From Puerto Rico to Broadway, Luis Salgado Says He Would Have Never Made It Without These 3 People | Playbill

Sponsored Content From Puerto Rico to Broadway, Luis Salgado Says He Would Have Never Made It Without These 3 People The original In The Heights and On Your Feet! cast member and Cirque du Soleil director and choreographer shares personal stories from his impressive career in the Cadillac Lounge series.

Luis Salgado has been a part of two of the biggest milestone moments of Broadway. First, he was part of the original Broadway cast of In The Heights, the Tony-winning musical that not only marked Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway debut, but an entirely new type of storytelling and a fresh story about people we rarely see onstage; second, he was part of the largest cast of Latinx performers ever to be on a Broadway stage in On Your Feet!.

A performer, director, choreographer, producer, and humanitarian, Salgado paved the first stone on his path when he was just 17—when he decided to leave his native Puerto Rico for New York City. “I had been dancing around the world with an artist and doing theatre and doing TV. I had gathered the experience I could in Puerto Rico. I knew that it was time for me to learn from new heroes,” Salgado tells Playbill from the Cadillac Lounge in the video above.

Salgado has put in the work from Day One, studying Stanislavsky, the Meisner method, Suzuki, and training at Broadway Dance Center. He brings that artistry to ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices as the concert's associate director, co-choreographer, and a performer, reuniting with the original In The Heights and On Your Feet! casts. “I am honored even in this very same event, Viva Broadway, to be able to be holding hands with the master, Sergio Trujillo,” says Salgado.

And though he matured in the theatre community under Tony-winning mentors Andy Blankenbuehler, Trujillo, and Jerry Mitchell, Salgado is now a mentor through his R.Evolución Latina (an organization that activates individual and collective human growth through artistic experiences for transformation and social change) and a model simply through the example of his career as a performer, director, and choreographer working around the world—even with Cirque du Soleil.

But Salgado’s engine still revs for more: “The next place that for me to feel fulfilled is that we no longer, as Latinos, have to only tell Latino stories, right? And that as we look at the Latinx community, as we look at what we are as human beings, that we are able to tell any story and be seen for the artistry that we possess, the things we have to share humanly.”

Watch Salgado and over 60 other Latinx stars of stage and screen in Playbill and The Broadway League’s ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices, sponsored by Cadillac. The star-studded concert event is a benefit performance for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway Bridges. Tune in to the premiere October 1 8PM ET at Playbill.com/Viva.

 
Watch Highlights from ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices
 


This digital program was created using PLAYBILLder, Playbill's custom, Broadway-quality program creation tool.

On October 1, Playbill and The Broadway League present ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices, a digital concert in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, as well as Latinx milestones in theatre. The performance will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, including championing the R.Evolución Latina initiative, and Broadway Bridges.

Hosted by Andréa Burns (In the Heights, On Your Feet!), the concert premiered on Playbill.com, Playbill’s YouTube Channel and on The Broadway League’s website (Viva.Broadway) on Thursday October 1, 2020. Helmed by director and Tony-winning choreographer Sergio Truijllo (Ain’t Too Proud), the event featured an extraordinary roster of award-winning stage and screen Latinx talent, including Lucie Arnaz, Gloria Estefan, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Luis Miranda, Chita Rivera and Thalía.

¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices saluted the vibrant, lasting legacy that Latinx artists have contributed and continue to give to Broadway and the entire theatre community while showcasing Latinx talent in an effort to continue to increase representation throughout the industry. The event included a performance from members of the original cast of In the Heights, including Karen Olivo, Andréa Burns, Janet Dacal, Robin De Jesús, Olga Merediz, Carlos Gomez, Eliseo Roman, Luis Salgado, and Nina Lafarga; as well as performances from Broadway-bound musicals and new works including John Leguizamo’s Kiss My Aztec; Arrabal; Passing Through; a look at the first Spanish-language production of A Chorus Line from Antonio Banderas; and so much more!

¡Viva Broadway! was produced by Jack Noseworthy, written by Eric Ulloa, and featured arrangements and music direction by Jaime Lozano, sound design by Jorge Muelle and Jessica Paz, and instrumentals by national and international musicians including Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire, Oscar Hernandez and Michelle Rodriguez & Julio Copello. Luis Salgado is the associate director/choreographer and Roberto Araujo is the Director of Video Production and Editing.
Ruthie Fierberg served as executive producer.

This concert event was brought to you by title sponsor Cadillac along with presenting sponsor City National Bank and featured sponsor Gilead. Univision was the official media partner.

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