well, That's Show Biz, 09-25-2022 26 Hispanic Heritage

Hispanic Heritage

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

9-25-2022

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• Welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman, every week we bring you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, information, and commentary.

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• September 15th was the start of Hispanic Heritage Month which ends October 15th. Why does it span two months has to do with the fact that it started out as Hispanic Heritage Week and the two month span accounts for several country’s Independence Days.  National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. So today, we are going to do our best to cover all that as best we can within an hour.

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• Carmen Miranda was probably the first female latina performer that Americans had ever seen. She was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star known for her fruit hats that she wore in American movies. We are going to hear her sing “South American Way” that she first sang on Broadway in The Streets of Paris and then a year later in her first Hollywood film, Down Argentine Way. From there, we are going to hear Broadway icon Chita Rivera, the first Latina and first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor. Here she is in one of her Tony winning roles for Kiss Of The Spider Woman singing “Gimme Love”. And we are going to end this set with “Conga” from the jukebox musical, On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Here’s Carmen Miranda.

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• We are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month today on “well, That’s Show Biz!” and you just heard Carmen Miranda with “South American Way, Chita Rivera sing “Gimme Love” from The Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and “Conga” from On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan.

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• This next one you might find confusing. Danny Burstein is a prolific Broadway actor with seven Tony Award nominations winning the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a musical  for his 2020 performance in Moulin Rouge!. Danny Burstein’s stepfather is Jewish but his mother is from Costa Rica. Spanish was his first language. Here he is with the cast of the 2016 revival of Fiddler On The Roof as Tevye singing “To Life”. And we will follow that with Ariana DeBose and company from Steven Spielberg’s 2021 movie version of West Side Story singing “America”. Here is Danny Burstein and the company from Fiddler with “To Life”.

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• You just heard Danny Burstein with “To Life” from Fiddler On The Roof and Ariana DeBose and the cast of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story with “America” as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on this edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!”.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]. We are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month today and we are going to start of our third set with a Cuban that Americans welcomed into their homes in the 1950s and still do today. Desi Arnaz was a Cuban bandleader who was married to Lucille Ball and the two of them made television history with “I Love Lucy”. Their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, is an actress in her own right who starred in the Broadway hit, They’re Playing Our Song. From that show, we are going to hear her sing “I Still Believe In Love”. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for her role as Anita in the original movie version of West Side Story. She co-starred in Stephen Spielberg’s updated version where she got to sing the song “Somewhere”. And finally, Raul Esparza starred in the 2006 revival of Sreven Sondheim’s Company. This was the revival where the actors also played the instruments. Here he is playing the piano and singing the great final song about Marriage, “Being Alive”. First, here is Desi Arnaz and “I Love Lucy”.

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• You just heard Desi Arnaz and “I Love Lucy”, Lucie Arnaz sing “I Still Believe In Love” from They’re Playing Our Song, Rita Moreno sing “Somewhere” from the 2021 movie version of West Side Story, and Raul Esparza with “Being Alive” from Company.

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• We are on our 4th set as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month today on “well, That’s Show Biz!” If you would like to contribute to the show with your theme ideas, send them to me, Jeremy Freedman, at wruushowbiz@gmail.com. And please contact the station at WRUU.org and tell them how much you enjoy the show.

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• We are going to open the last set with the song “Blackout” from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie version of “In The Heights”. Irene Cara came to our attention plying Coco in the movie Fame. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother was Cuban-American. She also co-wrote the Academy Award winning song “Flashdance - What A Feeling”.  Here she is with “Out Here On My Own” from Fame. Lin Miranda also wrote the music for the Disney movie Encanto about a magical Latino family. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was a huge crossover success and is Disney’s longest-reigning US Billboard Hot 100 Hits besting “Let It Go” from Frozen. And finally, we will hear Priscilla Lopez and company sing “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line.  Here’s  “Blackout” from In The Heights.

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• You just heard “Blackout” from In The Heights, Irene Cara with “Out Here On My Own” from Fame, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto, and Priscilla Lopez with “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line as we conclude our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. You can send me theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com and tell the station how much you enjoy the show by contacting them at WRUU.org. Till we meet again next week, so long.