Video: Mauricio Martínez Is Singing Roles That Might Have Been at 54 Below

Welcome to

Better than all the rest Better than anyone

Anyone I've ever met I'm stuck on your heart Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge, international Emmy Award winner and the star of Broadway's On Your Feet, Mauricio Martinez, is returning here to 54 Below with a brand new show on March 5th, and I caught up with the Mexican star of theater, television, and music, just weeks before his big return to this glorious Tony Award-winning supper club

First time you leave me, I start losing control. Walking away with my heart and my soul

I can leave you even when I'm alone. Oh, baby, don't let go

First of all, it is great to see you, my friend. Likewise, my dear Richie

How long have we known each other? I've been here for six and a half years since on your feet. So six and a half years. Six and a half years. Yes. That's quite a while. That's one of the longest relationships I've had

Crystal, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. Very happy to, excited to be back on this great stage. We were talking, how many legends have actually grace this stage? I hope their energy ropes off on me on March 5th because I'm very excited to do this new show

Well, let's talk about us. How excited are you to be returning back here? You're at 54 below

Extremely. This is like my home. I literally live on this street, so I call it home

And this is the best place to sing. I love the audio. I love the people that come

And I love the staff, the crew, everybody from sound, lights. They just treat me really nicely

And it's a brand new show, my director, Robbie Roselle. And I are crafting a very funny, very personal show that's called 511 based in New York

The Self-Taped Stories. I love this. That says it all. That says our last two years, right

Two and a half, almost three years. We're going on to our third year of the pandemic

It's wild. We've aged. No, we're ageless. We're ageless. And ever, no, I'm not going to sing that song

But I am going to do from one of her shows, Funny Girl

The idea of this show is to basically do most of the self-tapes that I've been asked to do

And also the roles that people, casting directors, friends, fans, followers always tell me, oh, have you gone in for this? You're perfect for it. I'm like

I know, but I haven't gone in for it. So I have all these sites at home. I don't know what to do with

them. So I'm going to bring them back to the stage and have fun with it and sing from all the shows

that are currently on Broadway. So it's a little wink and tribute to the show's currently playing

in this great city. What a brilliant concept. Ravi. Robbie Roselle's a genius. I love him

because he understands my humor and our dear friend and musical director Brian Nash is responsible for crafting the mashups. We call them Nashups. And he's great

We're going to have five musicians on board here on stage. They're great. They're basically

my band that has been doing shows with me for like almost four years now. So I'm very excited

very honored and thrilled. Thrill to have a new repertoire too, because these are most songs

that I've never done live to a live audience. So I'm excited. I got a lot of lyrics to learn

So without giving too much away, what are some of the songs Are you're going to be singing

Well, some Billy Flynn, some Nikki Arnstein from Funny Girl. There are some Moulin Rouge, some in Juliet

What else is there? Hades Town, Camelot, shows that are coming up as well

Lion King. Yeah, Phantom, of course. Which is my mom's dream role for me

Every time she comes to New York, she always says, I want to go see Phantom. so I take her and every time she comes out, she's like, I can't wait for you to be phantom

I'm like, mom, well, I don't know if I can make that wish come through anymore because the show's closing

But there's never been a Latino phantom. So we'll fantasize this night that I'll be the first Latino phantom on Broadway

We put it right out there at Broadway World. Yeah, Andrew, Don Andres, are you listening

What's it like learning all these incredible composers, you know, music and their lyrics

I mean, talk about composers. We're talking about Andrew Lord Weber. Of course. I left him out, but I saved the best for last. Sweeney Todd into the woods

All these company, all these great musicals. We're talking about legends. We're talking about

decades of work. Roals that I've always wanted to play, roles that have been played by icons

by legends, you know? Brian Stoze Mitchell has done some of the characters that I've always wanted

to play. Don Quixote and Cervantes in Man of La Mancha. I'm doing that as well

Valentin and Case of the Spider Woman you know these dream roles of mine Mandy Patenkin who played Che and Evita were really really it feels like home because I was dreaming about Broadway I been dreaming about it ever since I was a kid Ever since I didn even know what Broadway was

I was growing up in Mexico, and my mom would pop in a VHS tape, and I would watch these Hollywood movies, musicals

not knowing that most of these movies, like Hello Dolly, Sounded Music

Greece came from the theater, and that Broadway was a district in this great city where

now I call my home. So it's very emotional. It's very personal

It's done with a lot of respect, with a lot of love, with a lot of humor as well

And the understanding of what really an actor does to get jobs

and to keep living and keep growing. And yeah, they're great songs

We're going to have fun. There's ballads. They're up tempo. They're funny moments. There's some special guests

I'm very excited. And hopefully we'll do it not only one night

do it maybe more nights. Yeah. Well, let's talk about playing here at 54 Below. Yes

This is Broadway's most glorious supper club. Isn't it? Just sitting here, like looking out into the house

What's it like playing here? I remember living in Mexico years ago, like seven, eight years ago, and even more, whatever

I mean, this place has been around for over 10 years. And I remember watching the videos on YouTube and going, wow, what a great venue

I remember this wall, you know, and the lighting and the sound. And I listened to some albums that came out, Aaron, TV

you know some great performance Paddy Lupone that released live albums recorded here and I always

dreamt of playing here and now this is my fifth year in a row um including 2020 because we did a lot

streaming of my of my concert where I get to do a show you know so I really call this place my home

it feels great to be here I feel like home you know these um all these people that come and and buy a ticket

they want to be transported for an hour, 75 minutes. So you better have something to deliver

So I will deliver, as I always do, with heart, with honesty, with truthfulness, with humor, and with love

You know, that's, I love, I'm very blessed to make a living doing what I love the most and doing what I

what I know how to do best, which is to sing and act at the same time telling stories

I'm a storyteller. There will be some Spanish, of course. It wouldn't be a show by me if I didn't do some songs in Spanish or Spanglish

And yeah, that's basically it in a nutshell. You know, I invite people to come and have a great time and let yourself be transported

to six, seven decades of historic and iconic Broadway musicals with a Latin twist by this crazy Mexican. Yeah

Does it feel like you're seeing me in a living room when you're here? Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it depends how dim the lights are in the house

because sometimes I have these moments where I say in Spanish, me fui, which literally translates like, I went, I left

I don't know where I went, and I really went somewhere. I'm singing, maybe I'm thinking about a lyric or something

and I really fly. And all of a sudden I remember like, it's seconds, but I go

oh, right, I'm on stage, I'm singing. Oh, there's an audience here

So sometimes I'm here, but sometimes I'm not here. Sometimes I'm in the clouds playing a character

dreaming, which is what I did when I was a kid. You know, I would ride my bike. I was forced to play

American football for quite like five years, and I really didn't like it, but the way I survived

it was creating movies in my head and in my mind. I would be in the field. I was a quarterback

and I would be running, but there would always be music playing in my head, and I would be

playing a character, and there would always be music, and the people in the crowd was the audience

You know, so I relate to that because I still do that at this age in my 40s

I'm still that five, six, seven-year-old who's living a fantasy. But now I get to share it with the people who put me here and make a living

Like, help me make a living, which is always a blessing, especially after the almost two and a half years that we went through

I think it's still a blessing and I will never take for granted being on a stage

and being able to do my craft and share it with the people that I love

And the technology, because 54Below offers live stream. So for international artists such as myself that have a fan base in other countries

such as Mexico and Spain and Latin America, all those fans and even my loved ones, my mom, who can be here physically

can tune in and have a great show at home with their popcorn and their pajamas

and we'll all be together. So that's also amazing. You know? The live streams from here are beautiful

They're beautiful. They really do a great job. They have many cameras

They're beautifully placed. And the sound, I'm telling you, it's, I've been wanting to do, I'm going to talk to them

I'm in talks because I really want to do a live album here. Maybe towards the end of the year, because I think that's in the near future of my plans

Because I really want to have, for posterity, something recorded audio-wise. Because I really like how it feels to be here and have that la retroalimentation with the audience you know I love that

I love getting responses, the laughter, the silent moments, and to tell a story

I love that. I love 54 below. Yeah. Well, you know, you talked about, you know

your love at a very early age. You made your Broadway debut and on your feet. Yes

How magical was your debut? What do you remember? I mean, oof, I remember moments

of it because you forget about those things because you're like literally living it

And you're in shock. I remember my mom being there and my sister visiting from Spain, my loved ones

I remember people in the street on the stage door with Mexican flags and giving me tequila

a mariachi band playing Mexican and Latin press supporting me. I remember Anna, Anna Villafana giving me a hug

I remember Emilio Stefan facetiming me and telling me how proud he was

was. And I remember that feeling of being on Broadway as a leading man for the first time

And I will never forget that. There's the dance captain, Natalie Caruncho, who's a dear friend of mine, gave me my favorite moment

She said, right before you go on stage, because Emilio opened the show, right before you go on stage, there's a moment before

You've never been on a Broadway stage before. And now, once you're there, you're a Broadway star

Enjoy this moment before. Really take it in and think of everything you've done to, I'm getting goosebumps as I say

All you have to work to be here. And I have worked a lot to be here because it's not easy

You know, I'm the fifth Mexican-born actor to lead a Broadway musical

Only five. In a country that's literally next to this, that's not an easy thing

There should be more. I want there to be, hopefully after me, hasn't been one since me. So hopefully I want there to be 500 Mexicans leading Broadway

musicals. You know, I think there's there has to be a place for us in this beautiful country

we're neighbors and there's so many Mexicans here. So I think I speak for them and Mexican

Americans. I hope to make them proud and to share that dream that it is possible for us to

have a leading role here and tell our stories and represent our people, our culture on Broadway, which is the mecca of theater in the world

We got to tour the show around the country. Yes. How incredible was that? Ooh, a dream country

I got spoiled because I got to travel with Gloria and Emilio a lot

People told me, people who have done tours before told me, don't get spoiled. You're getting spoiled

Tours are usually not like this. You don't get like the big stars to come and have an opening night every time you open

because we, Gloria and Amelia, were there for the LA, Pantages, for San Francisco, for Chicago

for West Palm Beach, for Miami, obviously. So we got opening nights that were like rock concerts

We had, I mean, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Ricky Martin. I mean, the list was endless

Eva Longoria, all the Latinos that are supported and are part of this beautiful family of Latinos

that Gloria and Emilio have created. that now I am honored to be a part of

were there supporting us. And it was great. And Miami was wild

because I had a line this scene at the record label where Gloria and Emilio are trying to cross over

And you remember this beautifully written monologue by Alex Delanaris where Emilio said

this is what an American looks like. I got like a standing ovation that

I'm not kidding, it lasted maybe two minutes. Two minutes is a long. time for you to be standing there with your finger pointing at your face and over

2,000 people at the arch center in Miami just cheering with goosebumps with tears in

my eyes and I felt like it was written for me because I was basically telling my

story too I have I had had those conversations with people people that told me

change your name you're not Latino enough or you're too Latin or you're too white or

you're not dark enough or change change your name or lose your accent or put on your

accent. So I was telling that story, which was mine. And I got to see and travel this beautiful

country. And I got to play at some legendary and iconic stages, you know, all over. I remember

the fabulous fox, pantages, the Kennedy Center. We did the Kennedy honors that year for Gloria

I mean, the list goes on and on. It was a year that really changed my life. Not easy because

it's hard to tour, but it was also beautiful. I think I couldn't have had a

better debut and a show to tour with than on your feet. It was the perfect two years of my life

that gave me literally my Broadway dream came true, come through, and my green card

You know, so. Congratulations. Thank you. So I'm very grateful to on your feet. It will forever hold

a very, very, very dear and important place in my heart and in the story of my life and my career

Yeah You know in Mexico and Latin America you a big store because you brought a lot of iconic Broadway musicals to your country Yes What are some of the roles you played I mean I played Jesus and Jesus Christ Superstar I played Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever

I played The Beast in Beauty and the Beast. I played Robert Martin in the Drowsy Chaperon

I played Jamie in the last five years. I played Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, which was a dream come through

So many. And I also did a lot of TV and telenovelas, but theater, specifically music

musicals were something that I really, really enjoyed. And it was just an honor to portray this iconic Broadway characters

but do them, play them in my own language for my own people in Spanish

And that's why I always bring my language, my native tongue, back to my concerts and my recordings

I do at least one musical theater song in Spanish. Because most of the audience in this country have never listened to

if I can't love her from Beauty and the Beast in Spanish, or Getsemone in Spanish

you know, or Phantom of the Opera, Music of the Night, in Spanish

So that's fascinating to me. And I bring those memories back every so often

because they're also a part of me. All those characters that I've been blessed to play

in over 20 years in Mexico are part of me. They're literally living inside of me

So I turn into them every now and then. And every now on them, I'm a beast or a prince or an Italian-American dancing and a disco club or Robert Martin tapping or roller skating with his eyes blindfolded

So it's an honor. It's an honor. And I got to do to sing Getsemini in Spanish in my audition for Unmasked at PaperMill Playhouse for Andrew Lloyd Weber

And then he chose me to sing it in English in his musical memoir unmasked

So it really, I've had those full circle moments in Spanish and then in English that really are like dreams come true, you know, and I feel very, very blessed

You know, because of your success on television, in your native country and everything else, and just on your feet, you have fans that travel all around the country to see you

The Fides, they're amazing. What's your name? The Fides? Yes, the Fides. Okay, well, like I said, you're going to introduce so many people and have introduced so many people to 50

54 below, to come and see you and introduce them to like a nightclub and see, oh, he does this too

Yes. What that means to you. It means everything because it's an important and very, it's a job that I don't take lightly, a position that I don't take likely because I have to be very responsible in carrying the torch and introducing this amazing place and this amazing culture and niche because it's a culture, you know, the Broadway musical theater, cabaret act

We don't have that in Mexico. We don't have that in Latin America. So to be one of the few Mexicans who does it and introduces it to this whole new audience, not only in Mexico, but in all over Latin America and Spain that they tune in, it's an honor

It's an honor. And I feel very blessed to be a bridge between two cultures and two languages because I don't consider myself bilingual

I consider myself bicultural. you know, which is a very different thing

This is my quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeless

no matter how far, to fight for the right, without question nor pause

to be willing to march into hell for that heavenly cause. And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest, that my heart will I peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest

Finally, what are you looking forward to the most with your show here on March 5th

Back here at 54 below. To remember all my lyrics, to get a big standing ovation and to have a good time

To be celebrating over there at the bar once the show's over with everybody and feel very blessed

hopefully sell out and just people having a good time, which is ultimately what they want

People want to come and have a good time. Be inspired, dance, sing, maybe cry a little, or maybe hold your loved ones hand and have

have a romantic night. There's a little bit of everything in this show. So

it's going to be fun. Well, the people watching look no further than 54 below

Come and see this man on March 5th. And for tickets, just go to 54 below

Thank you so much. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure