Video: Natalie Venetia Belcon Is Hitting All the Right Notes in BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB

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It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Well, hey, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon

You're listening in a sunny, a sunny, sunny, sunny Friday here. Hi, everybody

Ooh, the sun. Look at that, right from the window. Don't you love? Spring has sprung

And spring means that it's a brand new season here on Broadway, which means that there's amazing new shows

classic new shows that you have to see. And we've got one of them with you tonight

My name is Robert Bannon. I'm excited to be here with you on Broadway World for a Friday exclusive with a superstar

that I remember seeing on Broadway many years ago in a very famous puppet show

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you can always go to Instagram at Robert M. Bannon. I have music out on Spotify

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I'm excited about the spring Broadway season. I'm excited about our next guest

She's award winning. She's a superstar. And I had the chance to catch up with her

Take a little peek. Natalie. Hi. Broadway World says hello. Welcome to the roundtable

Hi. Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here. Natalie, I saw you

I saw you out on the red carpet on this night. This night

Tis I. You were an award-winning superstar who has been in this game for a minute

because I've seen you on Broadway a few moments ago when I was a year

Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. It feels great. It feels great to be back

It's good. You're here. We're talking today about one of this social club, a brand new Broadway musical coming to the show

and Feld where you need to get your tickets because when she opens this baby, there's not going to be a

ticket to be had. What's it like to do a show off Broadway and get your feet wet and then transfer it now

to Broadway? It's very exciting. A lot of the aspects of this, you know, takes me way back to

2003, but it's very exciting. It's exciting to get the notice as you're still, you know

running the off-broadway that you're moving. Well, we got the unofficial, you know, um, word

I, it's, I don't know. What is the word for it? It's incredible to have been working on something

for so long and then, you know, and have it move and have people like it in the first place. But

people seem to be liking it now. So it feels great. You can go to Buenavista Musical

Buenavista Musical.com, everybody, so you can get your tickets and see this performance

What is your history with Buena Vista Social Club? Did you grow up listening

Did you have to discover them? Like, what's your history with them? I discovered them through my parents

My parents are both musicians. So that's how I know them. I didn't, you know, I wasn't

Didn't know every detail about them. That happened studying, you know, for this

But I did know them and the music because of my parents

And what does it like to play a real? I mean, she's alive and she's, look at this

this is old school picture. Here's the part of this social. She is, she is Omar

There's only one, right? There's only one. Nerve-wracking, exciting. I am privileged

I feel, I feel very lucky to, you know, have been chosen for it

It's, you know, I feel pressure, though, right? Because, you know, it's not somebody I just get to make up

I do have to have a little bit of a little of her flavor or her seasoning in there somewhere

even though the show is basically a fable, right? I can't just make her up

Okay. Has she seen it? Have you heard word about it? Does she send love

What's the story? Yeah, she has not seen it. We were actually, I was excited

We were supposed to go to Cuba and then the grid went out And so it never happened No she has not seen it but they do know that a musical was being made And the pictures of it are absolutely stunning It is so gorgeous the musicianship

the cast. What can you say about the process? What's it like to share the stage with these artists

every single night? What's it like as a collective company? I mean, we have a lot of fun together

It's great as a company. Most of us know each other from off-Broadway, and because that space was so small, we were at the Atlantic, and it's, you know, it's a tiny building, so we were really just all kind of there

We got really close. It's spread out more now, but, you know, you see each other, and we're still really close

We have quite a few new people. but yeah, they've all blended in very nicely

and we're having a lot of fun. We're having a lot of fun. And how could you not

especially once the first note of the show hits. I set it off Broadway

I will say it again. It does not matter how tired you are. That first, the downbeat hits, and it is over

The party is on. All the energy is there. Yeah. So my question to you is

because that's what I picture. I picture you ready to get up and dance. I ready people ready to scream and yell

But that's a lot. How do you take care of your voice and yourself eight shows a week doing this

Well, I do. I'm very careful. I don't mess around in between

You know, there's no corn concert. You know, we'll be doing none of that

We'll be doing none of that. No disturbed, nothing like that. We won't be doing those

No screaming. I got it. And I do. See? Look, she's here

I make sure I'm very careful. But again, as I said, something happens as soon as the first note hits

and all the ancestors, the energy, everything is there. And you're just, you're ready, ready to go

At least I am. I'm sure you all are. I'm sure you also must hear at the stage door or through the grapevine or whatever

off Broadway and now on Broadway that this music people grew up to. Like it's a part of their history and their culture and their heritage

And they take it seriously. The fans out here are seriously. Very, very seriously

You can hear the audience reaction to every song that's mentioned, every person that's mentioned

You know, Ruben, even when they say, say Hulman Gonzalez, applause, you know, it's typical

Dos Cardenas, when they hear that every night, it's a gasp. You know, so yes, people are very, I mean

there are people coming just to hear the music, right? So, yeah

So, ooh, that's so exciting. And then for the people. It really is

What about the people who don't know Bonavista Social Club, who are not a part of growing up with this

or don't know the music? There's something for them. to see in this show as well

Of course. It doesn't seem to matter to them because you hear it after the show

I had no idea who these people were and now they're, you know, playing the album on repeat

I had a, I have a new Q came on Sunday. And we, yeah

You just happened to have it. Just so happy. He is prepared

Okay. So they came and they came and then we went to Virgil's for family dinner

That was one of our spots during Avenue Q. We used to go in between shows and we called them family dinners

And so we caught up. It was really nice. But Jordan Gelber, Brian, texted me yesterday to say, you know, I started listening to the album on the subway back

He came with his sons and his wife He said and I haven been able to stop And that is the general consensus from people I see people on the street all the time They like my God I obsessed with the album You know it really is it beautiful music The voices were incredible like one of a kind The musicians are something our musicians are something else The show is really it regardless you going to enjoy the music At the very least you will enjoy everything

But at the very least, the music is absolutely, it's infectious. Well, I'm so excited about this for you. I'm so happy you already won, the Loritel. I'm so excited the show's transferred to Broadway

I'm so excited to have you back on Broadway because, we talked about, I'm so excited for you to play another real-life person

Now people don't have to say what you're talking about, Willis to you on the street. Right

Finally, can bed die down a little, please? Thank you. You have a whole new thing that people can yell at you

Yay! Very true, very true. The range that you have is incredible because we talk about Avenue Q, which is comedy and fun

and was cutting edge and Tony winning and all of that, And then, you know, you're getting to be in rent and singing and singing your teeth out on rent every night

And then you have like this whole career that I just read about. Like you were a TV guest star

It's like these these pictures are all out and about. Yes, everybody's girlfriend

Yes. Everybody's girlfriend. Always breaking somebody's heart. Yeah. What was the journey like from you

You went to Carnegie Mellon and then you went to, was it television to theater

Or what was the TV? No. So, no. So Carnegie Mellon. my very first gig was actually the Cosby Show

I had, that's a very, very long story short. I was Theo's girlfriend

I was supposed to be a recurring character. And then stuff happened

And so I did that. But then I booked while I was doing that and the world goes round

That was an understudy for Terry Burrell. Karen Mason. Yeah. And then I

booked immediately after I was there on a six-month contract. So as that was ending, I booked

once on this island, the tour. And so I went out with that

wound up out in L.A. You know, the agents decided let me send her

on a couple of things. And that's what happened. I booked Fresh Prince

Immediately after that, I booked Martin. and then it just kept going from there

I had a recurring on rock. It just kept going. I wound up leaving because at the time

nobody cared about theater over there. They just didn't care. They thought I was nuts for wanting to do it

I really missed it. I wanted to go back. Even for the summer, they were like

what's wrong with you? Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to do that? And I couldn't take it anymore

And I left. I got there in, what was it? So early 93, and I left June of 96

And yeah, I wound up doing play on from there. Yeah. And just kept going, bubbly black girl

I think it's one of my favorite shows that never happened. Well, it did

But it was supposed to, that was supposed to be another transfer. you know, from playwrights straight to off-broadway, right

The same sort of thing. You just go away. We were supposed to have a couple of months break

and then it just, I think the company, something happens with the company that bought the rights or something

But I just kept going from there. And then lots of theater. Yeah

And then Q happened. And then the journey continued. I was going to say, I can only imagine staying to your agents

I'm going to leave L.A. with recurring roles on television to go make no money in theater

and go to them. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yes, you can imagine

They had out their pom-poms and everything. My manager was pissed. It was a whole, oh, my God, it was a mess

I also at the time, I had just gotten this manager, and we were going through a thing with, oh, my God

There were quite a few moments out there. Anyway. But we're going through a thing with Pocahontas

So I was the drawing image for Pocahontas Screwed contract And then there was nothing we could do about it right And so I pulled out that like I think they had like four to six months left of drawing

Yeah, it's a whole thing. If you go in the book and look, my name is there, they just don't say what it is

But if you look at the picture that you just pulled up of fresh prints and then you go back and look at the beginning of Pocahontas when it's

started because they slowly started morphing the drawings, right? So it looks exactly like me

Yeah, it was a lot of drama. It was a lot of drama with that. Yeah, and they just kind of

swept me under the rug. It was terrible. They were paying me $2.99 and then, yeah, it was terrible

But see, that's why a moment like this, to me, this show and everything that's happening is that

your career, like to see the trajectory and now you're always, opening this season, a big giant Broadway monster show

That's you. You're the cover. You're the face. Like the time, the work, the drama, the fighting for a gig, the gigs that could have happened

the shows that are. This is the moment, Natalie. Yeah. I know. I know

I know. I'm still kind of pinching myself. It really hasn't sunk in yet

It hasn't. You know, maybe once we open and I actually start to sleep a little bit more

You know what I mean? It just hasn't hit yet. It hasn't. People keep sending me the texts of the billboard, the thing in Times Square

I'm just like, wow, okay, but it just hasn't fully sunk in yet

Yeah. Well, for all the artists out here, how do you keep your head together? Because you have notes

You're in previews. You're in rehearsal. You're trying to get things together. You're not open yet

The show's not set. So you have all the noise. So how do you keep it? It's about that show

Yeah, one thing at a time. One thing in a time. It is a lot

It is a lot. And so I find myself, I tend to like, well, I shouldn't even say like quiet

I require a lot of it, just in general. It's just my personality

So I have a, I just told a funny story, Thanksgiving. Most of my family doesn't live in the country

And so they'll come visit this past Thanksgiving, no, two Thanksgivings ago, they came to visit

And it was just so many people in my house and noise. And I disappeared and went and took a plate and sat in my closet with my dogs and my cats

And I got like a quick 15 minutes and then one of my uncles came and found me and just kind of gave me the thumb to go back downstairs

Don't try it. But I, so that's what I need to do

That's what I have to do. I just have to like separate myself and go, even if it's like in the corner of

of the stage where it's dark, where the lights aren't on, you know, just to get, just to get like a little veil

like a little cloak put over me. And that's what I have to do, as much quiet as possible, yeah

That means when you see Natalie out on the street or it's after the show and after she's

give her a moment of silence, but you're harder in the closet eating a turkey leg

Give her a moment. That's true. You're just about recharging your battery, especially all the output and the noise and the fun and the music

You take a moment for you. Yes, yes. I walk through that door at night, and I literally, all I do is I just, I grab my animals

I just, you know, sit in that little squeeze for like a good five, ten minutes before I move and do anything else, yeah

Well, I want everybody that's here. You know, everyone, I have to say this, she gave up her dinner

This is her break, everyone. She gave up her time to chat with us also. We're so incredibly grateful

but we're going to be rooting and sharing for you through this season through June, through one season

Just clear your mantle now. You already got a couple. Let's keep it going. Listen, from your mouth to God's ears

I welcome it. I welcome it. Joinavisimusical.com. If you're visiting New York or you're in the New York area

if you have family that grew up on this music or if you've never heard of them before, they're going to rock your socks off, literally

Please come. So get your tickets. It's such an honor. You're so sweet. Thank you

You're so sweet. always and you have so much talent. I'm so jealous of you, Natalie

Thank you so much. Okay, nice to meet you