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[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to The Theatre Podcast, intimate, personal conversations with the industry's biggest names. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and our guest today is Mauricio Martinez. He's a cross-genre, international, truly multi-talented individual who just happened to beat cancer four times and now has a successful career on Broadway. He's a huge mental health advocate. We dive deep into, I guess, just overcoming his anxiety and depression of COVID and, of course, being Emilio Estefan on Broadway. And then the whole industry just shut down as soon as he starts ramping up and getting into this great place in his life. So we talked about dealing with that. He was very open, very honest. Mauricio, if you're listening, thank you.

I had such a great time talking about this stuff. Coming up now for the rest of July, August, and September in 2021 here, he is the host for the Bryant Park Picnic Performance. Say that five times fast. So on July 30th, coming up, Adrian Warren and friends is performing. So he's going to be there with them. There's some other things in August and September that you can check on the BryantPark.org website if you're in the area. I highly, highly recommend these events. They are amazing. As always, find me online on Instagram and Twitter at Theatre Underscore Podcast. Leave a rating and review. And now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Mauricio Martinez.

[1:34] Alan Seales: Today's guest is a major international star of both stage and screen. Most recently seen in Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. In addition to playing Emilio Estefan in Broadway's On Your Feet, he also led the national tour of the same name. He is an international Emmy winner for the TV show El Vato on NBC Universo and was a household name in Latin America before crossing over to Broadway, having starred as the leading man in the Mexican productions of Beauty and the Beast, Saturday Night Fever, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweet Charity, The Last Five Years, and A View from the Bridge. He's also the creepy, dirty character Tomás in the Broadway Podcast Network original podcast soap opera, As the Curtain Rises, and is now the host of the Bryant Park Picnic Performance Series. Mauricio Martinez, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[2:40] Mauricio Martinez: Thank you so much, my dear Alan. What a great intro. I aged like 20 years in like less than a minute. I love, I love reading these bios of people who have just been doing this forever because it's, it's like, it's the progression of who you are as a person and, and people in the theatre, in the performance aspect, like, identify so much with the shows that they're in and find so much value in all of that. So when you list off a, a, like categorically just going through all these shows that people are doing, I, it's got to be like, reminiscent of like, oh yeah, at this point in my life, and then that point in my life. And then, you know, talk about the, the Latin, the Latin America, Márquez. What color was my hair?

Was I still a 30 inch waist? Was I, was I divorced? Was I single? Was I in New York? Was I in Mexico? Yeah, there's a lot of things. But yeah, like you say, there's so many, so many different shows too, in so many years. So it's, it's definitely a nice to look back and, and be like, oh yeah, I did that. That's cool.

[3:50] Alan Seales: Yeah. Well, let's, let's dive into the Bryant Park Picnic Performance Series real quick because that's, that's coming up real quick.

[3:57] Mauricio Martinez: That's quite a tongue twister, isn't it? Even for Americans, like Bryant Park picnic performance at Bryant. So many plosives. I was practicing it. Last time I did it, I did the first one on June 18th, and I presented the New York City Opera and I was over it with John right before. I'm like, oh God, this is hard. Bryant Park picnic performances like Bryant Park. It was like a tongue twister. So yeah.

[4:23] Alan Seales: You should use it next time for like vocal warmups.

[4:26] Mauricio Martinez: Yeah, I will. I probably will.

[4:29] Alan Seales: So the, the, right after this episode drops, there's going to be a concert on July 30th with Adrian Warren and friends. And then you're, so you're hosting that live. These are live in the park, Bryant Park things. And the whole thing, by the way, is presented by Bank of America, which of course the incredible, the incredible free access people get to, to these, to these performances and these shows that it, you can just walk by the park and hear all these things. That's gotta be underwritten by something. So hats off to Bank of America.

[5:05] Mauricio Martinez: Definitely. They, they do a great job. I mean, cause to have these shows for free, like you say, in the middle of the park it's amazing. I stayed for the New York City Opera one and it was breathtaking to see and listen to so many talented voices and just to know that live entertainment is back in New York. It's such a wonderful feeling. So like you say, definitely hats off to Bank of America for, for making this possible. And the guys, everyone at Bryant Park who's they're all really working hard to make this a wonderful experience. And yeah, I'm excited about the following concert. I'm very excited. I'm a huge fan of Adrian. I saw her on Broadway as Tina Turner. She blew my mind. Yeah. She's so talented and I cannot wait to host this, this event and see which guests she has.

And yeah, it's going to be a great, it's going to be great. My mom's going to be in town. So I have a show on 54 Below on the 21st. So, so she's coming for that and she's staying. So I'm going to take my mom. And so that'll be nice and exciting.

[6:17] Alan Seales: Does your mom, okay, this is completely off base here. Does your mom kind of know the circles that you travel in, the gravitas of, of the world that you're in now? Like, yeah, I'm just hosting something with Adrian Warren. Like does she know that Adrian Warren is the next best thing since sliced bread?

[6:30] Mauricio Martinez: Yeah. I mean, I, she doesn't know it yet because she's in Mexico and she doesn't really speak English, but once she's here, um, she'll know, you know, cause I mean the show won't be open yet, Tina, but she'll be back and I will take her to that one. Cause it's, it's one of my favorite shows of, of the last season, I think. And one of the best performances I've ever seen in my life, to be honest, like she blew me away. Uh, so yeah, she knows, I mean, I, she knows the level of gravitas that I, um, navigate in like with the Estefans and Andrew Lloyd Webber, like, you know, she, she knows all of that. But, um, in Broadway, as far as Broadway, uh, she definitely will know more and more as I do more and more Broadway.

Cause I'm just starting out here, you know, it's, it's like, I'm starting, I'm like, I'm a beginner in a, in a way. I done a lot of stuff in Mexico and Latin America, but in the U.S. I'm still in my, in my diapers, as I say. So, so it's, it's nice. It's refreshing. And, um, it keeps, um, all of my family, uh, very, uh, active. Cause they're like, Oh, who's this? Oh, who's this? Oh, they like, my mom didn't know who Norm Lewis was. Cause you know, like, um, unless in Mexico, unless you're like a really fat, like a fan of Broadway or if the, if the performer is not like in a Hollywood movies or what, whatnot, they're really not household names, you know? So, uh, she fell in love with him cause she loves Phantom of the Opera.

And she saw videos of him and she was like, Oh my God, he's so handsome. And what a beautiful voice. And he's so charming. And so, so I'm like, yeah. Okay, mom. Okay, mom. She has the hots for Norm Lewis. Who doesn't? I know Jesus. Yeah. Oh, I love that, man.

[8:33] Mauricio Martinez: Yeah, I, I always, I love talking, um, when I go to other countries and love visiting, I love talking and seeing like what has made it into that culture, into that, into that, um, I guess the, yeah, just what has permeated the culture out there. I mean, and it's like, you go out, you go out and a lot of the music, it's either like super, super new release pop, the kind of stuff or, or it's like the bad music of the eighties that, that we make fun of in the U.S.

[9:05] Alan Seales: Yeah, those are classics.

[9:10] Mauricio Martinez: Well, that was, that's what happens when you, when you're a foreigner and you come to live to the U.S. you realize that a lot of things that you thought were good, uh, are not really considered good in America by Americans or, or they're like considered to be like guilty pleasure or like you say, or, or maybe they're not as big in the U.S. as they were, um, in another country such as my country. So that does happen quite often to, to be honest, it, it isn't until you, and I think it happens both ways. The same way when I come here and I know that I'm living here, sometimes people think that, I don't know, a movie or a piece of music or something, uh, from Mexico or Latin America is like everything and wonderful.

And you're like, not really, that's not really, you know, like, um, it's like going to Mexico, like when you go to Taco Bell, it's not really Mexican. You know what I mean? So just as I'm sure, like in Mexico, like, I don't know, hamburgers and hot dogs are not really the best thing, like here in America, you know what I mean? Or like potatoes or cheesecake. So, um, so I think it's the same with art and with music, but I think also it depends on the taste of the audience. You know, um, a lot of people like, uh, different things and that's the beauty of, of what we do, I think, you know, cause there's literally tastes for everything, you know, you may not like pop, you may not like rock, you may not like, I don't know, hip hop or, um, I've heard it with people that are, uh, they're like, they, they say they're not really into Hamilton cause they, they say they're not really into hip hop or rap.

I'm not really into hip hop or rap, but I love Hamilton. You know what I mean? So, so it's like, uh, sometimes it gets, um, you just got to try it and see if you like it and you might find out that you love it.

[11:11] Mauricio Martinez: I'm still not into hip hop and rap and I would listen to Hamilton all day long, all the time. Same like me, same, same as me and in the heights as well, you know, and I'm like, I love those two musicals and I'm not, I don't really listen to hip hop or rap in, in my life other than Hamilton and, and in the heights, you know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, that, that happens a lot too. Or like rock, I think like rock, the, like the more rock that I hear is probably like rock of ages whenever I play, like either the soundtrack of the movie or the original test recording.

[11:46] Alan Seales: So I want to, I want to take this back to you and, and rewind a little bit because, you know, I mentioned in the bio, just one of many things, you are an Emmy winner for El Vato and I'm, I guess let, let's get into your, into where you, what got you into where you are now? Because it's, did you start out as a singer? Did you start out as, as a TV actor, a theater actor? Because, you know, we listed off a million, a million Broadway shows that you did in Mexico.

[12:08] Mauricio Martinez: Yeah. So what, where did the whole thing begin? Well, I started out wanting to do both things, really three, the three things, a sing, act and dance. Growing up in Mexico, my mom used to play, play me movie musicals, like The Sound of Music, Hello Dolly, you know, and I love them. Grease, I watched over and over and over again. I, I had the biggest crush on Olivia Newton John and I wanted to be John Travolta so bad. And little did I know, or did I realize that, which I did later in life, like when I was 13, 14, that most of these movies were based on, on shows, on live theater shows. And that those theaters were in a place called Broadway and that Broadway was in New York. And New York was this exciting city that I would always watch in movies or TV shows or cartoons, you know, with the skyscrapers and like the twin towers where, cause they were, they were, they were a thing still and the Chrysler building and King Kong and all that.

So I just fell in love with it, with the idea of doing it live to a live audience. Cause I was exposed to live theater at a very young age and I really loved it. I saw Cats in my hometown of Monterrey, Mexico. It was a national tour of the Mexican production, which was based in Mexico City. And I, and, but I saw some like telenovela stars doing it, but they were actually really, really good. Like few of the telenovela actors are like triple threats and like can do, uh, also record and sing and dance. So, uh, whoever was cast in Cats was a really good one. Cause that, that's not an easy show to do. So I fell in love with that and to hear it.

[14:13] Mauricio Martinez: To see Grease in Spanish and understand that the same movie that I was watching with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta could be done in Spanish, live in theatre with an orchestra in the pit. And kids were my age doing it, and they were really cool. And I was like, wow, you can do this for a living. And that just blew my mind, and I fell in love with it. The internet was just starting, so you really had to go do research when I was a teenager, go to libraries and, um, I don't know, borrow VHS or then DVDs. And I fell in love with every single one of like the Barbra Streisands, the Julie Andrews, the Liza Minnellis, the Frank Sinatras, the John Travoltas. Later in life, I discovered more and more like Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Phantom of the Opera, and then Jekyll and Hyde, Les Mis, Miss Saigon.

My sister had come to New York when I was a teenager, and she brought back the souvenir, like a brochure of Miss Saigon, Phantom, Cats, and Les Mis. And I looked at it like as if it was gold, you know, I loved it. And I listened to the recordings over and over again. I started taking voice lessons when I was 15, 16. And that's how I started. So I really say, I must say that I started doing both things. I acted in school plays, but I also did musicals, and I started taking singing lessons. But I realized that I had an instrument that I did. I was born with a voice. Ever since I could remember when I was a kid, five, six, seven, I would open my mouth and sound would come out, and it was on key, on pitch, and with breath, like it just came naturally.

So I was like, I got to do something with this because I have it. My brother or my sisters couldn't sing. I was the only one in my house that could sing. So I discovered it, and I just explored and had fun. And later when I was 17 going on 18, I really wanted to leave Mexico and move to New York. A friend of mine got a scholarship to go to Berkeley College of Music in Boston, and she sort of like put that little bug in my head and she was like, you could do this too, you know? And so I asked for the brochure and I got it, and I liked it, but I said, this is really not for me. Like that's only like 30% of what I do, you know? If I go to Berkeley and just study music and singing, what about the actor?

What about the dancer? What about the, like, I need to be more complete, you know? Cause I wanted to be like a Gene Kelly, like a Fred Astaire, like a Patrick Swayze. When I saw Dirty Dancing, I was like, man, that's what I want to do, you know? And so I looked for schools in New York and I ran across one that's called AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. And again, I got the brochure and I just browsed through it and I was like, wow, I memorized it, I think. And I saw who graduated from there, and I just saw the pictures of the both boys and girls like taking ballet or like taking singing music or acting and the streets of New York and the theaters. And I was like, wow, that's where I gotta be.

So I got my audition date, which was in 1997. I came with my brother, I saved my money, I came to my audition. They asked for a monologue and a song, and I auditioned with "Maria" from West Side Story and the monologue, um, the death scene from Romeo and Juliet. Cause I thought being the theater nerd that I was, I was like, is this going to be like a little, like, they're going to know that I know that it's the same role, you know, like they're going to know that I take this seriously. So, um, that's what I did. And I moved, I got accepted like Billy Elliot. Remember when he gets the letter? Like that? Cause there were no emails back then, right? I mean, they were just starting really. And, um, yeah, I moved to New York when I was 18 going to 19 in 1998.

And I loved this city and I studied here. And again, I was, as I was studying here to be a performer, acting, singing, and dancing on stage, I would take extra lessons outside in the school for film and television to learn how I could act for camera, you know? And then I would go to Berkeley, and I did two summer programs at Berkeley to learn how to record. And like, I studied rhythm and blues and pop to like, be more versatile. Cause I always knew that I wanted to do everything. Like I wanted to be a recording artist, but I also wanted to be on Broadway, but I also wanted to do TV. I was like, if Barbra can, if Barbra does this, I can do it, you know? Like hell, if Madonna can do it, so can I. So, uh, and that's what I planned in my head at 18, 19.

And it's been working ever since, you know? Of course, my visa ran out back then in the 2000s. Then I got a job at a cruise ship singing all over the world when I was 23. So that was amazing. I saved money, I went back to Mexico, and I just started auditioning, and I started booking things. I booked Mexican Idol in 2002. So I was in that TV show for four or five months, and I was third place. And after that, I started doing soap operas, and then I started doing concerts, and then I got a record deal. And every single time I would be doing Broadway musicals, but the Mexican productions, I did Saturday Night Fever, like all the ones you said. And so ever since then, I was combining it all, you know?

And, um, to this day, if you ask me, what do you prefer? I don't have an answer. I mean, I'm like, I love when I'm doing theater, I love doing theater. When I'm doing concerts, I love doing concerts. When I'm doing TV, I love doing TV, but the best is when I can combine the two. Like if it's a show like El Vato or a musical in theater where I can both act and sing at the same time, those are the best ones. You know, when I'm doing just a straight play or just a TV role that doesn't sing, I like it. I love it. But the singer gets jealous. It's like, where's the music? Where's my song? Like, where's my song? You know? So, uh, that's why I'm always doing concerts. And cause I got, uh, I'm also very, uh, like I'm very hyperactive as you can tell. Like I'm always like doing a lot of things. So, uh, yeah, I don't get bored that way too.

[21:18] Alan Seales: I totally love that. I'm the same way. It's like, if I don't have five different things pulling my attention, then I don't get anything done. I either have to be totally on or totally off. And I was going to ask what hit first, but it sounds like it was the recording artist side of things. And would you say that like, um, I guess, would you agree with that? And then was the Mexican Idol, did that sort of, was that the springboard into everything else and it just kind of snowballed from there? Or was there something else that sort of like brought together everything to, I mean, El Vato, that's obviously a major TV show is something that propels you as well.

[21:53] Mauricio Martinez: That was like a crossing over. Like, and, and, and, uh, I did, it was in Spanish, but it was for the American Latino, specifically the Mexicans living in the U.S. and it was a huge hit and we won the Emmy, you know, that was amazing. But, um, I mean, yes, Mexican Idol was definitely like what started it all. I became a household name in Mexico almost overnight, and that's a blessing, but it can also be a curse because a lot of those TV shows, uh, you get this stigma, you know, and this label that like you just came out of nowhere. But, um, I made sure to say like, oh, well, I've been studying in New York for years. I've been doing this and this. And I think life little by little put me in a place where people, the audience knew that I did this, um, with all my heart and that I love this and that I wasn't just starting out.

I had already had many, many years of studying and working. And for me, the show was just like, it was another gig. You know, it was not like, oh, this changed my life. No, it was another job. And when it was over, it was time to look for another job. But I landed, before I did albums, I landed the lead in Saturday Night Fever. So that was sort of like what took me away from the Idol thing and like put me in the leading man of musicals in Mexico. And after that, just, they just kept coming. And then I started doing telenovelas, which are like the Mexican soap operas, overly dramatic. I was like a villain. I was a villain in novelas. I was the bad guy. So I was the good guy in musicals and I was the bad guy in TV and I was myself in concert. So it was, it was like being Jekyll and Hyde.

[24:02] Alan Seales: We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[24:09] Mauricio Martinez: I've talked to several people who have done American Idol, and I wonder if Mexican Idol, your experience was, I was gonna ask if it was the same, but it sounds like, I don't know if you answered this already by saying that you viewed it as just another gig because there was somebody, Lauren Lott, I had her on this podcast long, long time ago. And she, on her Instagram, she posts all the time about wigs that she wears, and she's an advocate for just, you know, wearing wigs and things. But when we talked about it in the podcast, she said that the stress of Idol was so much that that's when her hair started falling out.

[24:39] Mauricio Martinez: Oh, wow. Well, I believe her. Yes.

[24:41] Alan Seales: And so my question then, I guess for you is, was it a similar sort of thing or was it just, you know, like a show going into tech, going into previews, going into opening like the, cause you've got that experience. You didn't come from nowhere.

[24:55] Mauricio Martinez: Right. It's different. Cause I did have the experience of doing tech on shows like either on cruise ships or here in New York. Like I had already, I was an expert in Sex and the City. Like I did a lot of things before that big break came, but I had never been in like a competition and where a lot, everyone's seeing you all the time. Cause in Mexico, the way a Mexican Idol works, which was called Operacion Triunfo, which is from Spain, it's almost like a combination between American Idol and Big Brother. Cause you live, you live in a house together and you're not allowed to leave the house for four months. And they only take you to the TV station on Saturdays to rehearse and Sundays to do the live concert.

And throughout the whole week, you have like big celebrities, recording artists come and like talk about their careers or whatnot. And you get your song and you work on your song the whole week, but the audience decides who stays or who leaves. But there's a panel of four experts who nominate you every week. I was only nominated once. So I made it through the final, but it was very stressful because you never knew from day one, they told me, Ooh, you're too Broadway. Like they said, you're too theatrical. And I would always say, that's not a bad thing. Like that's, that's who I am. Like I am theatrical. Like, you know, so that's, I almost, I did have a hard time trying to fit in into like the commercial.

Like they wanted me to be like Ricky Martin, and it was 2002. So like everybody wanted to be Ricky Martin. And I said, I am not Ricky Martin. I'm Mauricio Martinez, and I do different things, you know? Just because I'm Latin and I have spiky hair, it doesn't mean that I'm going to do like Living La Vida Loca. And of course, they gave me Living La Vida Loca. And I was like, yeah, but I mean, that's not what I want to do. So it was stressful, very stressful, but I have to say it wasn't as stressful as I did Dancing With The Stars later, like four or five years later, the Mexican version of Dancing With The Stars, that was more stressful.

[27:09] Alan Seales: Really?

[27:10] Mauricio Martinez: Cause when you're singing, that's my forte, you know? And you're singing and I'm so used to the audience and it's giving a concert, you only do one song and yes, you give your, but it's one song. With the Dancing With The Stars, sometimes you have to do like two or three different choreographies in a week. And they're really hard. The Mexican Dancing With The Stars was really hard. Like the salsa and the like cha-cha-cha, there was like some serious lifts going that if I hadn't trained in New York and if I hadn't done Saturday Night Fever prior, I would have probably like broken my back or something because it was hard. And, and that was very like, you would be like the bad, you would be like, perfect.

And still the panel would be like, oh, well you get a seven. It's like nothing to please them. So that was very, that was even more stressful to me, I think the Dancing With The Stars thing. It's always the live, live TV is very hard to do cause it's nerve-wracking. You depend on time. I much rather do like a pre-recorded thing where you can like fix it if it doesn't go well, you know, for TV, cause it's going to stay there forever.

[28:26] Mauricio Martinez: The live thing, it's like, I don't know, I'd rather do it live in theatre, because that's where life should be. I don't know. Wow. Yeah, I, as not a trained dancer, I'm a singer who moves, and just thinking about having to remember choreography, multiple different numbers, multiple times a week, I'm already losing my hair over that. Yeah, it's very stressful. Very stressful. And people are watching you all the time, and they're coming to rehearsal to film you and record you, and you got to do interviews and press, and you got to look good, and it's a lot. And sometimes you don't get along with your partner, because they paired us up with other famous celebrities who are not really, sometimes they were not really good dancers.

They were just like, I don't know, reality stars, or actresses, or singers who are not really dancers. And it was hard. It was hard, but hey, I did drop a girl. We rehearsed, but it was a very hard choreography, and we missed a step, and we slipped, and I was trying to catch her, and she fell on national television. And I picked her up right away, and we like, as if nothing happened. But of course, they gave us like a five or something. But that happens, you know, and it's like, you can't, there's no take two. You know, there's no autotune in live theater.

[29:53] Alan Seales: Isn't that then, though, that's more similar to live theater? Because if you were doing Saturday Night Fever, you would, if you dropped your partner, that's what you would have had to do.

[30:01] Mauricio Martinez: Exactly. But the difference is that nobody's literally putting, like they're not judging you. I mean, they probably are, but just the audience that bought their ticket, or their... But here, there's literally a panel, and they're going to give you like a mark. You're going to get like either a five, a six, a seven, an eight, and people are going to vote, and you might be voted out. Like there's a lot, it's almost like bullying in a way. Like it's hard. It's not, those shows are not really that much fun. They're very stressful, and you better make good money, because otherwise, I'm like, don't do it.

[30:39] Alan Seales: Would you do it again? I was going to ask. It sounds like, you know, what these two experiences.

[30:43] Mauricio Martinez: I mean, I would probably do the American one, yes. In English, here for the American audience, I'd do that. If I got it off, like if I got an offer, yeah, because it's, that's a great exposure, and you get top-notch people to make sure that you get a professional dancer to dance with you, and they make sure you look good, and you dance good, and yeah, I would do that, yes. But yeah, the Mexican formula was very different, and they also tried to shape it as a telenovela, too. Like you were dancing with somebody sometimes that had like a big drama, a big dramatic story, and all of a sudden, before you dance, they would bring out the mother, and she would cry because, I don't know, that she had lost somebody.

It was like, and then like the big dramatic music would play, and like, you're like, dude, I just want to dance. Before I forget the steps, please let me just dance. So yeah, that's the thing with Mexico, and a lot of Latin America, they, since we are a very telenovela-oriented audience, even reality shows are very over-the-top dramatic. They play like the suspense music, and it's like, it's very over-the-top, and that can be very stressful when you're part of it, you know, and all of a sudden, you're like looking around like, where's this music coming from? Like, what's like, I didn't rehearse this. Yeah, so, but it gave me a lot of chops, too, to like, it gave me a lot of, yeah, it's more experience, you know, to when you come back to theater, and you've done things like that, you know how to improvise, you know how to solve problems in something if something doesn't go right, or, you know, so that's always good.

[32:28] Alan Seales: Yeah, doing live national TV, and yeah, you've done, you've done live, you've done pre-recorded, you've done Broadway, you've done, like, cruise ships, it's, you're right, you've done, you are doing, it's not past tense, it's still present tense, you are doing. Well, things are opening up again, yeah, because I wasn't in a year, in a whole year, we were like in freeze mode, but yes, I'm still doing it. Did you maintain your sanity through all of that? Because I say, like, in your Instagram bio, it's, a mental health advocate is one of the things you list, and something that comes up a lot in these conversations I'm having now, especially now, coming out of the pandemic, I'll put in air quotes, because who knows what's happening with the Delta variant, but it would look like we're coming out because Broadway looks to be coming back, and live performances are starting to resume, and during that whole time, before we knew we were going to get to now, being that, like, what you said something a little while ago, when you're like, this is who I am, this is what I do, I have to do all these things, or otherwise I'm not happy, when you got to do none of them, what did you do?

[33:37] Mauricio Martinez: It was hard, because I was also by myself, here in New York, yes, I got a roommate, I got a girl from Mexico who was moving to New York in July, and so in April, she said, okay, I'll be there in June, and then in June, she said, okay, July, and then finally she came in July, July 1st, and she left July 2nd, she was like, this is not for me, and she left, so I was left alone in this apartment, my previous apartment, and of course, by then, I mean, it was, I think we all went through stages, in the beginning, maybe the first month, it was sort of exciting in a way, like, because it was like, oh, we get to, I had just literally wrapped Unmasked, which was a hard show to do, like, I did Gethsemane, and like, I did a lot of hard songs there, and it was Andrew Lloyd Webber was there all the time, so it was like, it was, there was a lot of pressure in that show, because it's a new show, and they were like, figuring a lot of things out, and we literally closed on Sunday, and then the next Thursday, shutdown happened, and so the first days, I was like, oh, well, I can relax a little bit, watch some TV, like, do some reading, then a week went by, okay, well, I'll drink with my friends, like, we did, like, FaceTime or whatnot, or Zoom, Zoom was just starting, I was like, oh, there's this thing called Zoom, and we did Zoom parties, and like, yeah, my birthday came and went, and I got drunk every day, I was like, oh, I'm drinking, I'm drinking, it's 11 a.m., you know, so by the time, like, by the time month three started, and then there was, like, the shutdown, and there was also, like, all the Black Lives Matter, which was very stressful, too, and I lived right across the street from the police station, so there was a lot of riots happening, and then the fireworks, remember, that drove me crazy last year, and there was, there was a lot, and all the politics, and all that, there was a lot of riots, a lot of, a lot of people left, I couldn't go anywhere, because my mother was stranded in Spain, my, with my sister, and she couldn't leave, because she's 72, and she has diabetes, so she literally could not leave the house, and then Mexico was starting to go really, really bad, as far as COVID, and I was in New York, we had already, it was terrible here, but at least I was okay, I was safe, and being a cancer survivor, I didn't want to risk it, I was like, I'm not getting on a plane, I'm like, I'm gonna stay here, I'm gonna stay put, but alone, it was hard, it was very hard, I like, vented a lot on Twitter, in Spanish, I started going into more like, because being not only bilingual, but bicultural, you know, you, you gotta follow, it drives you crazy sometimes, but you gotta follow two countries, you know, what's going on here, and what's going on over there, as far as everything, politics, health, everything, entertainment, so I started like, reading a lot, and writing a lot, but all of a sudden, I was so angry with life, I think, because I was supposed to be doing Evita in London, I was supposed to be doing concerts, when I came back from London, here with, with symphonies in Pasadena, in LA, in Costa Mesa, in Philadelphia, in Boston, in Pittsburgh, in Detroit, and all those were canceled, and no auditions, there were no, I had a TV show that I was going to do, and it was canceled, so it was very hard, you know, I went on unemployment, which is also a blessing, we don't have that in Mexico, so I was like, very relieved, and I was like, wow, my friends in Mexico are really struggling, especially if you're a theater artist, it's, it's not like, when you're a, when you do TV or film, everybody knows that's, that's paid better, you know, so it was hard, but then I got through it, you know, thanks to friends, thanks to my therapists, thanks to my alone time, thanks to venting too, thanks to writing, to crying, to singing, but it was, it was definitely tough, definitely tough, as September, things started to, like, get better, I booked a plane, a flight, and went to Spain for a whole month, and that really helped, I just stayed with my mom and my sister over there by the beach, then I went to LA for another month, and stayed with a friend in their house, I didn't really go out, just by the pool, but to leave New York for a little bit, and get out of the city, and just breathe a different air, and see a different scenery, I came back and spent Christmas here, and I was like, okay, this is, this is way better, you know, and as soon as this year started, things definitely started to get better, and they keep getting better and better, so that's all so good, you know, but I dealt with a lot of loss, a lot, I lost friends, I lost dear friends, not only to COVID, you know, friends, close friends, my uncle, my dad's brother, my mom's brother-in-law, my neighbor from Mexico too, my voice teacher from Mexico, like, a lot of people too, so that, that got me very, in a very intensive state, and like, I thought a lot about, I reminisced a lot, and you just view life differently, you know, I've been close to dying several times, you know, I'm a cancer survivor, so, and mental health played a very, very important part in my advocacy, in a way, in this year, because I've gone through depression, I've dealt with anxiety, being a cancer patient, you deal with those things, they come like hand in hand, you know, because the minute you hear the word cancer, you think you're going to die, and so your emotions go all over the place, and being a performer, and being, and a very intense and passionate person as I am, a Latino, a performer, a gay man, and a cancer survivor, of course my emotions are all over the place all the time, but, so I've dealt a lot with that, so I started to give messages of, you can do this, and don't say this to people that are depressed, never say this, and do this instead, and check on your friends, and it's okay not to be okay, and it's okay to go to the therapist, it doesn't mean you're crazy, and besides, we're all crazy, you know, like, embrace your craziness, and it's okay to take antidepressants if you need them, it's okay to take, like, do, like, and go out, and run, and meditate, and read, and write, and watch TV, and if all of that doesn't work, then definitely you are depressed, go to the doctor, you need help, like, it's not, it's not, it's not a sin, and it's not, it doesn't mean that you're, there's so much stigma around it that, and in Latin America a lot, so a lot of my followers are from Mexico and Latin America because of the TV shows and whatnot, so I think in America, people are way, way more used to talking about going to therapists, and therapy, and in New York, I mean, in New York, everybody goes to therapy, you know, but in Mexico, Latin America, not really, and men, like, men don't cry, men are not supposed to talk about their feelings, so I'm like, screw that, of course we are, like, and we're supposed to cry, and it doesn't mean you're a girl, or you're feminine, or it doesn't make you, like, stop with that bull, you know, it's not true, so I did help, I think, a lot of people, hopefully, I did get some messages of people that are, two specific people that were, like, literally thinking about ending their lives, and I texted them, like, via Twitter, one on Instagram and via Twitter, like, literally, I send them voice messages, like, you're not alone, this is, like, this is the hotline, call them, you're okay, are you by yourself, where are you, like, what are you, like, how can I help you, and yeah, because I've been there, you know, who hasn't, so many people have been, and these are hard times, so the emotions and, play, play, play a very important part in our lives, and specifically, after this year, I mean, we're all going through a collective trauma, you know, we're not healed yet, just because theater is coming back, and we can do concerts again, and we are auditioning, and, like, I don't know, we're supposed to, we don't need to wear a mask everywhere, it doesn't mean that we're, we've healed, we may be vaccinated from the virus, but there's no vaccine against collective trauma, we went through a lot of loss, uncertainty, uh, death, uh, we lost jobs, we lost, like, there's a lot, and the whole, there's so many, um, there's so many battles going on at the same time, you know, uh, in this country, specifically, the, like, the Stop Asian Hate, the Black Lives Matter.

[42:39] Mauricio Martinez: There's so many different... So it's like, wow, guys, we need to breathe and know that it's okay if we say we're not okay. We stop pretending that, hey, we're fine. We're not fine.

[42:58] Alan Seales: We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[43:09] Mauricio Martinez: Well, that's what a lot of people... I agree with you. That's what a lot of people have... I correct them on this sometimes when they say this is that like, I can't wait for things to go back to normal. Oh, we're getting back to normal. And I said that we should not go back to what was our normal. You were the fifth Mexican to be the lead in a Broadway musical.

[43:33] Alan Seales: That's horrible. How many years has Broadway been around and you're only the fifth?

[43:38] Mauricio Martinez: Yes. That's insane. The amount of conversations that we should have been having years ago that we are just now having and theater and Broadway and the concerts, the 54 Belows, the Green Room 42s, the things that you can do on your own to bring your own voice into the masses. You're fortunate enough to have a following, to have a presence online that you can use. And it sounds like you have been using it very positively. And I love it when people like this really drive home a message without hitting us over the head. Us being cis white men.

[44:23] Alan Seales: Yes. Right? And I want to touch on that too for a second. And don't think we won't come back to the cancer stuff. You mentioned that. We will not gloss over that. But me being a cis white man, I realize only, unfortunately, too recently, how easy a life has been. And you are white presenting. And I feel like you've probably had these opportunities, not opportunities, but these situations where you've played more to one side or the other. Like, oh, I'm more Latin.

[44:49] Mauricio Martinez: Code switching, code switching.

[44:56] Alan Seales: Of course. And well, in Mexico, I probably would never and probably never will play somebody who's poor, for example. That's just how Mexico works. Why? Because I'm white. And that's horrible. Because it's so not true too. It's like, what? No. Or yes, I'm aware that because I'm white presenting, I'm a white Mexican. I have Spanish in me and yeah. And there's tons of us. There's all colors. But I'm aware that that has definitely opened doors.

[45:37] Mauricio Martinez: Maybe more easily if that if I had been darker or shorter, you know, or if I had been indigenous, you know, a Mexican, it's different. I would have never played Emilio Estefan, for example, because he doesn't look like that. I look more like him because we're both white presenting Latinos. You know what I mean? I could never probably play the lead and be the prince after the BS because I was a beast, but then I was a prince. So you got to sort of look like a prince, you know? So and what's the prince? I'm like, why can't there be a prince, an indigenous Mexican prince? You know, they're beautiful. They're beautiful men, you know, like stunning. Same as like here. Like, why can't the beast there happen or the phantom, like when there's a black one or a nation?

I'm like, yes, you know, you know, there hasn't been a Mexican. Well, there hasn't been a Latino phantom on Broadway ever. There's been black. There's been like, but there's not been a Latino on Broadway. There has been in West End and elsewhere, but on Broadway, never.

[46:45] Alan Seales: And I would go, wow, really? In so many years? How many years has the show been running?

[46:50] Mauricio Martinez: Um, so I'm like, after that, I'm like, I was gonna say, it sounds like life goals. That's what I changed. But yeah, I'm very aware of that. And as a cis white, I had to learn a couple of years, maybe less than two years ago, what even the term cis meant. I didn't know, you know, we're still learning and relearning so many things at the same time. And I'm 43, you know, there's so many terms, even being a gay man, I gotta educate. I'm still educating myself a lot about what's right and what's not acceptable anymore. And what's okay and what's not okay, as far as equality, as far as so many things that you can't say anymore. And the inclusive language and, you know, and all that I've had to learn because I didn't know, because I, I am, I am not, I don't, I am a cis white gay man.

So I don't, uh, until, until you talk to somebody that has been rejected or has been oppressed because of being trans or being black or being, you know, whatnot, you understand and you go, oh, that's why I should, that's why it's important to put my pronouns. That's why it's important to, okay, they, them, that's why it's important to do this. That's what, but until you don't do your research and ask, and I ask a lot, all the time, all my friends know me. And sometimes I'm like, they're like, Mao, don't, don't, I'm like, I have to know. Otherwise, if I don't make the mistake, I'm not going to be corrected. Like I gotta, I gotta know. And I'm doing it from a place of love. Like, please just help me.

Cause I also live in two languages and two cultures, you know, and some things that are good over here don't work over there. It's like, wow, it gets confusing sometimes, you know, Spanish is already an inclusive language in a way, but there's all this talk now that, that, um, that it's a very macho language in a way. It's a very, um, patriarch, uh, because everything's in, in Spanish, everything, a lot of things are, uh, are have a, have a gender, even the water, like a glass of water. El vaso de agua. This is a, it's a male, el vaso, but it's not really a male, you know?

[49:22] Alan Seales: Wait, so is it, is it, I don't, I don't know Spanish, unfortunately. Is, is the whole, is it like, um, everything is sort of a single gender and that gender is male or is it just, is it, is it more like that everything is just single gendered?

[49:34] Mauricio Martinez: There is that, but there, things have gender. Like let's say, pick a word, whatever word, say something in English.

[49:39] Alan Seales: Chair.

[49:44] Mauricio Martinez: La silla. That's a female in Spanish. La silla. Chairs are female. I mean, that doesn't mean that they're female, but the conjugation of the word is always in female terms because it's la silla. If you say tree, it's el arbol. So it's a man, it's a man. It's not, it's not a man, but it's, it's written as if it were a male. So there's this whole conversation going on right now with like, um, progressives and all that about how, how screwed up that is. But it has to go back hundreds and hundreds of years, all the way to Spain, not even Mexico, like to Spain, uh, and reorganize that. But of course there's people that say, yeah, but Spanish is so beautiful. Why change it? Like, uh, so it's, there's this whole, whole talk about that.

[50:40] Alan Seales: Um, and it's, it takes a lot, you know, it's cause I think we're all learning so many things at the same time that it does get, I mean, every now and then I go, okay, wow, I need a break. Like I'm, uh, I need to just like chill and like nothing about what's politically correct, you know, and, and just like watch a movie, but then you go back into it. But I'm a very passionate person and I, I, I love to study and I love knowledge and I love to ask and I love to make mistakes and get corrected and like, um, that's who I am. But a lot of people are not like that, you know? So it's also very tiring sometimes to be in a world where not everybody, um, wants to know things. They're like, no, this is okay. I'm not changing this. I'm like, but, uh, but it's, it's, it's very tiring sometimes, you know?

[51:29] Alan Seales: So absolutely. I, I actually honestly don't like being around people who are like that. I, because I'm always trying to push forward in making things better, including myself and, and the people around me. Like if that's a, that's a level of, of drive that is, it's a, it's a need for self-improvement that if you don't have it, you don't get it. And then you just don't gel with that kind of people sometimes. And, and I, I totally get that. And I think, I think this is a good way to circle back to surviving cancer four times because you kept going.

[52:04] Mauricio Martinez: I know. What was the first time?

[52:15] Mauricio Martinez: And so is the cancer that I've had. Apparently the first time was in 2010. I was in Mexico with my now ex-husband, who's a very dear friend, but, um, it was April the 1st and I literally went to urinate to pee. And is it was as if I had opened a bottle of red wine, like it just came out blood without hurting or anything. But of course I got scared. Nothing had happened before like that ever, not a single drop or anything. I had already, always urinated yellowy, clear, whitish, you know, like that's what I urinated until then.

[52:50] Mauricio Martinez: And, uh, uh, it was hard to get a doctor because it was, um, it was Easter and Mexico being very, very Christian and Catholic and doctors, uh, specifically urologists were away. Most of them were away in, uh, in Europe in a, like a Congress or something. And so it was hard. I waited for three and a half days until I was seen by a doctor and, uh, they did, uh, studies on me. They did x-rays and everything. And he, the doctor called me and he said, I need you to come back to my office right away because you have five tumors inside. So I went and yeah, I had five tumors. That was the first time, 2010. I had just wrapped up a show, a TV show, and I was doing a musical, but I had to drop everything. The doctor didn't let, he did not let me leave the hospital.

[53:45] Mauricio Martinez: Literally. He was like, you're going into surgery tomorrow morning. Like, that's it. You have to, because we need to know how, how advanced it is. And also because of the position of one of them, the oldest tumor per se, um, it was dangerous because if it had already trespassed the organ, that's when you metastasize. And that's when I call them copy paste. That's when you go literally copy paste all over your body. And that's when people, um, unfortunately pass really quickly. You know, that's, that's why you hear about people that get cancer and they're diagnosed and all of a sudden boom, they died in a month because that happens. So they, they got to take out some, um, glands in your body that are the ones who create those copies.

[54:32] Mauricio Martinez: It's the, the, the body is a wonderful organism. It's a, it's a machine, it's a factory. It's amazing. Um, so I, I did all that and I went through chemo, I went through radiotherapy, I went through hormone therapy, everything throughout six months that I didn't work. And I was focused on that. I, I, I was clear and I went back to work and three years later, it came back very little. Every three months I had, I had my tests just to do my checkup and they detected a little tumor again, which came out, um, obviously, uh, a bad one and they had to take it out. And I went through chemo again. And that was the second time, which was 2013. And then 2016 was a third time. Every time it comes back, it's less aggressive and it's smaller, but it still comes back and it's still, um, what's always a pain is having to start to count again from zero, you know, because the moment you reach the five-year mark and then the 10-year mark, the five-year mark means that you only get a checkup once a year, every year from year five to year 10.

And once you get to year 10 clear, then you can finally like ring the bell and you're finally cancer, like clear, clean, uh, cancer free. But I haven't reached that. I went through three years and then back to zero and then another three years, which was really six and back to zero. And then I was touring after that. I came to Broadway and I was literally on the tour of On Your Feet, the day of opening night at the Pantages Theater with Gloria and Emilio and my mother and they're like Mexican celebrities. Everybody was there. Um, and all of a sudden in intermission, I go to urinate and boom, again, blood. You can imagine the act two that I did. Thank God, luckily On Your Feet, um, whoever saw the show, the second act is very emotional for Emilio because that's when Gloria has the accident and she's in the hospital. So he has a couple of ballads that are very, he's crying and he has like a lot of dramatic moments. So I, I was a mess of course in the act two.

[56:52] Mauricio Martinez: Of my opening night of The Pantages of On Your Feet. And I had to leave the tour for a couple of months. I went back on the road, but I decided to end because I was like, no, I'm not, this is not, I can't do this. I can't be touring the country in the middle of getting my green card and figuring out where to get chemo in San Francisco, the first dose, and then LA, the second one, and then Minnesota. This is going to drive me crazy. And of course, my mental health took a toll and I fell into a deep depression the fourth time because I had to leave everything. And I went back to Mexico. I was 40 years old, unemployed, left the show of my dreams, and it was heartbreaking. So, I went through a very dark period, a couple of months.

But luckily in knowing my personality, I didn't give up. I was like, I know that I have this. I know that I'm depressed. I know that I got to probably deal with this for the rest of my life. So, I focused for four and a half months in Mexico. All I did was go to therapy and find out what medication I needed because I was very depressed. And I went to three different therapists. I went to a psychologist as well and also a psychiatrist. And I mean, medicines, that's what they're for, you know? And finally, because we did trial and error and I was like a zombie for a month because I was like, this is not working. And they were like, well, we got to figure out which one. And finally, we found out which one is, which is fluvoxamine, which is amazing to me.

And it helped a lot. And it was like literally like night and day. And I came back. I was like, oh, okay. Well, it's time to move to New York. I have my green card. Okay. Like, okay, let's do this. And that's when I finally moved back again on 2019 to New York. And I booked Unmasked right off the bat and I did Unmasked and then COVID started. Luckily, but by the time COVID hit, I had already been medicated for almost a year and I didn't leave. I didn't stop taking therapy. And that's the importance of being a good patient, both for cancer and mental health. Just as I treat my body going to the gym, or just as I treat the muscle of my voice, taking voice lessons, that's how you got to treat your mental health too.

And be a good patient for both the therapy and take your medication and also for the cancer. If I don't go to the doctor every six months, I may have a tumor inside and I don't find out. And you know what I mean? I could die in a year or two. That's why you got to keep going and be whatever the doctor says. He's like God to me. He's like, okay, okay, I got to do it. You say I got to do it, I'll do it. And that's how it works. But that's why I'm here. And it's worked so far. So that's why I'm here. Alive and kicking. Very, very kicking. Very alive.

[1:00:08] Alan Seales: Yeah, your energy is just coming through the screen here as we're talking. It always does. And I think about Steve Jobs, actually, when I think of people who are trying to push through cancer. There's nothing wrong with alternative medicines. There's nothing wrong with holistic health and whatnot. But there's a point where, and this goes towards climate change and not putting bleach in your body to kill COVID and all the other things that you should really think about before you do that. I know, please. But there's a point where science, science, full stop, right? Science is there and it has helped us create these solutions to problems that we've never before been able to solve. And it, oh, forget her name.

And I'm so sorry, I'm forgetting her name, but she just invented the CRISPR, the gene manipulation device, the ability to manipulate genes. So that we're now getting into a realm of, we had a revolution, a computer revolution in the 70s and 80s. And now we're getting into a revolution of genetics. And so what she created, you should look this up, CRISPR. It's allowed us, or it will allow us now, and there's a huge ethical debate around this, to literally genetically engineer babies, embryos. Because you can just, like you're cutting and pasting your movie in Final Cut, you can just manipulate DNA. And you're like, I want blue eyes here. And I want them to, I'm going to remove the, we're going to isolate and remove the gene that predisposes you for anxiety or cancer or depression or whatever the case is.

[1:02:06] Mauricio Martinez: That's fascinating. I've heard about it. Yeah. I find it fascinating.

[1:02:11] Alan Seales: Oh, me too. Me too. Oh gosh. I wish I could remember more of this because I'm making a horrible story, but there was, oh, it's this one of these, it was a kid who, he's not a kid anymore, but at the time he was like a teenager and whatnot. And I think like his dad died of sickle cell and he found out he had sickle cell and he helped to, like he threw high school into college, figured out how to isolate it and treat it. And then it was one of these conversations, he was asked like, if you could eliminate the gene that caused sickle cell or allowed it to happen, would you do that? He was like, no, never. Not a doubt in my mind, because it's made me who I am. It has given me the ability to drive, to find the science, to do all the things that I am now. I wouldn't be who I am without this. And yes, now we know how to keep it at bay. We know how to treat it, but I would never remove it. And so we're so off topic. I love it.

[1:03:11] Mauricio Martinez: No, but I love it. Yeah. That's a good conversation. Yeah.

[1:03:15] Alan Seales: But all of this stuff, it's so fun to me.

[1:03:17] Mauricio Martinez: And it's fascinating, you know, as you say, medicine is there for a reason, like me as a mental health advocate and like depression survivor, you know, and a four-time cancer survivor, I firmly believe in the power of medicine and doctors, like I would not be here. Yes, a lot of other factors have helped. Yes, of course. But the main reason I'm still here is definitely medicine. Like it's, that's a no-brainer. So that's why I always, that's why I have this specific stance about vaccines. And that's why I have the specific stance about anything that has to do with science. It's, science is science. It's there for a reason. And it's always, it's always helped. You know, I come from, I come from a, like a logical background.

And that's why I've always loved computers because it's always been very binary. It's, it's computers, right? Are either on and off. There's an electrical charge or there's not. And in science, I feel like that I never got to the level of theoretical physics and all this quantum theory and string theory and all the things that, you know, the things we're still figuring out about space time. Right. But everything that I learned all through college was just that you have a specific set of inputs. Someone smarter than me has figured out how, what to do with those inputs and then it spits out output and it's going to be the same every time. And so it's the smart people now who are figuring out how to manipulate the input and turn it into the output we want.

Like these are the scientists that are, that are pushing forward every day, but to not trust the, the output that we've been given because you just don't know enough about it. Is that what it is? I don't, I don't know what it is. I watched what ahead of the curve or behind the curve, that flat earther documentary on Netflix and just blew my mind that people, they look for confirmation bias in everything they do. How can you believe this stuff? It's in, it's nuts to me. It's really nuts to me.

[1:05:31] Mauricio Martinez: Yeah. And I agree. I agree. And I mean, I, I respect people's beliefs too, but I sometimes I don't, some things I just don't get because I'm, I'm a, I'm a living example, living and breathing example and a result of medicine working. You know, I wouldn't be here literally talking to you or auditioning and singing and preparing a concert and hosting concert. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for medicine. So yeah. So yeah.

[1:06:02] Alan Seales: I think that is a lovely place. Let's wrap up here with the three, three standard closing questions I ask everybody. Uh, the first one is just very simply what motivates you?

[1:06:15] Mauricio Martinez: Ooh, what motivates me? Um, happiness, you know, making people happy in every rewards. You know, if people are happy, if your boss is happy, if your mom is happy, if you're happy, if your wife is happy, like if your life is better, you know, like if you're happy, like, so that, that's what definitely, that's my motor, you know? And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, you know, to, to, to smile, to go, Ah, like if it, it's a glass of wine at 7 PM, uh, listen to music or if it's singing, or if it's walking by Central Park or if it's cooking my favorite Mexican dish or whatever it is, those simple little things, whatever makes you happy or me happy, I'm happy, you know?

[1:07:12] Alan Seales: Yep. All right. So what advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[1:07:20] Mauricio Martinez: Well, to myself, I would be, uh, I would tell them to have more fun because I think, I think I started to have more fun as I grew older. You know, I was so serious, but I'm very grateful that I was so serious because that's why I achieved everything that I achieved, I think. But, but yeah, to have more fun and to people who are young, who are, um, starting out and wanting to be a performer, I would tell them to enjoy it, have fun, but to take it seriously, you know, to take it seriously. Yeah.

[1:07:58] Alan Seales: All right. We have a visitor, a visitor for the final question.

[1:08:04] Mauricio Martinez: Yes.

[1:08:05] Alan Seales: Let's see.

[1:08:09] Mauricio Martinez: You're so huge. All right, hold on. Let me find, let me find his.

[1:08:13] Alan Seales: There we go.

[1:08:14] Mauricio Martinez: Hi.

[1:08:15] Alan Seales: Hi. How are you?

[1:08:17] Mauricio Martinez: Good.

[1:08:18] Alan Seales: Good. What's your name?

[1:08:20] Mauricio Martinez: Jackson.

[1:08:21] Alan Seales: Jackson. That's a cool name.

[1:08:27] Mauricio Martinez: Okay. Let me finish talking. You can sit here if you're going to be quiet.

[1:08:33] Alan Seales: All right. Let me finish.

[1:08:36] Alan Seales: All right. So last question, if you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[1:08:43] Mauricio Martinez: Oh my God. What a question. Um, a Broadway show, you mean? Yeah.

[1:08:53] Alan Seales: Yes.

[1:08:54] Mauricio Martinez: Broadway show. Wow. What a question. If I could see a show, ooh, a specific, like with somebody and like.

[1:09:07] Alan Seales: You can get as specific as you want, or, or you could say a TV show, a film, whatever, but I will keep it to Broadway since.

[1:09:14] Mauricio Martinez: I mean, I would probably watch a Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand live at the Wintergarden theater over and over again. Like that would be a no brainer for me.

[1:09:25] Alan Seales: That works for me.

[1:09:27] Mauricio Martinez: Very specific.

[1:09:31] Alan Seales: All right. So Jackson has left. Thank you. Oh, you're saying bye.

[1:09:36] Mauricio Martinez: You got to come over here if you're going to say.

[1:09:37] Alan Seales: Bye.

[1:09:39] Mauricio Martinez: All right. Bye Jackson.

[1:09:41] Alan Seales: All right. Well, so obviously the Bryant Park picnic performances are coming up. The next one coming up on July 30th with Adrian Warren and friends, you are hosting live, go to Bryantpark.org to get, uh, get more information about that. And it's actually being live streamed too. And we were talking about, you know, sponsorship from Bank of America. It's going on live. Thanks to Bank of America. Where can we find you online?

[1:10:07] Mauricio Martinez: We can, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter. I'm at Martinez Mao, which is just my last name. And then Mao, as people call me, that's like my nickname short for Mao or Mauricio. And on Facebook, it's a fan page and it's just Mauricio Martinez official, official. If you Google me, I'm there.

[1:10:27] Alan Seales: You can get more of me at thetheaterpodcast.com. I'm on Instagram and Twitter at theater underscore podcast. I'm on Facebook slash official theater podcast. Leave a rating and a review wherever you are listening. Now, please spread the word, tell your friends. This has been edited by Well-Rounded Hoodlum Productions. The music is by Jukebox the Ghost and the lovely conversation is by Mao Mauricio Martinez. Thank you so much.

[1:10:49] Mauricio Martinez: Thank you so much. My dear Alan, this is, this is amazing and hope to repeat it again soon.