Changing the form of musical theater
Director and Theater Arts Leader
The Tony- and Grammy-winning musical “Buena Vista Social Club” features a live Afro-Cuban 10-piece band onstage with a multilingual book, making it the first Broadway musical fully sung in Spanish.
As the show’s inaugural and ongoing associate director, Moses Garcia (CFA 2022; HNZ 2023) played a formative role in bringing this celebration of Cuban culture to life onstage.
“The biggest challenge in developing this show was that there was no template to follow,” Moses says. “My boss, Saheem Ali, would often turn to me and ask, ‘What do you think?’ Joining the team immediately after graduating, I lent a hand and another set of eyes as ‘Buena Vista’ evolved through early workshops, script development sessions, design iterations, an extensive casting search and an Off-Broadway production.”
Presently, Moses is Broadway’s youngest billed associate director. He maintains Ali’s original vision for “Buena Vista Social Club,” overseeing the Broadway and touring companies, identifying new talent, rehearsing new cast members and adapting the production for platforms such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
He continues to work closely with Ali at New York’s Public Theater as part of the artistic staff. Looking ahead, Moses is developing his own work, including new plays and musicals driven by emotionally-charged dance music, where rhythm and feeling collide.
“The thing that connects all the different hats I wear is my hunger to evolve the form,” Moses says. “Expanding the form to invite new audiences is what keeps me going. Theater has the power to create and shape culture in real time, and I want my work to reflect who we are now and where we are headed.”
Story by Elizabeth Speed