August 15, 2025 • 28 mins
The musical adaptation of "Real Women Have Curves" was praised by the Tony Awards and across the country for its timeliness as it leaned heavily on one major topic: immigration. Still, the show closed after just two months on Broadway. In this episode, host Maria Hinojosa speaks with two of the lead actresses —Florencia Cuenca and Tatianna Córdoba— about what it takes to keep up with the pace on Broadway, the realities of performing while ICE attacks Latinos, and our relationship with our bodies.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Dear let you know USA listener.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Before we start, you should know that if you want
to listen to this episode, add free. Just join Plus
and you can join for as little as seven dollars
a month. Joining also gets you behind the scenes access
and yes, some cheese me So click the link in
the episode description and after you do that, then click play.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's go to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Maria, have you been to any Broadway shows or musicals
this year?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I love going to Broadway. I go as often as
I can with my schedule. Though I did make it
to the previews of the musical Real Women Have Curves,
and I really loved it.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I also saw real women have curves. It was great.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
This is your machine. Her name is Catalina.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
She's named after a telenovela villain.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Because she's evil.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
She can cast spells.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
The last girl who worked her grew up Beard.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, Genie, you and I obviously agree on what we
like on Broadway. And by the way, you have been
a producer for Latino USA. You now work with Futuro Studios,
but you are our resident lover of all things on Broadway.
Speaker 6 (01:30):
Yes, and because of that, I wanted us to talk
about the two Latino Broadway shows that really had a
moment this year.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
The two shows Real Women Have.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Curves and Buena Vista Social Club.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Real Women Have Curves star Justina Machallo, based on the
play that's about a dress shop in easta La run
by immigrants.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And then there was one a.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
Vista Social Club, and that's the story about the groundbreaking
Cuban album of the same name from the nineties.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's always a big deal when that happens on Broadway.
In fact, Genie, you've reported about this before.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
A few years back, we did a deep dive on
the history of specifically Latino and Latina musicals on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Here's a clip from that episode.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
A lot of people that you associate with film, like
Lupie Vellas, she actually started on Broadway.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
Robert Viagas is an author who spent twenty years as
co founding managing editor at playbuil dot com.
Speaker 7 (02:34):
She was in a show produced by Ziegfeld called Hop Chow.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I Just want to be.
Speaker 7 (02:41):
Even Carmen Miranda, we can associate with the films with
her Big Hatful of Fruit. She actually also started on
Broadway in nineteen thirty nine in a play called The
streets of Paris.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Hi Yi hii, I will come to the.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
House.
Speaker 7 (02:57):
Rogerson Hart wrote a show called Two Many Girls. Desi
Arnaz was to star in nineteen thirty nine, and he
had a song with a great title, she could shake
the maracas.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
She could shakeka.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
We then get West Side Story in nineteen fifty seven,
which everybody knows, and then in the second half of
the twentieth century, Bye Bye Bertie in nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
While I'd be hind my fan and do the tangle,
I'll be so Spanish it will make you sick.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Where we're now purposely going overboard on the stereotypes. Instead
of laughing at the stereotypes, we're going so over the
top that you can, in a sense laugh with us.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's more self aware.
Speaker 8 (03:45):
I'm so exciting because I'm going to go to the
high school performing arts.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Then in the seventies we get a chorus line. A
chorus line has the character Diana Morales, who is an
actress who is the opposite of the characters we've seen
up until now in Puerto Rican is part of her identity,
but there's nothing stereotypical about her.
Speaker 9 (04:04):
Genetic They don't have mom sleds on one.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
As a reminder, we're talking strictly musicals. There were Blades,
of course, and there were a few other musicals, but
the biggest one comes at the end of the nineties
and it's called The Cape Man I've the roof of
the cast was like a who's who of salsa, like
Marc Anthony was in it, crew and Blades is in it.
(04:28):
Who was born in Aside from a few smaller shows
we hit in the Heights in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And seven years later On Your.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Feet, they viewed on Broadway, which brings us to today.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's right, and so even though history was made on
Broadway this year with two major Latinos shows, right now
we only have one of them on Broadway, and that's
because the musical Real Women have curves down this summer.
And well, I gotta say it was a hard pill
to swallow to see the musical go, which.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
Feels pretty crazy because in my opinion, it was so timely,
heavily based on immigration, and it's been well received by
the industry. To Studa, Machata was nominated for a Tony
for her performance. The show was also nominated for Best
Music and Lyrics In.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Case you didn't know, Real Women Have Curves is the
adaptation of a play written by Josefina Lopez in nineteen ninety.
The play was then adapted to a movie that start
America Ferrera in two thousand and two.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I want you to see me, see this is what
I look like.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Kea.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
The main character is Anna. She's the daughter of undocumented immigrants.
She dreams of being a journalist, but she has to
juggle those dreams between also helping her family with their business,
all our seamstresses and during the Broadway show immigration.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Fear, deportation. It's all a key part of the story.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
And it touches on body image, which was huge for me, honestly,
because in the early two thousands when the movie came out,
teenagers and young adults, we're all seeing these like super
skinny Kate Moss, Gwynneth Paltrow women on screen. So with
real women half curves, we had women that looked like us,
like the women and our families. And around twenty years
(06:31):
after the movie, the musical was born.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So thank you, Genie for all of that context, which
leads me to the conversation that I'm having today with
Dakiena Quaroba. She played the main character Anna in the musical.
By the way, Anna is the one who wants to
be a journalist, so yay for Latina journalists. We're also
joining this conversation by actress Florencia Quenka. She plays Estella,
(06:58):
who is anas sister, and she is the owner of
the dress shop where they all work.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
From. It's Latino Usa.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I'm Mariano Josa today the rise and fall of Real
Women Have Curves, the musical and what it tells us
about Latini Dad on Broadway, Florencia, Finally, Tatiana, Welcome to
Latino USA.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, thank you for coming. You were a little busy
over the past several months. You had a show every
single night, so a little tired.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Yes, And it's not just the shows at night, it's
the whole thing that you have to do in order
to be in the show at night. You know, like
we don't talk about enough of all the emotional, spiritual,
mental preparation that we have to go through in order
to do a show at a PM.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
It's crazy too.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It is the show Real Women Have Curves, and it
was on Broadway in New York City, which is certainly
in terms of theater huge, and so you are both
part of the central cast of your Women have Curves
And after I saw it, I was like, oh my god,
this is a sensation, and I was like, this show
(08:30):
is going to take off. It's going to be on
Broadway forever.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
It is no longer on Broadway. The show closed after
how long two and a half months.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So the first time that a Mexican immigrant woman originates
a character on Broadway that is you, it's your first
time on Yeah, can you just talk for a moment
about the rejection part of being an artist and an
actor in particular, and how you make it through to
the other side, because I think it kind of has
(09:03):
pertinence to what Latinos and Latinas are feeling in general
in the United States of America right now.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
I think it's in general the arts are difficult or challenging.
But for example, talking from my experience as a Mexican
immigrant curvy women, it looks like, oh, it's impossible, And
for a long time I thought like, it's not going
to happen. I am not what Broadway wants. There are
(09:30):
no roles for me, Like when people ask me, like,
what's your dream role? I would say my dream role
is to originate new roles for people who looks like me,
who speak like me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
So the rejection was.
Speaker 8 (09:42):
Too hard and I had to come to terms two
one say, Okay, I'm an actor and I am a
creative person, and I'm a writer and I'm a director.
So I'm going to start doing my own thing and
people are gonna look at me because I do good
stuff and I'm honest and it comes from the heart.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And I think that helped me, like to gain.
Speaker 8 (10:04):
Like ownership of my own story and to know that
my goal in life and what I really want to
keep doing is like tell my stories and represent my
people and just like showing to the people that we
Latinos are here, our stories matter so much and we
deserve to be in the spotlight on a Broadway stage,
(10:28):
center stage. And I think that we got to do that,
even if it was for three months, it has an impact.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
It really had an impact.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah. I think that was also the like what I
was the most proud of, like when we finished, was
that no matter how long it ran or whatever, we
proved that people who look like us and who sound
like you and who identify in the spaces that we
do can lead Broadway shows and do it really, really
eff and well.
Speaker 8 (10:58):
And I think, like going back to the rejection, and
I think what has helped us in general, it's the
community we have each other and that feels so powerful
because we're gonna be rejected our whole.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Life coming up on Latino USA.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Let's be honest, Latina's love to talk about bodies.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
You know, not to prop your bodies, right.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
So I was like, my mom is gonna say, like, Florencia,
I can't believe that you're doing this with that body.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That's after the break, stay with us, not by yes, hey,
we're back. And before the break, we were speaking with
Florentia Quenca and Tatiana Cordova from the musical Broadway adaptation
(11:54):
of Real Women Have Curves. We talked about one of
the big themes of the show, which is body image.
We're going to dig into how body liberation played along
another big topic of the show, a central topic, which
is immigrants and their rights and freedom. There are multiple
themes of the show. One of them is about body image.
(12:15):
We're talking about curvy women.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Is Mohas.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Mohad on you know, so there's a moment which is adorable,
right when you all strip down to your Can you
talk a little.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Bit about what that felt like in the theater, Well.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I think that just in general, when you watch anybody
be so authentic and like live so truthfully in their
joy and in themselves, like it's infectious, Like it's something
that you immediately gravitate, like they did their body just
like react.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
There were people who would come to us at stage
who and be like I wanted to take my shirt off,
Like I was ready to make my shirt off like
I was in a Beatles.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Concerts, like a rocky horror Yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
And I think another thing about that moment is I
think a lot of people assume that it became an
easy thing for us to do or wow, like you're
so confident, like that's so awesome that you.
Speaker 9 (13:13):
Like I don't care that you don't care.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
And I was able to do that, But it really
every day was for each of us, Like some days, yeah,
because some days we're on our period and I'm like
I don't want to take off like so I think
that that was also something that we were discovering as
we were doing it is that like doing that every
night was always like an active choice to like, yeah
(13:36):
and it together.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Yeah, I feel as women. I mean, I have always
struggled with my buddy image and I'm going to keep struggling,
Like that's the reality.
Speaker 8 (13:49):
And some days I'm gonna feel fantastic and some days
I'm gonna be sad about it.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
But it really helped us.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Were you, like, no, was Familia cat see of.
Speaker 8 (13:58):
Course, let's honest. Latina's love to talk about bodies.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You know, not to putp your bodies, right. So I
was like, my mom.
Speaker 8 (14:09):
Is gonna say, like Florencia, I can't believe that you're
doing this with that body. And I remember, like I
felt my heart like bumping, and I was like, you
know what, this is like liberating me from the trauma
from everything that sometimes people have said about my body
without me asking for her, you know. Every night it
(14:29):
was a moment of liberation, like just we're not just
stripping down the clothes, It's more about what we're stripping
down spiritually, you know, mentally.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So you bring up the question of feeling free in
the show, but the freedom that you're talking about and
that you're experiencing the fact that I knew that while
I was watching you on Broadway, people were being taken.
And so the theme of ownership, freedom in your own
body was meeting snack dab against We're not free if
(15:01):
we are immigrants, And I wonder what that was like
to be literally living that schism every single day.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Can you talk about that juxtaposition?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
You don't?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You want to?
Speaker 8 (15:14):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I actually wanted what's going on for you?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I think.
Speaker 8 (15:19):
It's something that hurts me so much, and that's why
I struggle, like just because it's what we are leaving.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
And it was crazy to leave our dreams.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
While portraying nightmares right Like, we were doing a show
and the first goal that I have is with missus,
right and she says the other factory that I was
working with ed got rated last night, and I immediately
feel like, oh, like punch, you know, And I was like, oh, yes,
(15:53):
this is happening right now.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And I feel.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
So proud that we were portraying a real community on
that stage with dignity and in a respectful way, and
we were showing the audience who we really are. But
it was so hard to know that literally we had
the scene when the raids are Afida and we're going.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Through that trauma.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
And because also the audience that they would come, Like
I would talk to people on the stage door and
they are like, I'm undocumented, Like this is the first
time that I seen.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
My story on a Broadway stage.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Yeah. Yeah, it was so crazy, how like it wasn't
even mirroring. It was just like literally copy and pasting
what was happening in real life.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, it's a lot. And so you shared this with
your followers on Instagram at the time at.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Inner Mission, I was in here on Instagram and seeing
all the horrible things that were happening, and then I
went out to do a scene that is a depiction
of exactly that these things that are happening affect all
of us in the show.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
They affect our families.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
This is what our contribution was to the community. And
like our version of resistance and our version of protest
was doing this show. And I think it really made
everything feel that much more you.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
Know, important, important and relevant, and I think, like, yes,
acknowledging our privilege. Yeah, we just finished one very traumatic
scene in Act one, and today it felt really heavy.
(17:45):
I would have people who would text me and say
flow don't talk about that, Like with your legal status,
it's not good that you talk about those things. I'm
not a citizen yet, but it's for me feels crazy
to not talk about those topics because that's who I am,
and that's who I'm portraying, and that's my mission in
(18:06):
this country.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And when they want to silence.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Us, we need to be more loud, louder than ever.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll be right back. Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
We're going to get right back into the conversation with
Florencia Cuenca and Tatiana Cordova from the musical Real Women
Have Curves, all right, So I'd actually loved to talk
about the issue of mental health of being an actor
on Broadway, being an actor in a musical on Broadway,
doing eight shows every week, and I'm just wondering, what
(18:58):
kind of toll does that take on you, both mentally
and physically, and how do you deal with that?
Speaker 8 (19:04):
Oh my god, I think it's crazy and nothing prepares
you for that, like nothing.
Speaker 9 (19:09):
I have to say. She did every single show.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
And I think it's because of my husband, to be honest,
because he made so much pace for me mentally, emotionally.
But it's a thing that you have to hydrate all
the time, like drink water like crazy, and ulti meditation,
even if it's like a five minute power of meditation.
(19:33):
It helps me to root myself because it's really challenging
to do a Broadway show with these kind of themes.
Your buddy feels in the tension and the trauma is
all the time there.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I was doing.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Terrible mentally, to be completely honest, when I would get
home and have, you know, this hour hour and a
half before we need to go to bed, and in
that hour and a half, I would just be sitting
on my kitchen floor sobbing, scream cry, like having full
on attacks. But then I'm like, Okay, gotta go to
(20:06):
bed because I'm living the dream. So it's fine, But
that would also be the only time in the day
where I could let anything, release anything. I always knew
I was gonna be on Broadway one day, but I
thought I would be swaying on the on top of it.
I was working at JA crew folding close and then
now I have to lead a Broadway show and be
like the face of a new show that is paving
(20:28):
ways for people.
Speaker 9 (20:28):
And it was a lot, a lot a lot, a
lot of pressure that I.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Still don't think I fully, like mentally or physically like
recovered from any of that trauma and stress, Like I
still feel like this all the time. And honestly, a
lot of the times where I felt like I could
like relax a little bit was like our time with
the other women.
Speaker 9 (20:46):
If it wasn't for the cast that we had, no,
I don't know if. I don't know if we would
have made it. I don't know if we would have survived.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
So let's talk a little bit about the fall. I
think a lot of people were surprised when they found
out that.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Real women have curves. The musical was going to close
on Broadway.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And first of all, let's just talk personally, like, how
are you doing now?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
The both of you?
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I mean, it was a whirlwind of a process, a
very long eight nine months that we were all working
so so so so so hard, and we all grew
so so close and then pufn, it just stopped. And
I think that's something that like bonds us even further,
is that we made history and changed things in a
(21:40):
big way together. And I think that it's going to
take me a minute to really like process that, and.
Speaker 8 (21:46):
I think like all of us, we lived together so
many firsts. Yeah right, it was like all of our
Broadway debut, our first time in our original Broadway cast album,
Your first Time, and Tony is like all those things
that you put on your vision board.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
It was like ultimately happening.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
I think like we were like in a roller coaster.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I love it, I hate it.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
You know all those things and it's like, Okay, out
of the roller coaster and you feel like, WHOA.
Speaker 9 (22:14):
Like vertical happen.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
So I feel like, right now we're all like okay,
going back to kind of real life.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So I'm just wondering, like, what's your take on what happened?
Why did your show close when it seemed like everyone
was rooting for you.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
We have so many theories, so we have a lot
of theories.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
I think that as soon as there was two Latin
shows in a season, which is historical and amazing, they're
pitted against each other by Broadway as a whole. I
think it's subconscious a lot of the time, but people
are like, oh, two Latin shows, let's compare them when
they could not be more different.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So there was a vibe out there that you were
picking up, which was comparing women have curves with social club.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
I think that's bound to happen.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
The way, because.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
That's it which sucks, and which is a big reason
why I think that this thing needs to keep happening
so people see that both can exist, because the Latin
community is so vast.
Speaker 9 (23:17):
Whenevery Start came.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
First and it really took off, and people loved it
rightfully so because it's beautiful. And then we were the
last entry of the season and we were kind of
like the little show that could, and people I think
took a chance on.
Speaker 9 (23:33):
Us a little too late. New York is for.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Tourists, and as a tourist with kids or whatever, are
you going to go see the big dance show with
beautiful costumes and whatever, or the show besides Justina with
a bunch of nobodies about immigrants, you know what I mean.
It's like it's a no brainer for some people. And
once people saw it, that's what was a.
Speaker 9 (23:53):
Little hard for us. They fell head over heels in
love with it.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
They would come again and again and again we knew
what we had.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
I think also, the way Broadway has been working for
so long, it it's to change you need to learn
how to sell a Latinos show because this is the
conversation that sometimes happens in theater. But it's for everyone. Yes,
of course it's for everyone, but it's a show about Latinos.
(24:23):
Why are you so scared to say that? You have
to be proud and say it's a Mexican family and
in specificity comes the universal of it all.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
So how are you processing and what are the lessons
that you've learned that you actually maybe think that someone
listening should hear.
Speaker 8 (24:42):
I feel like the biggest lesson of it all is like, oh,
there's so much work to be done, but there's a
whole thing that we as a community need to work
together to keep things moving. Because it's so bittersweet what
happened with real women have curves, amazing beautiful things, but
also that we closed so early in our run, especially
(25:07):
the times we are leaving right now.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I'm like this show was very needed.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Yeah, I feel like this sense of responsibility and a
little bit of pressure to continue the work. There were
so many people every single day, every single show that
came up to us and told us how much we
reaffirmed that they are not delusional for having the dreams
(25:35):
that they do.
Speaker 9 (25:36):
And I don't want.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
The fact that we closed to discourage people again and say, oh, well,
you know they closed. So even if we get our moment,
it's not going to last. I want to prove that
wrong so bad and we are going to and I
have no doubt about that. And I just really want
to make sure that we are continuing to prove that
we deserve a spot here.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
Not just oh we want the curb just for the
Curby show.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
No, what you mean your other show?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
So yeah, Florencia Tatiana, thank you so much for joining
me on Latino USA.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, may it not.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Be the last time. No, it's gonna be another show.
There's gonna be another show. This episode was produced by
(26:44):
Ginni Montalbo. It was edited by Andrea Lopez Cruzado. It
was mixed by Julia Caruso and Gabriela Bayez. Fernande Echavari
is our managing editor. The Latino USA team also includes
Roxanna Guire, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Estrada, Renaldo Junior, Stephanie Lebau,
Luis Luna, Joni mar Marquez, Julieta Martinelli, Marta Martinez, Monica Morales, Garcia,
(27:10):
JJ Carubin and Nancy Trujio. Our intern is Diego Perdomo,
Benny Leramidz and I are co executive producers and I'm
your host Maria ino Josa. Latino USA is part of
Iheart's Michael Dura podcast Network. Executive producers at iHeart Ardo
Gomez and Arlene Santana join us again on our next episode.
(27:31):
In the meantime, we'll see you on social media. Remember,
dear listener, if you want to skip the ads and
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Speaker 1 (27:39):
So easy, so affordable.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Such a sign of support for Latino USA and Futuro
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Speaker 5 (27:52):
Latino USA is made possible in part by New York
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(28:19):
working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide.
Dear let you know USA listener.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Before we start, you should know that if you want
to listen to this episode, add free. Just join Plus
and you can join for as little as seven dollars
a month. Joining also gets you behind the scenes access
and yes, some cheese me So click the link in
the episode description and after you do that, then click play.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's go to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Maria, have you been to any Broadway shows or musicals
this year?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I love going to Broadway. I go as often as
I can with my schedule. Though I did make it
to the previews of the musical Real Women Have Curves,
and I really loved it.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I also saw real women have curves. It was great.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
This is your machine. Her name is Catalina.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
She's named after a telenovela villain.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Because she's evil.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
She can cast spells.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
The last girl who worked her grew up Beard.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, Genie, you and I obviously agree on what we
like on Broadway. And by the way, you have been
a producer for Latino USA. You now work with Futuro Studios,
but you are our resident lover of all things on Broadway.
Speaker 6 (01:30):
Yes, and because of that, I wanted us to talk
about the two Latino Broadway shows that really had a
moment this year.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
The two shows Real Women Have.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Curves and Buena Vista Social Club.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Real Women Have Curves star Justina Machallo, based on the
play that's about a dress shop in easta La run
by immigrants.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And then there was one a.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
Vista Social Club, and that's the story about the groundbreaking
Cuban album of the same name from the nineties.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's always a big deal when that happens on Broadway.
In fact, Genie, you've reported about this before.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
A few years back, we did a deep dive on
the history of specifically Latino and Latina musicals on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Here's a clip from that episode.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
A lot of people that you associate with film, like
Lupie Vellas, she actually started on Broadway.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
Robert Viagas is an author who spent twenty years as
co founding managing editor at playbuil dot com.
Speaker 7 (02:34):
She was in a show produced by Ziegfeld called Hop Chow.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I Just want to be.
Speaker 7 (02:41):
Even Carmen Miranda, we can associate with the films with
her Big Hatful of Fruit. She actually also started on
Broadway in nineteen thirty nine in a play called The
streets of Paris.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Hi Yi hii, I will come to the.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
House.
Speaker 7 (02:57):
Rogerson Hart wrote a show called Two Many Girls. Desi
Arnaz was to star in nineteen thirty nine, and he
had a song with a great title, she could shake
the maracas.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
She could shakeka.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
We then get West Side Story in nineteen fifty seven,
which everybody knows, and then in the second half of
the twentieth century, Bye Bye Bertie in nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
While I'd be hind my fan and do the tangle,
I'll be so Spanish it will make you sick.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Where we're now purposely going overboard on the stereotypes. Instead
of laughing at the stereotypes, we're going so over the
top that you can, in a sense laugh with us.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's more self aware.
Speaker 8 (03:45):
I'm so exciting because I'm going to go to the
high school performing arts.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Then in the seventies we get a chorus line. A
chorus line has the character Diana Morales, who is an
actress who is the opposite of the characters we've seen
up until now in Puerto Rican is part of her identity,
but there's nothing stereotypical about her.
Speaker 9 (04:04):
Genetic They don't have mom sleds on one.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
As a reminder, we're talking strictly musicals. There were Blades,
of course, and there were a few other musicals, but
the biggest one comes at the end of the nineties
and it's called The Cape Man I've the roof of
the cast was like a who's who of salsa, like
Marc Anthony was in it, crew and Blades is in it.
(04:28):
Who was born in Aside from a few smaller shows
we hit in the Heights in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And seven years later On Your.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Feet, they viewed on Broadway, which brings us to today.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's right, and so even though history was made on
Broadway this year with two major Latinos shows, right now
we only have one of them on Broadway, and that's
because the musical Real Women have curves down this summer.
And well, I gotta say it was a hard pill
to swallow to see the musical go, which.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
Feels pretty crazy because in my opinion, it was so timely,
heavily based on immigration, and it's been well received by
the industry. To Studa, Machata was nominated for a Tony
for her performance. The show was also nominated for Best
Music and Lyrics In.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Case you didn't know, Real Women Have Curves is the
adaptation of a play written by Josefina Lopez in nineteen ninety.
The play was then adapted to a movie that start
America Ferrera in two thousand and two.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I want you to see me, see this is what
I look like.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Kea.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
The main character is Anna. She's the daughter of undocumented immigrants.
She dreams of being a journalist, but she has to
juggle those dreams between also helping her family with their business,
all our seamstresses and during the Broadway show immigration.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Fear, deportation. It's all a key part of the story.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
And it touches on body image, which was huge for me, honestly,
because in the early two thousands when the movie came out,
teenagers and young adults, we're all seeing these like super
skinny Kate Moss, Gwynneth Paltrow women on screen. So with
real women half curves, we had women that looked like us,
like the women and our families. And around twenty years
(06:31):
after the movie, the musical was born.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So thank you, Genie for all of that context, which
leads me to the conversation that I'm having today with
Dakiena Quaroba. She played the main character Anna in the musical.
By the way, Anna is the one who wants to
be a journalist, so yay for Latina journalists. We're also
joining this conversation by actress Florencia Quenka. She plays Estella,
(06:58):
who is anas sister, and she is the owner of
the dress shop where they all work.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
From. It's Latino Usa.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I'm Mariano Josa today the rise and fall of Real
Women Have Curves, the musical and what it tells us
about Latini Dad on Broadway, Florencia, Finally, Tatiana, Welcome to
Latino USA.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, thank you for coming. You were a little busy
over the past several months. You had a show every
single night, so a little tired.
Speaker 8 (07:44):
Yes, And it's not just the shows at night, it's
the whole thing that you have to do in order
to be in the show at night. You know, like
we don't talk about enough of all the emotional, spiritual,
mental preparation that we have to go through in order
to do a show at a PM.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
It's crazy too.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It is the show Real Women Have Curves, and it
was on Broadway in New York City, which is certainly
in terms of theater huge, and so you are both
part of the central cast of your Women have Curves
And after I saw it, I was like, oh my god,
this is a sensation, and I was like, this show
(08:30):
is going to take off. It's going to be on
Broadway forever.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
It is no longer on Broadway. The show closed after
how long two and a half months.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So the first time that a Mexican immigrant woman originates
a character on Broadway that is you, it's your first
time on Yeah, can you just talk for a moment
about the rejection part of being an artist and an
actor in particular, and how you make it through to
the other side, because I think it kind of has
(09:03):
pertinence to what Latinos and Latinas are feeling in general
in the United States of America right now.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
I think it's in general the arts are difficult or challenging.
But for example, talking from my experience as a Mexican
immigrant curvy women, it looks like, oh, it's impossible, And
for a long time I thought like, it's not going
to happen. I am not what Broadway wants. There are
(09:30):
no roles for me, Like when people ask me, like,
what's your dream role? I would say my dream role
is to originate new roles for people who looks like me,
who speak like me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
So the rejection was.
Speaker 8 (09:42):
Too hard and I had to come to terms two
one say, Okay, I'm an actor and I am a
creative person, and I'm a writer and I'm a director.
So I'm going to start doing my own thing and
people are gonna look at me because I do good
stuff and I'm honest and it comes from the heart.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And I think that helped me, like to gain.
Speaker 8 (10:04):
Like ownership of my own story and to know that
my goal in life and what I really want to
keep doing is like tell my stories and represent my
people and just like showing to the people that we
Latinos are here, our stories matter so much and we
deserve to be in the spotlight on a Broadway stage,
(10:28):
center stage. And I think that we got to do that,
even if it was for three months, it has an impact.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
It really had an impact.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah. I think that was also the like what I
was the most proud of, like when we finished, was
that no matter how long it ran or whatever, we
proved that people who look like us and who sound
like you and who identify in the spaces that we
do can lead Broadway shows and do it really, really
eff and well.
Speaker 8 (10:58):
And I think, like going back to the rejection, and
I think what has helped us in general, it's the
community we have each other and that feels so powerful
because we're gonna be rejected our whole.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Life coming up on Latino USA.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Let's be honest, Latina's love to talk about bodies.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
You know, not to prop your bodies, right.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
So I was like, my mom is gonna say, like, Florencia,
I can't believe that you're doing this with that body.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That's after the break, stay with us, not by yes, hey,
we're back. And before the break, we were speaking with
Florentia Quenca and Tatiana Cordova from the musical Broadway adaptation
(11:54):
of Real Women Have Curves. We talked about one of
the big themes of the show, which is body image.
We're going to dig into how body liberation played along
another big topic of the show, a central topic, which
is immigrants and their rights and freedom. There are multiple
themes of the show. One of them is about body image.
(12:15):
We're talking about curvy women.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Is Mohas.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Mohad on you know, so there's a moment which is adorable,
right when you all strip down to your Can you
talk a little.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Bit about what that felt like in the theater, Well.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I think that just in general, when you watch anybody
be so authentic and like live so truthfully in their
joy and in themselves, like it's infectious, Like it's something
that you immediately gravitate, like they did their body just
like react.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
There were people who would come to us at stage
who and be like I wanted to take my shirt off,
Like I was ready to make my shirt off like
I was in a Beatles.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Concerts, like a rocky horror Yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
And I think another thing about that moment is I
think a lot of people assume that it became an
easy thing for us to do or wow, like you're
so confident, like that's so awesome that you.
Speaker 9 (13:13):
Like I don't care that you don't care.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
And I was able to do that, But it really
every day was for each of us, Like some days, yeah,
because some days we're on our period and I'm like
I don't want to take off like so I think
that that was also something that we were discovering as
we were doing it is that like doing that every
night was always like an active choice to like, yeah
(13:36):
and it together.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Yeah, I feel as women. I mean, I have always
struggled with my buddy image and I'm going to keep struggling,
Like that's the reality.
Speaker 8 (13:49):
And some days I'm gonna feel fantastic and some days
I'm gonna be sad about it.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
But it really helped us.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Were you, like, no, was Familia cat see of.
Speaker 8 (13:58):
Course, let's honest. Latina's love to talk about bodies.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You know, not to putp your bodies, right. So I
was like, my mom.
Speaker 8 (14:09):
Is gonna say, like Florencia, I can't believe that you're
doing this with that body. And I remember, like I
felt my heart like bumping, and I was like, you
know what, this is like liberating me from the trauma
from everything that sometimes people have said about my body
without me asking for her, you know. Every night it
(14:29):
was a moment of liberation, like just we're not just
stripping down the clothes, It's more about what we're stripping
down spiritually, you know, mentally.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So you bring up the question of feeling free in
the show, but the freedom that you're talking about and
that you're experiencing the fact that I knew that while
I was watching you on Broadway, people were being taken.
And so the theme of ownership, freedom in your own
body was meeting snack dab against We're not free if
(15:01):
we are immigrants, And I wonder what that was like
to be literally living that schism every single day.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Can you talk about that juxtaposition?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
You don't?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You want to?
Speaker 8 (15:14):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I actually wanted what's going on for you?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I think.
Speaker 8 (15:19):
It's something that hurts me so much, and that's why
I struggle, like just because it's what we are leaving.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
And it was crazy to leave our dreams.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
While portraying nightmares right Like, we were doing a show
and the first goal that I have is with missus,
right and she says the other factory that I was
working with ed got rated last night, and I immediately
feel like, oh, like punch, you know, And I was like, oh, yes,
(15:53):
this is happening right now.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And I feel.
Speaker 8 (15:58):
So proud that we were portraying a real community on
that stage with dignity and in a respectful way, and
we were showing the audience who we really are. But
it was so hard to know that literally we had
the scene when the raids are Afida and we're going.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Through that trauma.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
And because also the audience that they would come, Like
I would talk to people on the stage door and
they are like, I'm undocumented, Like this is the first
time that I seen.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
My story on a Broadway stage.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Yeah. Yeah, it was so crazy, how like it wasn't
even mirroring. It was just like literally copy and pasting
what was happening in real life.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, it's a lot. And so you shared this with
your followers on Instagram at the time at.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Inner Mission, I was in here on Instagram and seeing
all the horrible things that were happening, and then I
went out to do a scene that is a depiction
of exactly that these things that are happening affect all
of us in the show.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
They affect our families.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
This is what our contribution was to the community. And
like our version of resistance and our version of protest
was doing this show. And I think it really made
everything feel that much more you.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
Know, important, important and relevant, and I think, like, yes,
acknowledging our privilege. Yeah, we just finished one very traumatic
scene in Act one, and today it felt really heavy.
(17:45):
I would have people who would text me and say
flow don't talk about that, Like with your legal status,
it's not good that you talk about those things. I'm
not a citizen yet, but it's for me feels crazy
to not talk about those topics because that's who I am,
and that's who I'm portraying, and that's my mission in
(18:06):
this country.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And when they want to silence.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Us, we need to be more loud, louder than ever.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll be right back. Yes, hey, we're back.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
We're going to get right back into the conversation with
Florencia Cuenca and Tatiana Cordova from the musical Real Women
Have Curves, all right, So I'd actually loved to talk
about the issue of mental health of being an actor
on Broadway, being an actor in a musical on Broadway,
doing eight shows every week, and I'm just wondering, what
(18:58):
kind of toll does that take on you, both mentally
and physically, and how do you deal with that?
Speaker 8 (19:04):
Oh my god, I think it's crazy and nothing prepares
you for that, like nothing.
Speaker 9 (19:09):
I have to say. She did every single show.
Speaker 8 (19:12):
And I think it's because of my husband, to be honest,
because he made so much pace for me mentally, emotionally.
But it's a thing that you have to hydrate all
the time, like drink water like crazy, and ulti meditation,
even if it's like a five minute power of meditation.
(19:33):
It helps me to root myself because it's really challenging
to do a Broadway show with these kind of themes.
Your buddy feels in the tension and the trauma is
all the time there.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I was doing.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Terrible mentally, to be completely honest, when I would get
home and have, you know, this hour hour and a
half before we need to go to bed, and in
that hour and a half, I would just be sitting
on my kitchen floor sobbing, scream cry, like having full
on attacks. But then I'm like, Okay, gotta go to
(20:06):
bed because I'm living the dream. So it's fine, But
that would also be the only time in the day
where I could let anything, release anything. I always knew
I was gonna be on Broadway one day, but I
thought I would be swaying on the on top of it.
I was working at JA crew folding close and then
now I have to lead a Broadway show and be
like the face of a new show that is paving
(20:28):
ways for people.
Speaker 9 (20:28):
And it was a lot, a lot a lot, a
lot of pressure that I.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Still don't think I fully, like mentally or physically like
recovered from any of that trauma and stress, Like I
still feel like this all the time. And honestly, a
lot of the times where I felt like I could
like relax a little bit was like our time with
the other women.
Speaker 9 (20:46):
If it wasn't for the cast that we had, no,
I don't know if. I don't know if we would
have made it. I don't know if we would have survived.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
So let's talk a little bit about the fall. I
think a lot of people were surprised when they found
out that.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Real women have curves. The musical was going to close
on Broadway.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And first of all, let's just talk personally, like, how
are you doing now?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
The both of you?
Speaker 4 (21:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I mean, it was a whirlwind of a process, a
very long eight nine months that we were all working
so so so so so hard, and we all grew
so so close and then pufn, it just stopped. And
I think that's something that like bonds us even further,
is that we made history and changed things in a
(21:40):
big way together. And I think that it's going to
take me a minute to really like process that, and.
Speaker 8 (21:46):
I think like all of us, we lived together so
many firsts. Yeah right, it was like all of our
Broadway debut, our first time in our original Broadway cast album,
Your first Time, and Tony is like all those things
that you put on your vision board.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
It was like ultimately happening.
Speaker 8 (22:03):
I think like we were like in a roller coaster.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I love it, I hate it.
Speaker 8 (22:08):
You know all those things and it's like, Okay, out
of the roller coaster and you feel like, WHOA.
Speaker 9 (22:14):
Like vertical happen.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
So I feel like, right now we're all like okay,
going back to kind of real life.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So I'm just wondering, like, what's your take on what happened?
Why did your show close when it seemed like everyone
was rooting for you.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
We have so many theories, so we have a lot
of theories.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
I think that as soon as there was two Latin
shows in a season, which is historical and amazing, they're
pitted against each other by Broadway as a whole. I
think it's subconscious a lot of the time, but people
are like, oh, two Latin shows, let's compare them when
they could not be more different.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So there was a vibe out there that you were
picking up, which was comparing women have curves with social club.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
I think that's bound to happen.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
The way, because.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
That's it which sucks, and which is a big reason
why I think that this thing needs to keep happening
so people see that both can exist, because the Latin
community is so vast.
Speaker 9 (23:17):
Whenevery Start came.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
First and it really took off, and people loved it
rightfully so because it's beautiful. And then we were the
last entry of the season and we were kind of
like the little show that could, and people I think
took a chance on.
Speaker 9 (23:33):
Us a little too late. New York is for.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Tourists, and as a tourist with kids or whatever, are
you going to go see the big dance show with
beautiful costumes and whatever, or the show besides Justina with
a bunch of nobodies about immigrants, you know what I mean.
It's like it's a no brainer for some people. And
once people saw it, that's what was a.
Speaker 9 (23:53):
Little hard for us. They fell head over heels in
love with it.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
They would come again and again and again we knew
what we had.
Speaker 8 (24:02):
I think also, the way Broadway has been working for
so long, it it's to change you need to learn
how to sell a Latinos show because this is the
conversation that sometimes happens in theater. But it's for everyone. Yes,
of course it's for everyone, but it's a show about Latinos.
(24:23):
Why are you so scared to say that? You have
to be proud and say it's a Mexican family and
in specificity comes the universal of it all.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
So how are you processing and what are the lessons
that you've learned that you actually maybe think that someone
listening should hear.
Speaker 8 (24:42):
I feel like the biggest lesson of it all is like, oh,
there's so much work to be done, but there's a
whole thing that we as a community need to work
together to keep things moving. Because it's so bittersweet what
happened with real women have curves, amazing beautiful things, but
also that we closed so early in our run, especially
(25:07):
the times we are leaving right now.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I'm like this show was very needed.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Yeah, I feel like this sense of responsibility and a
little bit of pressure to continue the work. There were
so many people every single day, every single show that
came up to us and told us how much we
reaffirmed that they are not delusional for having the dreams
(25:35):
that they do.
Speaker 9 (25:36):
And I don't want.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
The fact that we closed to discourage people again and say, oh, well,
you know they closed. So even if we get our moment,
it's not going to last. I want to prove that
wrong so bad and we are going to and I
have no doubt about that. And I just really want
to make sure that we are continuing to prove that
we deserve a spot here.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
Not just oh we want the curb just for the
Curby show.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
No, what you mean your other show?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
So yeah, Florencia Tatiana, thank you so much for joining
me on Latino USA.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, may it not.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Be the last time. No, it's gonna be another show.
There's gonna be another show. This episode was produced by
(26:44):
Ginni Montalbo. It was edited by Andrea Lopez Cruzado. It
was mixed by Julia Caruso and Gabriela Bayez. Fernande Echavari
is our managing editor. The Latino USA team also includes
Roxanna Guire, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Estrada, Renaldo Junior, Stephanie Lebau,
Luis Luna, Joni mar Marquez, Julieta Martinelli, Marta Martinez, Monica Morales, Garcia,
(27:10):
JJ Carubin and Nancy Trujio. Our intern is Diego Perdomo,
Benny Leramidz and I are co executive producers and I'm
your host Maria ino Josa. Latino USA is part of
Iheart's Michael Dura podcast Network. Executive producers at iHeart Ardo
Gomez and Arlene Santana join us again on our next episode.
(27:31):
In the meantime, we'll see you on social media. Remember,
dear listener, if you want to skip the ads and
you know you do, just joined Forduroplus.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
So easy, so affordable.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Such a sign of support for Latino USA and Futuro
Media yatusabs note bayas Ciao.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Latino USA is made possible in part by New York
Women's Foundation, the New York Women's Founding, funding women leaders
that build solutions in their communities and celebrating thirty years
of radical generosity, The Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity
and possibilities more at hsfoundation dot org and the Ford Foundation,
(28:19):
working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide.
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