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[0:00] Teresa Attridge: Ever wonder what it takes to make a new musical sing? Our mission is to make the exclusive inclusive. We are interviewing the creatives who are changing musical theater one 11 o'clock number at a time. This is your Backstage Pass.

[0:43] Teresa Attridge: Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone to a very special episode of Backstage Pass. Welcome, Barnacles. We're so excited to have you here. Today we're celebrating the release of Café Con Leche's developmental EP from Theater Barn Records. Yes. We have lots of fantastic guests in our studio today. We've got Maiga Vidal, Linedy Genao, Taylor Iman Jones, and Fran Tapia. I'm so pleased to be here with you all today. And theater schedules being theater schedules, we actually have a special guest host today. The normal co-host Teresa Attridge was just not able to join us today. But we're very excited to welcome the president of Theater Barn Records, Hector Flores Jr. Welcome, Hector.

[1:26] Hector Flores Jr.: Hey! I'm super excited to be here and I feel like I have really big shoes to fill because Teresa is insightful and witty and so well spoken. It's an honor to be in this place and I hope I do her proud.

[1:38] Teresa Attridge: I'm sure you will. We're very happy to have you here. Teresa sends her hellos. I hope you'll meet her eventually. She's truly fantastic. Okay. Well, just so everybody knows who's in this room, and if you don't know the people in this room, go look them up. If you don't know some of these people, we gotta have a talk. When I learned the guest list for this backstage pass, I texted my wife and I was like, oh my God, I get to talk with Bad Cinderella.

[2:01] Linedy Genao: Me.

[2:02] Teresa Attridge: That is the most me experience. Sorry, when we pitched the show, Hector's like, Linedy said yes. I hang up the phone and I look at my husband and I'm like, Bad Cinderella said yes! It was literally like that.

[2:14] Hector Flores Jr.: Yeah.

[2:15] Teresa Attridge: Well, actually, Maiga, you know, funnily enough, this is a writer-focused podcast. So we're going to start with you.

[2:19] Maiga Vidal: Yeah.

[2:20] Teresa Attridge: Maiga Vidal is a Chilean-born, Los Angeles-raised musical theater writer and content creator. Her musical Café Con Leche is being developed by New York Theater Barn. Just had its EP released through Theater Barn Records. Vidal is currently pursuing her MFA in musical theater writing at NYU Tisch, which is really exciting. Our last guest, Saint Sebastian, were graduates of the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program from NYU. So shout out NYU. Woo woo NYU.

[2:46] Maiga Vidal: It's a mafia.

[2:47] Teresa Attridge: It's a mafia. Join us. And an anticipated graduation date of spring 2025. So good luck with those classes.

[2:53] Maiga Vidal: I literally had a thesis meeting today. So it's like thesis, café, thesis, café, that is my life.

[3:00] Teresa Attridge: That's incredible. Well, fantastic. I'm so glad to have you here. Additionally, she studied at Theater West's Betty Garrett Musical Theater Workshop, the Songwriting School of Los Angeles, and privately under John Mercurio. Her goal is to create more diversity in theater, both by writing new works centering marginalized voices and by demystifying the musical theater writing process by sharing it from page to stage online in her original vlog series, Writing a Musical, which is so cool. I was looking you up, of course, before the podcast. How fantastic to help people understand that process.

[3:28] Maiga Vidal: Thank you so much. It's a lifelong mission of mine, not only to write my people into existence, into the musical theater canon, but to then also, in any way that I can, pull the curtain back and show what it's like, because I didn't know that what I'm doing right now was a possibility for someone like me. And I'm hopeful that if people can see me do it, then they'll also want to write musicals. That's the dream.

[3:55] Teresa Attridge: Absolutely fantastic. Okay, Linedy, let's go to you next.

[3:58] Linedy Genao: Linedy Genao has been on Broadway in On Your Feet, Dear Evan Hansen, and Bad Cinderella as Bad Cinderella. She's also been featured on the Suenos, our American musical EP, released through Theater Barn Records. And please, everyone, watch the Good Morning America interview with Linedy on YouTube. There's so much...

[4:15] Hector Flores Jr.: Linedy just made a face.

[4:17] Teresa Attridge: We are so, so pleased to have you here. And of course, this should have been said at the top of the show, you all sound so fantastic on this EP. We absolutely love it. Don't want to make mention that Linedy is featured on the 15 times Hispanic and Latina artists that made history on Broadway. So snaps for Linedy for doing that.

[4:37] Linedy Genao: Yay, yay, Playbill.

[4:38] Teresa Attridge: Gracias. What Hector just did there, there's so much more. There is so much more. We could just spend the whole podcast talking about how incredible these folks are. But next, I'm going to go to Taylor.

[4:47] Teresa Attridge: After being in New York for only two months, Taylor Iman Jones made her Broadway debut in Groundhog Day. Her other Broadway credits include Head Over Heels, where she originated the role of Mopsa, as well as Six, and she appeared off-Broadway in Emojiland. And she recently closed a production of Empire Records. And you can also hear her voice on the Xena Warrior musical cast album from Theater Barn Records. Welcome, Taylor.

[5:15] Taylor Iman Jones: Hello.

[5:16] Taylor Iman Jones: Hello, hello.

[5:17] Teresa Attridge: And then we also have Fran Tapia, who is a Helen Hayes award-winning actress that I had the honor of working with in a production of In the Heights. And you may know her from seeing her on the road in the second national tour of On Your Feet. She recently played Evita in Mami en el Closet at Gala Hispanic Theater. And she is currently playing Lady Capulet in Folger Theater's production of Romeo and Juliet. Welcome, Fran.

[5:37] Fran Tapia: Thank you. Hi, everyone. I'm not sure I talk about this much on the cast. But not only am I a musical theater head, I'm a Shakespeare head as well. Richard III was my thesis in grad school.

[5:46] Hector Flores Jr.: Oh, everyone.

[5:47] Fran Tapia: But I would say also that Lady Capulet is an underappreciated role. So I wish I could have seen that.

[5:54] Teresa Attridge: That's true. I had not seen any Lady Capulets that I had loved. And this one was great because this is my first time doing Shakespeare in the United States. I love singing. So Lady Capulet is singing in this show. All the vocals are mine. So I'm so happy.

[6:09] Teresa Attridge: That's fantastic. I'm going to fly to D.C. I'm going to check it out. Well, welcome, everybody. Hector, this is like your third time on the program, so everybody knows and loves you. Before we go further, I'm actually going to read a synopsis of the show. Café con Leche is an original rom-com musical set in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles for you non-locals, about Alejandra, an accountant who longed to be the perfect immigrant daughter for her parents, Joaquin and Rosa, even if it means staying in the closet forever. When a rent hike threatens to close her parents' American-style donut shop for good, Alejandra, with the help of a mysterious new customer, Megan, opens Café con Leche, a Latino-themed coffee spot to moonlight after hours at the store to make extra money. As her feelings for Café con Leche and Megan grow, Alejandra begins to question just how much she's willing to hide to keep her parents' love.

[6:53] Hector Flores Jr.: Teresa, do you want to start chatting with the guests about how this piece came to be?

[6:58] Maiga Vidal: I think I should maybe tell us its origins, then we can pass it around.

[7:03] Maiga Vidal: I will happily take it over and then pass it back to Hector. Hi, everyone. One of my main musical theater projects in the last couple of years was a pandemic project, which started in May 2021. As I mentioned, you can definitely go watch me literally have the first idea the exact day because of this YouTube series that I have called Writing a Musical. But the seed for this idea came from so many things. It's been fun to do these interviews and be like, what am I going to say to each one? Because they're all true, but I will add a very special section here. It was born out of this desire of my dad's ill, which made me think about my mortality and obviously with the times of COVID and the pandemic, oh, am I doing what I want?

Like if I were to die tomorrow, am I doing what I want? But then on the flip side, my desire to write for Latina women in particular and writing shows for women, like the four biggest parts in Café con Leche are all women. And that was very intentional to me because when I went to high school, there was way more women in the theater programs, I mean, also in undergrad and grad school, than there are men. I wanted to write for the people who are doing theater who don't have as many roles for them for some reason. It just never made any sense. But also it was born out of this coffee shop fan fiction that I read. And it sounds like I took the idea from there. But I love, if you've ever read fan fiction, this is so nerdy, my God, I can't believe I'm airing this.

Oh, it gets nerdy on this podcast. We talked about Star Trek two podcasts ago, like in detail, don't worry about it. I was this anime, this is so stupid. But in fan fiction, there is this trope called the coffee shop AU, where it's like these characters are in whatever universe, but you make them fall in love in a coffee shop. And I was like, wouldn't it be fun if I wrote something original around a coffee shop? And so all those things together led to like this queer rom-com about falling in love with two women, but also like daughters disappointing their mothers. And also like, what does it mean to like be out, right? Like not just to like yourself, but to your community. And you know, Café con Leche really is the metaphor for that because the parents shop is California cappuccinos on a coffee.

So her coming out is the journey of Café con Leche. And so you have that literal visual metaphor that the audience is seeing while the character is also progressing. It's just really cool to think about like structurally like musicals that way, you know?

[9:15] Maiga Vidal: And also the way that you tied it in like with the culture itself, because you know, Café con Leche is such a big part of the everyday for the Latino family. And one thing that was interesting to me when we first started talking about the show was when I wanted to write something that if my mother came to the show, she could understand it. Yeah, that is so important to me. I'm a big believer in accent and language and that being like a driving force in my work. Café con Leche is a musical that is in Spanglish. And that is not a tick, that is a very definitive language choice, because that is the way that these characters would speak to each other. Currently in my thesis, I'm doing a fully bilingual musical.

So I'm always really interested in how to bring my people into the theater, especially my mom. I think of my parents or my friend's parents, where English is like, you speak English to work, you don't speak English to consume art. And those are two different ways to speak a language. And my goal with Café, especially with like California Cappuccino Donut Coffee, when that bridge was written for my mom, and it's in Spanish, because I want her to know what the show is about in particular. When I think about that audience that is so underserved and underrepresented in the theater, that's what I want to write to. And so that means like writing in that language. Yeah, it's really exciting to have a clear audience and to also be supported by a New York Theater Barn, who are people who believe that that audience should be welcome into the theater.

You know what I'm saying? Because it's one thing to write something, but it's another thing to work with these incredible artists, with New York Theater Barn and Theater Barn Records, and for them to be like, you know what?

[10:44] Hector Flores Jr.: We see you and we see the audience that you're writing for. I think that's very true to your artistic statement in your bio that you want to create more diversity in theater. This is kind of a theme of our podcast. Many of the writers we speak to are writing to create those spaces for themselves or people they deeply care about that they've never seen represented on stage. Sometimes they just got to take it into their own hands. Hector, should we move to Linedy next? I mean, you might know who next got involved in the process.

[11:07] Linedy Genao: The way that we got linked up was that Maiga, there was a production, another company, and then that same company did a cohort, and then we met through the cohort. And I was like, all right, this is awesome. Let's record this. I rallied my friends and the people's contact information that I had, and I was like, who would be best for this? I ended up talking to Maiga about the options, and she was like, I love all these people. So that's how we ended up with Linedy and Taylor and Fran.

[11:31] Fran Tapia: And I'd like to throw a question at Fran right now. You're a Chilean immigrant, a Chilean artist. Is this the first time that you actually get to play Chilean in the show? Did you get to play like where you're from?

[11:37] Fran Tapia: It is. It is my first time. It is my first time. Super excited. Super excited. And I was hearing Maiga, and language and accent are a thing in my world and in my work in this moment. I was hearing Maiga, and I'm super happy that this show is treating accent and language, not as being bilingual, not as a fashion, because like, literally in this moment, playing in The Folger, because it's a bilingual production, there's people that have said, why are we doing this in Spanish with certain characters? It's not necessary. It's super difficult to be reading at the same time. It's literally not a fashion for me. It's an experience. And it's an experience for the characters too. It's an experience to be an immigrant and have that immediate shift all day during your life of the accent. It speaks to power. It speaks to trying to be part of a place, having to struggle to pertenecer. How do you say pertenecer? To be part of.

[12:38] Linedy Genao: To belong.

[12:39] Fran Tapia: To belong, yes. Struggling to belong. And also I feel that Maiga's choice of doing it is super bold because my experience is that I want to work and blend into this culture, but also maybe my choice and my way is not blending and putting out work that is, I don't know, that doesn't exist and that speaks more about my experience.

[13:05] Linedy Genao: Absolutely. I think that's why most of us do what we do. What I love about everybody who's on today is they paved ways for people like them. And in that wake, more of us can move forward. And Maiga and I have had this conversation before where it's like, in the past, the teams or the people that were making it would close the door behind them. But I'm like, if I've got some wood and you've got some nails and this one's got a hammer, let's build a ladder so we can all swiftly and safely climb to the top because there's room up there for everybody.

[13:36] Fran Tapia: Exactly. And so being able to make more work that is for, by, and with Latino people, I think is pretty awesome. We were talking in the rehearsal room about sometimes you don't have the English word, just like Fran didn't, and you were able to say, you know, this is what it means. And that's how, you know, to have that in the room, I think, is something really special. And maybe can you speak to what that was like working with Bobby, who was Latino, and Maiga and Felipe?

[13:53] Fran Tapia: Yes, I mean, that was the perfect example. Sometimes, even if you know the word in English, it's not sufficient enough. It's not profound enough. Something as beautiful as pertenecer, to belong, to belong is so significant. Going back to the musical, in that song where you said that you wrote this specifically for your mom to understand this and to understand how profound this is and what it means, and it capsulates the whole, the whole show is so significant, you know, and you can get that in a few strong lyrics like that. And it just, yeah, it means a lot to be a part of something, again, new work that's telling new stories, stories about us is really profound. I'm really grateful to be a small part of it.

[14:34] Linedy Genao: I'd like to expand on that a little bit, if you don't mind. So you're no stranger to new works. I mean, between On Your Feet, A Taste of Things to Come, Bad Cinderella, Sueños, and El Café con Leche. Do you feel that there's a difference when you're working on a show that's based around culture, versus a show where the race of your character is incidental?

[14:49] Fran Tapia: Yes, the sense of belonging, back to that. I think it was going from On Your Feet, which was my Broadway debut and professional theater debut period, finding my community. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm in a show about my people, about the music that I grew up listening to, the language that I speak, my culture. And then going to something like Dear Evan Hansen, where I was like, where's my people? It was a very drastic difference. An unneeded one too, I will say, because I'm also like, I don't want to be, I don't always want to be the Latina that's needed in the show. You know what I mean? That as well. But I definitely do feel a difference in how comfortable I feel with myself and around others.

And just kind of like, when you're with your people and people that have the same experience as you, I don't know, your walls come down, you feel safe, you feel comforted, you feel, I don't know, you're all there for each other. And again, I don't want to say that in other shows you're not, but it's just something that's unspoken. You just feel it.

[15:51] Linedy Genao: Petra, you said the exact same thing when we were talking about Ghost in the Machine a few episodes ago. There's like an immediate feeling of familiarity. And the other thing that's kind of funny about this situation, we're podcasting, so this is going to be audio. But as you're speaking, there's so many nodding heads in this, in this room right now, because there's so much kind of collective experience that's being brought up right now. It's pretty beautiful in a way. It's also unfortunate in other ways. But the fact that this community is being created and that Hector and Theatre Barn Records have provided this platform for the show is really, really exciting.

[16:23] Maiga Vidal: I would like to add, if I can, that I think what the show is, and I think you get a taste of it with just like how different the Latina experience is with just the guests that we have here. It's that being Latino, being Latina, being Latina is not like a homogenous experience. Being Latino is not a monolith.

[16:37] Fran Tapia: Exactly. Like we are so different and you don't even need to speak Spanish and you can speak Spanish. And I think what unites us is this shared experience of growing up in the United States, being of Latin American descent. It doesn't necessarily mean that Spanish is the first language. But I think my goal with Café is every character is Latino, but they're not all the same shade of Latino. Rosa speaks Spanish, but Megan doesn't. That doesn't make her not Latina. That just makes her a different shade, literally, of Latina. Like when I submit the script, these women all better look different because not all Latinas look like me, right? They all look different shades. Like when I wrote Megan, I was like, she has to be Afro-Latina because that is a different experience than being Chilean American.

Then my other character, Blake, he's like a third generation Hispanic and that is Latinidad. And I think that it's obviously hard to do with just one show, which is why I have to keep writing until I die.

[17:28] Maiga Vidal: But I think the responsibility is on the writing team, the casting team, people who support projects like this, because when you're trying to encompass an entire experience into one monolith, that is just not possible. But the only way you can showcase different experiences is by having more than one Latino at a time. So if I have every one Latino, then you already know that these people are going to become people rather than just your token Latino and like, not to talk about City of Angels because I love that show, but like there's one Latino and he's the bad guy. If this is your first time seeing a Latino person, that is your experience with Latino people, period. But if you hopefully you come see the show and you're like, oh, it turns out I have way more in common with Rosa or Alejandra or Megan than I thought I did, even though we're not from the same culture, quote unquote. So I think that's just really important to me.

[18:19] Fran Tapia: Also, no shade to City of Angels. I freaking love that show. It's literally up on my wall. No, but Maiga, even who I am in the body I walk in, right? There are so many shows in the musical theater canon that you're like, oh, I love that show. It should never be done now. You know, or like, I love those two songs from that show. It's hard. I mean, I love City of Angels too, but like, you're absolutely right. But what's exciting is that the next generation of artists like yourself are coming to this from such a thoughtful perspective of creating art that it's not like you're just trying to put yourself on stage. Even you're creating space for like, so many types of actors who would not get that opportunity. It's really fantastic.

[19:03] Maiga Vidal: I love not acting. It is such a thrill. I started as an actor. And now that I write stuff, I'm like, get people who do this, who can excavate the work, submerge themselves in it, find things that I didn't even know. But also, I think I'm like the only Latina words person at NYU in my cycle. There are very few Latina composer lyricists. For Café, like, I'm doing all of it. I'm working with my collaborator, who's also Chilean. Like, we're the first ever Chilean team, period, in the history of the program. And like, the first Latino team, period. It might not be the first Latino thing eventually, but the first South American team for sure, where it's like lyrics and words and music. And that is just something I'm really adamant about. But they are not Latino. There are people that I admire, people that I look up to, but it is on us to not only support the work, but also to want to consume work written by the audience that it's written about.

[19:46] Hector Flores Jr.: What Theatre Barn is doing is putting their money where their mouth is. It's like, you want to see Latinos on Broadway? Great. Fund projects at the seed level. Get people to support work written by people of color, by women, by non-binary people, by queer people. Things that are well-made. That's it. I'm off my soapbox now.

[20:06] Maiga Vidal: Mambo Kings. Mambo Kings was a big sauce of the house down show that was opening up on the West Coast. And they never made it out of previews because the critics slammed them. And they said that a musical about Latin people dancing would never work. Fast forward to 2008, In the Heights opens on Broadway and takes home multiple Tonys, one of which was for choreography. And then you fast forward another several years, I think it was 2015, On Your Feet opens and snagged another Tony nom for choreography. Build it and they will come.

[20:32] Fran Tapia: Exactly. And Julie James said it best. It's not just for Latin people. It's for every theater going audience. I'm so focused in bringing Latina people in, but that doesn't mean that I'm not writing for the audience that already exists. I want to write something fun and catchy that people want to sing and listen to, hopefully hum out of the theater. And I just happened to do that featuring Latina people. And I've been humming your EP since I heard it. So you're succeeding.

[20:56] Maiga Vidal: Think about Linedi and Taylor and Fran. Like you're only able to write this kind of work because of the actors and their ability to understand the work. Being able to show something to Linedi and be like, here it is. I don't have to translate it. You can understand what I'm saying. We're giving something to Taylor and they're singing something that makes way more sense than what I wrote and being like, great, let me fix that. Let me change it to fit your voice. And that's the power of actors in a piece too. So it's like, it's theater's collaborative. Like I might have a mission, but it's through their work that it comes to life.

[21:29] Maiga Vidal: California Cappuccino Donut Coffee, the song that I cannot get out of my head from the moment I heard it. Maiga, would you set up the song so we can know the content?

[21:37] Of course. California Cappuccino, or as they would say, California Cappuccino Donut Coffee. It's really the opening number of a show. It's the radio version of it. It's a seven-minute opening number, so I did something special for this. But it's the opening number where Joaquin, played by Rubén, and Rosa, played by Fran, sing about the fact that they have made it, that they have achieved their dream of opening their own shop. And you said something earlier, take it into your hands. And the bridge is in Spanish. And it literally, I was trying to think of the phrase of the American idiom that would translate, and I've been thinking about it for days. But the Spanish bridge is, No es solo tener un sueño, tenemos que hacernos un sueño. Which is, it's not enough to have a dream, you have to claim it.

But the actual translation, if I were to like sit down and work on it, is exactly what you said. It's not enough to have a dream, you have to take it into your hands. And so that's, you know, the heart, the thesis statement of the show. And it's in Spanish because I wanted my mom to be able to get it and be able to be in the theater or listen to it on Spotify, which she did, which is just like, makes me cry, cannot talk about. And while she might not get everything else that I'm saying, she knows that this is what the show is about, and that I wrote that for her. So it was just an honor to work with people like Fran and Rubén to bring that to life. And just for the record, it is okay to cry. Want to cry, you can cry. Here is California Cappuccino Donut Coffee, performed by Rubén Flores and Fran Tapia.

[22:56] ♪ Musical number: "California Cappuccino Donut Coffee" — performed by Rubén Flores and Fran Tapia ♪

[26:14] Maiga Vidal: Oh my gosh. As I have said numerous times already, I cannot get that song out of my head. It is just that bass line. From the very first moment, I was like, oh. I want to shout out my arranger. Arranger orchestrator, Felipe Segovia Sanhueza, who is also my thesis partner. We're also roommates. The dude is like OG bestie. I wrote that song for an NYU class and I brought it in. He was like, I know what the bass line is gonna be. I had the song. I played it for piano and he's just like. That is why you work with an orchestrator slash arranger. Cause they can bring stuff that you as a composer are sometimes blind to. So shout out to Felipe. I would also add when I listen to the song, words will come to me that I'm like.

Oh, there's something about this, the flavor of this song. And the song just feels so optimistic. I'm just filled with hope and warmth and desire to make my dreams come true. When I listened to this song. And the other thing that I think is really important, there's a lyric. Alejandro's parents talk about shining bright the American way. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. Immigrant stories are American stories. They're going to claim their place. They're going to show this place is theirs and they rightfully belong. And that feeling was just so clearly communicated. I'm so glad. That's why they do doughnuts. That's why Alejandro does cafe, right? Like doughnuts are your typical American.

Literally like your most American pastry is a doughnut. And that's why Alejandro, as she discovers herself, gets closer to her Latinidad. To her queerness. And that's something her parents are rejecting in California Cappuccino. Even though they embrace Americanness, they think that comes at the cost of their Latinidad. So it's always playing with those themes. And when you're like, oh, this works. I'm like, thank God. I've only put in like three years of work. And those things are resonating.

[28:00] Taylor Iman Jones: You touched on her getting close to her queerness. And I feel like it's nice to work on a story that's about queer people. Where we're not dying or being raped or, you know, AIDS. Taylor, you've worked on a couple of musicals where you were portraying queer stories. We were talking earlier about how few there are in the canon. I think there's even less for a female identifying queer narrative. What is that like for you? And what would that experience have been if you had that for yourself at a younger age? And what does it mean for you to be able to give that to other people now?

[28:29] Yeah, it's really surprising, I think, to me that that's part of my career. Honestly, this year I've only played queer characters. And that just happens to be the case. Like it's not even that I was on the hunt for them. But they keep finding me and I feel really special to bring them to life. Because, like you said, there wasn't a lot out of Maureen and Joanne in Rent. That was kind of all we had. And then I guess Fun Home later is a great example of that. But, yeah, it's just really, I know I already said special, but I can't understate how important it is. Because not only is it great to build these roles for younger generations, for people my age now, but also musicals like this can help heal generational trauma.

That is real. It goes way beyond even entertainment. When I did Head Over Heels, I had a lot of letters from not only kids, but kids and their parents talking about how it helped the parents understand that it wasn't scary, that it wasn't a scary thing, that things could be okay, and that there is a world. You know, when you show them, they can see a world of acceptance, of growth, unlike maybe the society they grew up in or, you know, a lot of things we still deal with. But it's really awesome. And especially being a queer person myself just feels cool. And it can certainly be hard. I'm sure we've all experienced this. As you continue to find yourself and become more specific within yourself, it can be harder to find roles or to see roles that you can play or to be in shows that are there for you.

But I was talking to a friend recently, and they were like, it's because you're carving your own path. So, of course, it can look or feel more daunting than going out for the typical roles. I mean, I think even Linedy is a great example of like, we all know Cinderella, but there's only one bad Cinderella, you know?

[30:18] Maiga Vidal: Ah, yeah.

[30:20] Taylor Iman Jones: I know that's right. I'm sure Linedy never imagined playing the role in that way. But now not only did she open up, but I remember watching that and being like, oh, wow, I could have done that now. Or, you know, watching Brandy in Cinderella, the movie, you know, I guess it's almost 30 years old. I don't know, whatever. Let's not talk about that. Let's not give ourselves anxiety. 20 years ago or something, maybe. I don't know.

[30:43] Maiga Vidal: Yeah.

[30:45] Taylor Iman Jones: And, like, Michael was talking about, like, the different representations of Hispanic people. Like, I'm Puerto Rican. My mom is Puerto Rican. But I don't speak Spanish. So it is always really scary when I come into shows like this. But Maiga has created a world, has created a part for someone like me who might not feel enough in some spaces to feel enough in those spaces, you know? So it's really cool. That just deepens the meaning and appreciation behind Megan's character on a whole other level. The fact that she doesn't speak Spanish, but she belongs in this world. That's some brilliant, brilliant work. The other thing that just occurred to me, I always go back to Stephen Sondheim, you know, using his, like, less is more, you know, his writing principles, content is informed.

You know it. You know it. The fact that the first words are tu papá, io, so clearly creates this framework of this story is about a parent and their child's relationship, right? It's about so many more things. But you know it immediately. And that is good writing. So, oh, my gosh. No pressure.

[31:43] Pauls Macs: Thanks for joining us on New York Theatre Barn's Backstage Pass.

[31:49] Join us next time to hear two more songs and more conversation about the new musical Café Con Leche.

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