I'm and like meanwhile, my dresser, a saint who literally kept me alive during all of these years, Sarah Darniel, she is holding my water bottle like a little hamster and like suckling the water, and it's like maybe eight seconds this change.

[46:35] Ana Villafañe: Um, and and I remember during that change always being like, Why am I here? Why am I willingly doing this? That dry heaving, right? And immediately after that change is the entrance into the song Get on Your Feet, at which is you know, it's the top of Act Two, it's like a big medley of concerts and whatever.

[47:02] Ana Villafañe: Um, and it and it was immediate. As soon as I would step onto that stage and be like, get on, y'all. I was just like, oh, this is what this is why, you know, the answer was so immediate. Um, so that's the only way I can, I think, uh, answer that question. Like it felt incredible, obviously, to be to be respected by my peers.

[47:22] Ana Villafañe: I think the Drama League Awards were my favorite, and now I've been nominated. I've done the Drama League Awards now twice, which is amazing because I've literally been on stage in New York three times. Um and so uh my my first Drama League Award was for On Your Feet, second was for Collective Rage, and and it's you know, everybody gets to speak, and everybody who gets nominated or gets you know honored that year, um has like their moment of acknowledgement and whatever.

[47:53] Ana Villafañe: And I feel like that was the one where I was like, man, this is really an incredible group. It's a really an incredible community, and it really, really felt that way for me because I don't think I would have made it.

[48:06] Ana Villafañe: Like I'm a super sensitive person for as much as like the whole like boss bitch, like whatever energy comes through. Um I'm very sensitive and I'm and I I was very alone and I was very like I was self-medicating a lot and I was really, really afraid to like this is this is a word here. I was afraid to jiggle on stage because I was always in a crop top. So I was like really unhealthy with like my lifestyle. Um and and I was carrying it well, you know, because I'd show up on a red carpet and nobody could tell me anything.

[48:36] Jayke Workman: Correct.

[48:37] Ana Villafañe: But I go home and I was, you know, taking edibles because I couldn't sleep, and I was, you know, using ZQL like way too much, and you know, it was it was a lot of uppers and downers in order to just get through. Um and the only time I felt safe or normal or okay was on stage, which is wow. Dangerous. And but how amazing that you have the clarity and the perspective now to be able to look back and be like, okay, that's not sustainable. That you know, like you're not going to be able to do that. And that's what's exciting too, is you know, yes, you learn, and that's the thing, right? Like I feel like, you know, a long career and like a great career of work that I'm proud of is I'm so grateful to like be able to say that that's my literal life, like what?

Um, but I also am excited because every time I finish a project and every time I go on to the next one, I can apply everything that I learned, whether it's from the experience of doing said project or from also the the roles themselves. Um because that's been an interesting thing to look back on too is I can track where I've been in my head and where I've been as a person on like my own journey with all these people that I get to play.

[49:55] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[49:56] Ana Villafañe: And it's like kind of like inform each other. It's really, really cool. It's really interesting. That is so cool.

[50:02] Jayke Workman: Yeah. Well, I also you you mentioned him briefly, but we must talk about, you know, the king of Broadway, Mr. Lynn Manuel Miranda, because you still got to play Nina in In the Heights at the Center. What was that experience like?

[50:18] Ana Villafañe: You know, that experience was absolutely incredible. It was such a star-studded cast, and it was you know, at that exact point I had a again, I was shooting a pilot in LA when I heard about that one. And it was a similar scenario. They asked if I wanted to play Vanessa or if I wanted to play Nina. And I my instinct was Nina because I wanted to park and bark. I wanted to like not be the hot girl. I wanted to be like the more soulful, nerdy. Like I was like, well, Vanessa is such a no-brainer from Gloria. Like it it made it. I I felt like I was being called to challenge myself more to maybe show people a side of myself that they weren't already aware of. Um with Nina. And it was amazing. I mean, my entire family got to come out to see it.

[51:08] Ana Villafañe: And um, I remember my publicist and also worked with Ben Platt, and it was the same weekend as the March for Our Lives, I want to say. Oh, um those Kennedy Center jobs are like quick and dirty. You are just like and um, but it was great because there were so many young people in DC that weekend because of the March for Our Lives. And Ben Platt, I think was speaking at it or something, and so he came one night, and like and it was just it felt really good to be seen as a singer. Um, not only as like you know, the hot girl thing or like the you know, I don't know, I don't know how to explain it. Like it it it was a sense of validation that I think I really needed at the time, and I got to do it with like most of my friends, like all of the like half of On Your Feet was in it.

And then it was like Anthony and Vanessa, uh Anthony Ramos and Vanessa Hudgens. Um, and it was just like it was just like a ridiculous, it was so fast, it was so fast, and there was so much going on for all of us, every single one of us.

[52:14] Ana Villafañe: Um speaking now specifically for Anthony Vanessa and I. We were going through a lot of things in our personal lives, like in our love lives at that time. Oh my god. It was super dramatic. It was like one of the most dramatic that that that contract. I like wish I could do it over and be less distracted, but like I had a boy show up at our hotel. It was messed. It was wild, yeah.

[52:40] Jayke Workman: Yeah, it was it was one of the most dramatic, like weekends ever.

[52:45] Ana Villafañe: Um, but you know, we were all like in our 20s and like just kind of living the dream, and we're just like, I had my dog, Anthony had his dog. I don't know that Vanessa had her dog yet. It was we we all like it was wild. It'll it almost felt like college. Like if like if On Your Feet was like real life, like the the the In the Heights Kennedy Center experience felt like what most people must feel when they're like in a sorority or something. It was just super dramatic, super yes, it was like fast and dirty, and like we were just like okay, we're doing a show.

[53:23] Ana Villafañe: Like it was it was a lot of theater.

[53:26] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, iconic exactly okay. Well, I just adore you, but before I let you go, I have to I have to ask you this series of rapid fire musical theater slash lifestyle questions that I ask all of my guests.

[53:46] Ana Villafañe: Sometime or Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[53:50] Jayke Workman: Oh, I'm sorry, Andrew Lloyd Webber, I'm sorry.

[53:53] Ana Villafañe: Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, no, but I know what I'm saying, and I know that it's might be wrong, but it's just I have my first show ever was Joseph's. Yes, and then I got signed in high school because I did an all-female production of Cats where I was Grisabella at 17 years old. So I have a spot. I mean, I even Starlight Express, give me AL dub of it. Oh my god, hell yeah. I don't care. I'm gonna let my freak flag fly on that.

[54:23] Ana Villafañe: Um sweatpants or jeans, sweatpants.

[54:27] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite musical?

[54:30] Ana Villafañe: Rent.

[54:31] Jayke Workman: Love. Do you have a least favorite musical?

[54:33] Ana Villafañe: That's why I live in the East Village.

[54:34] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[54:36] Ana Villafañe: They rioting on everyone.

[54:39] Jayke Workman: Exactly. Do you have a least favorite musical?

[54:48] Ana Villafañe: Hmm.

[54:51] Jayke Workman: Um, would you ever like to do a Broadway play?

[54:55] Ana Villafañe: Yes. 100%.

[54:57] Jayke Workman: Fabulous. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

[55:02] Ana Villafañe: Both. I hit a slump like at three. Like an hour like around now. Like this is like when I nap.

[55:07] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[55:08] Ana Villafañe: I like a I like extremes.

[55:13] Jayke Workman: Um, what is the craziest thing a director has ever asked you to do?

[55:21] Ana Villafañe: The craziest thing a director has ever asked me to do.

[55:27] Ana Villafañe: Um to stop thinking so much and just focus on looking young.

[55:35] Jayke Workman: I wish I was like iconic yikes.

[55:40] Ana Villafañe: Um golden age or contemporary?

[55:44] Jayke Workman: Golden age.

[55:45] Ana Villafañe: Do you have a favorite role that you've ever played?

[55:48] Ana Villafañe: Um.

[55:50] Jayke Workman: And is it Grizabella at age 17?

[55:54] Ana Villafañe: It's definitely not. I wanted to play Rum Tum Tugger so that uh favorite role that I've ever played. I think I'm gonna say Gloria.

[56:04] Jayke Workman: Love.

[56:05] Ana Villafañe: Yeah. Well, I have her on the line, and she's very happy to know that did say.

[56:11] Jayke Workman: Um I weirdly spoke to her lawyer this morning, but anyway.

[56:16] Ana Villafañe: I'm dead.

[56:17] Jayke Workman: Um, coffee or tea?

[56:20] Ana Villafañe: Tea, matcha, green tea, coconut, milk.

[56:24] Jayke Workman: And don't you forget it.

[56:26] Ana Villafañe: Don't you forget it.

[56:28] Jayke Workman: What is the hardest show you've ever done?

[56:31] Ana Villafañe: Well, I guess I should expand that. Hardest project that you've ever done TV, film, or or musicals.

[56:38] Ana Villafañe: Um, it's tough. If I was more ready for certain projects, then it wouldn't have been so hard. I made it so damn hard on myself. Um, I think I'm gonna say Alina because um on top of everything else, I had to be malnourished for it.

[56:56] Jayke Workman: Um, and that was like that was really hard.

[56:59] Ana Villafañe: Yeah, I'm sure.

[57:00] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite costume that you've ever worn?

[57:04] Ana Villafañe: There was a a onesie, like a like a like a I don't know, Unitard-ish at the end of Collective Rage off Broadway um for MCC, and it was paired with these ridiculous, like knockoff Valentino shoes that looked like mermaid scales, they were like iridescent and like teal, um, and I had really long nails, and it there was like a fur jacket. That was probably one of my favorite costumes.

[57:34] Jayke Workman: Works for sure.

[57:35] Ana Villafañe: I have to like weep in it, mind you. That character was wild.

[57:39] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, I need to find some some video footage of that.

[57:43] Ana Villafañe: Um, do you have a dream role?

[57:47] Ana Villafañe: I mean, I have a lot of like what I would call senora parts that are dream rolls, like for like when I'm way older. You know, name above the title, all the things, Mama Rose.

[57:58] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[57:59] Ana Villafañe: Um, Norma Desmond. I feel like those are my two, those are my two.

[58:06] Jayke Workman: Love it.

[58:07] Ana Villafañe: But again, I know I'm aware that it's not for now.

[58:11] Jayke Workman: And lastly, what is one thing that you would tell younger Anna?

[58:18] Ana Villafañe: I would tell her she's enough.

[58:22] Jayke Workman: I love that.

[58:23] Ana Villafañe: In bold caps, underlined.

[58:29] Jayke Workman: You are enough for sure.

[58:32] Ana Villafañe: Oh, I love it. Well, Anna, thank you so much for being on the pod. This was so fun, and you are an absolute dream. I just adore you. Please, will you tell?

[58:40] Ana Villafañe: You're so sweet. Will you tell the listeners where they can find you on socials and where they can find your projects on the TV?

[58:50] Ana Villafañe: Absolutely. Um, I am at Anna Villafañe Official on Instagram and now on TikTok, because I am oh yes, she deleted her Twitter because she said Elon Who? And uh and I got a TikTok literally when I tell you like a week ago. So she's a baby on there, but um, but yeah, on the Instagram, and then on in terms of shows, I mean I'm trying to think New Amsterdam is currently on Netflix. Uh Castro's Daughter will be coming out soon. Um, you know, the other things that I can't really talk about yet, but yay!

[59:29] Jayke Workman: Oh, you will.

[59:29] Ana Villafañe: And soon to be on stage um across the pond.

[59:32] Jayke Workman: Yes, iconic.

[59:34] Ana Villafañe: Very exciting.

[59:35] Jayke Workman: Oh yes. I love you so much. Thank you so much for being here.

[59:42] Ana Villafañe: You guys, that's it for another episode of Oh My Pod, you guys. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod.

[59:49] Jayke Workman: And you can follow the show on Instagram at oh mypod you guys. Also, feel free to send me emails at omp-u-g at gmail.com.

[59:57] Ana Villafañe: Thanks so much for listening. Talk soon.

[59:58] Jayke Workman: Bye.

[1:00:00] Ana Villafañe: Oh my god.

[1:00:01] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys.