Leguizamo-penned KISS MY AZTEC musical will play pre-Bway at Hartford Stage

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/28/22 at 3:50pm

Hartford Stage announced today the cast and creatives for its upcoming production of the East Coast Premiere of the hilarious Kiss My Aztec! An upbeat musical comedy, Kiss My Aztec! features a book by comedy legend John Leguizamo and acclaimed director Tony Taccone; music by Benjamin Velez; lyrics by David Kamp, Leguizamo and Velez; and choreography by Mayte Natalio. This pre-Broadway production, which will be directed by Tony Taccone, runs June 1 through June 26 at the Tony Award-winning theatre located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Krystina-Alabado-Angelica-Maria-Beliard-More-to-Lead-Pre-Broadway-KISS-MY-AZTEC-at-Hartford-Stage-20220428

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/1/22 at 10:44am

Tonight is the first preview!

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/5/22 at 1:54pm

Anyone go yet? Seeing this at the end of the month. 

[mcsquared]

Posted: 6/5/22 at 11:30pm

Looks tempting. I was going to be in Boston this week so wouldn't be too much out of my way to have a stopover there before continuing on to NYC. Is it supposed to be along the same lines as the Latin History for Morons show he did or completely different?

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 6/5/22 at 11:45pm

From an interview with BWW 

Kiss My Aztec! is an irreverent new musical loosely based on Latin American history. Hartford Stage writes, "Travel back to the 16th century as a group of Aztecs lead the resistance against Spanish invaders. With a fierce female warrior at the helm and a not-so-fierce clown in tow, they mount a scrappy attack - and get entangled with royalty, colonizers, pop stars, and puppets!"

Unlike Latin History for Morons, which Leguizamo describes as, "short sketches to cover 3,000 years of history, highly compressed for a 2-hour show," Kiss My Aztec! goes much deeper. "We're taking the microscope to one moment: The conquest. It was always a broad comedy about conquests because that's the birth of Latin man. It's the 1500's and we're talking about history that many people don't know about, like what happened when the Spaniards came and conquered all the Latin empires." The show focuses on particularly on the conquest of the Aztecs, "What brought them down and how they survived - because they did survive! I wanted to tackle the brutality of it, the end of religions in our culture, our language, and the beginning of something new. That's what this piece is about."

[...]

Kiss My Aztec! Presents a unique opportunity to bring Latin-America's wide variety of music to the Broadway stage and features salsa, gospel, hip hop, merengue, funk, reggaeton, and cumbia. Leguizamo says, "The music is a Latin mix tape that you would hear at one of my parties. The [show's] music makes me wanna get up out of my seat and dance." It definitely sounds like a great party!

The show is, first and foremost, a broad comedy, but with real history and artistry behind it. "It's bawdy and raunchy. [Think] Low brow comedy about very high brow things."

The show infuses bilingual elements (Spanish and English), but don't worry, you don't need subtitles. Leguizamo brings us back into the 16th century with a creative patois to differentiate the Aztecs from the Spaniards, so expect to hear a brand-new mixture that's "a little bit of street" and Elizabethan. He reassures me, "You'll get the feeling, you won't need a translator. You may have to dip into your Google translator to get some of the juicier expletives though," and chuckles.

[bear88]

Posted: 6/6/22 at 12:22am

I'm curious how much the show has changed since its premiere at the Berkeley Rep. 

It's farce, which is tricky genre to pull off. The critics in the San Francisco Bay Area enjoyed it more than I did. I found it stupid more often than clever back then, but Leguizamo could have changed it a lot since.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 6/6/22 at 5:39pm

Saw this yesterday, and I enjoyed it. That style of broad humor isn't always my favorite, but I thought it was silly, energetic fun. I saw it described somewhere as In the Heights meets The Book of Mormon, which is fair, although the comedy also made me think of Mel Brooks, and the sporadic Elizabethan dialogue reminded me of Head Over Heels. I didn't bust a gut laughing, but I was likely smiling the whole time, and, for comparison, I thought it was funnier than POTUS. As far as performances, I really liked Joel Perez, Matt Saldivar, and Z Infante. Krystina Alabado plays the female lead, a tough Aztec who speaks with a modern-day NYC accent, and she was easily my least favorite.

As the title of this thread says, this is a pre-Broadway run, which was echoed by John Leguizamo in the pre-show announcement. I'm not sure if something is already in the works, but I can actually see it going there at some point. It felt like a NYC production to me, and I've certainly seen less deserving shows make it to Broadway. Whether or not it would find an audience there is a different story, but I'd definitely recommend grabbing a $30 or $45 ticket and checking it out in Hartford.

Updated On: 6/6/22 at 05:39 PM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/6/22 at 6:07pm

Thanks so much for this review!  While I have tickets (and live in CT), I was a little uncertain of what I was buying and feel a lot more excited now (I loved POTUS by the way, so I hope I enjoy this more based upon your comment)!

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 6/6/22 at 6:12pm

Play Esq. said: "Thanks so much for this review! While I have tickets (and live in CT), I was a little uncertain of what I wasbuying and feel a lot more excited now (I loved POTUS by the way, so I hope I enjoy this more based upon your comment)!"

Well, I seem to be in the minority on this board with regard to not loving POTUS (which I still liked), so your mileage may vary, but I hope you enjoy the show!

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 6/21/22 at 9:56am

They released a trailer from this production. I'm gonna assume that it translates much better in person because this looks hella cheap and community theatre-y.

Here are the bows, too 

[inception]

Posted: 6/21/22 at 11:54am

I think it looks good.  Simple set, but a fair sized company.  BoM doesn't have a really intricate set & it has done ok for itself.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 11/17/22 at 11:03am

John Leguizamo appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night to discuss his new movie, The Menu. During the interview, Leguizamo revealed that his new musical, Kiss my Aztec!, will open on Broadway in 2023.

"It's coming to Broadway next year. It's a really funny take on conquest and genocide. Fodder for humor," he joked.

Leguizamo also discussed playing Bruno in Encanto and "second acting" Broadway shows when he was younger.

"I would wait for the second act when all of the smokers would come out and I would dress up with my best polyester suit and ... I'd grab a playbill that was on the ground and you would run in," Leguizamo revealed.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/17/22 at 11:04am

Awesome news. Such a great show.

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 11/17/22 at 12:09pm

So dope! Is there room for this to come in this season? 

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 11/17/22 at 7:20pm

YvanEhtNioj said: "So dope! Is there room for this to come in this season?"

While there are open houses, I don't think it would be WISE for the show to attempt to make it into the mix this season. At this point, unless you are a play revival (because there are so few this season), the smarter move is to aim for NEXT season. This one is PACKED and packed with GOOD stuff. It would be tough competition for awards and for attention.

[BritCrit]

Posted: 11/17/22 at 7:52pm

I'm guessing that Kiss My Aztec will open in the Summer/Fall in one of the smaller Broadway theatres, or wait for one of the November 2022 intake to close before taking their theatre...