“Buena Vista Social Club” Is Bringing Its Broadway Heat to Puerto Rico

 

CRITIC’S PICK! “BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB BRINGS THE THRILL OF MUSIC MAKING TO BROADWAY”

– The New York Times

 

“BROADWAY’S MOST FABULOUS PARTY!

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB EXPLODES WITH BRILLIANT, VIBRANT MUSIC AND DANCING.”

– The Daily Beast

 

“ELECTRIFYING AND TRANSPORTIVE, WITH INTOXICATING MUSIC AND SPIRITED DANCE—

I FELT WHISKED AWAY.”

-The New York Post

 

★★★★! “IRRESISTIBLE. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB HEATS UP BROADWAY.”

–Time Out New York

 

“A REMARKABLE AND ROUSING EVENING AT THE THEATER!

THE SONGS OF BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB STILL KILL.”

-New York Magazine

“Buena Vista Social Club” Is Bringing Its Broadway Heat to Puerto Rico

The Tony-winning musical will receive a stand-alone replica production in San Juan this fall, marking a milestone for Puerto Rico’s professional theater community and its growing relationship with Broadway.

There are Broadway transfers, there are touring productions, and then there are moments that feel less like business and more like cultural weather. This fall, “Buena Vista Social Club” will travel not simply as a hit musical, but as a signal: of Caribbean kinship, of theatrical possibility, and of the increasingly porous border between Broadway and Puerto Rico’s own deep bench of performing talent.

The producers of the Tony-winning Broadway musical “Buena Vista Social Club” have announced that a stand-alone replica production will be mounted in Puerto Rico as part of the Broadway Season in San Juan 2026, beginning performances on October 23 at the Antonio Paoli Festival Hall of the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce. 

The Broadway production has granted a license by special agreement for producer Ender Vega and BAS Entertainment to produce the Puerto Rican premiere — a significant distinction, especially because the original Broadway production is still running in New York.

For co-producers Luis A. Miranda, Jr. and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the San Juan production represents something larger than a booking on a theatrical calendar.

“BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’s October opening at Centro de Bellas Artes de Santurce marks an important milestone for the professional theater community in Puerto Rico and its relationship to Broadway,” said Luis A. Miranda, Jr. and Lin-Manuel Miranda. “As the first production on the archipelago to be granted an independent performance license while the original production is still running on Broadway, Buena Vista Social Club is breaking new ground. We brought Equity touring productions of In the Heights and Hamilton to San Juan, and we could not be prouder to be working with Ender Vega of BAS Entertainment to mount this new independent production of this Tony Award-winning Broadway hit in Puerto Rico.”

That sense of occasion is echoed by Vega, whose BAS Entertainment will oversee the Puerto Rican premiere.

“This is, without a doubt, a moment of great pride and significance for the performing arts in Puerto Rico. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB represents our Caribbean identity, celebrating the music of our sister island, Cuba. Bringing together the right talent is our priority, and we are already putting the finishing touches on a truly stellar, first-rate cast that, once announced, will surprise audiences and elevate this production into something historic,” said Ender Vega, producer of BAS Entertainment.

The timing is particularly charged. “Buena Vista Social Club” is currently celebrating its 16th month on Broadway, while also preparing to launch a national tour this fall, beginning performances in September at Buffalo’s Shea’s Performing Arts Center. The San Juan engagement now adds another chapter to the musical’s expanding life — not as a carbon copy dropped into a new market, but as a licensed, independent production in a Caribbean capital whose own artistic identity makes the material feel especially resonant.

Inspired by true events, “Buena Vista Social Club” brings the legendary 1997 Grammy Award-winning album to theatrical life, moving beyond the glitz of the Tropicana and into the rooms, histories, disappointments, ambitions, and second chances that shaped one of the most beloved recordings of the 20th century. The musical tells the story of the artists behind the album, carried by blazing trumpets, liquid guitars, percussion that seems to summon memory from the floorboards, and the unmistakable sound of Havana’s golden age.

At the center of the show is a world-class Afro-Cuban band and a cast charged with translating not only the music, but the lives behind it — lives marked by survival, exile, artistry, compromise, aging, and the extraordinary grace of being heard again.

On Broadway, “Buena Vista Social Club” has become one of the season’s defining musical achievements. The production is the winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Natalie Venetia Belcon, Best Sound Design of a Musical for Jonathan Deans, Best Choreography for Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, and Best Orchestrations for Marco Paguia. A Special Tony Award was also awarded to the musicians who make up the band of “Buena Vista Social Club,” while the Original Broadway Cast Recording received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Additional recognition includes two Chita Rivera Awards, for Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show and Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show, as well as the Actors’ Equity Association’s ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus.

The Broadway production is produced by Orin Wolf, John Styles, Barbara Broccoli, Atlantic Theater Company, Luis Miranda, LaChanze, and John Leguizamo, with Allan Williams serving as executive producer.

With a book by Tony nominee Marco Ramirez, whose work includes “The Royale,” and direction by Tony nominee Saheem Ali, known for “Fat Ham,” the musical gathers an expansive company of performers, musicians, and designers to tell the story of the artists who recorded the original album. Its choreography is by Tony Award winners Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, whose work has moved between ballet, Broadway, and film, including “Illinoise” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”

The show’s Grammy-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording was released by BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB™ and World Circuit Records. The album was produced by Dean Sharenow and David Yazbek, co-produced by Marco Paguia and Orin Wolf, and executive produced by Allan Williams.

The current Broadway cast includes Tony Award winner Natalie Venetia Belcon as Omara, Rick Negron as Compay, Mel Semé as Ibrahim, Jainardo Batista Sterling as Rubén, Isa Antonetti as Young Omara, Da’Von T. Moody as Young Compay, Wesley Wray as Young Ibrahim, Jesús Pupo as Young Rubén, Renesito Avich as Eliades, Ashley De La Rosa as Young Haydee, and Chris Myers as Juan de Marcos. The company also includes Angélica Beliard, Adriel Flete, Josh Gonzalez, Jacob Guzman, Héctor Juan Maisonet, Brian M. Love, Ilda Mason, Marielys Molina, Sophia Ramos, Clinton Roane, Malcolm Miles Young, and Tanairi Sade Vazquez.

The recipients of the 2025 Special Tony Award for the musicians who make up the “Buena Vista Social Club” band are Marco Paguia as conductor, pianist, and music director; David Oquendo as associate music director and guitarist; Renesito Avich on tres; Gustavo Schartz on bass; Hery Paz on woodwinds; Eddie Venegas on trombone; Jesus Ricardo on trumpet; Javier Díaz, Mauricio Herrera, and Román Diaz on percussion; and Leonardo Reyna on piano.

The production features creative consultation by David Yazbek, music supervision by Dean Sharenow, orchestrations, arrangements, and music direction by Tony Award winner Marco Paguia, additional arrangements by Javier Diaz and David Oquendo, and music consultation by Juan de Marcos.

The design team includes scenery by Tony nominee Arnulfo Maldonado, costumes by Tony nominee Dede Ayite, lighting by Tony nominee Tyler Micoleau, sound by Tony Award winner Jonathan Deans, wigs, hair, and make-up by J. Jared Janas, and casting by The TRC Company. Arabella Powell serves as production stage manager.

“Buena Vista Social Club” made its world premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in New York City in December 2023 and was nominated for Best Musical by both the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

For Puerto Rico, the forthcoming San Juan production arrives with the electricity of both celebration and challenge. It asks what happens when a Broadway musical rooted in Cuban sound and Afro-Caribbean memory lands in a place that understands, instinctively, the power of music as archive, inheritance, and defiance. It asks what it means for Puerto Rican audiences, artists, and producers to meet Broadway not only as spectators, but as hosts, collaborators, and interpreters.

And, perhaps most importantly, it suggests that the next life of a Broadway hit may not always be found by moving outward from New York in predictable lines, but by listening carefully to where the music already knows how to land.

Tickets for the Broadway production are available at Telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200, or at the Schoenfeld Theatre box office.

For more information, visit www.buenavistamusical.com or follow @buenavistamusical.