How Joy Huerta & Benjamin Velez Found the Sound of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES

What goes into making the music of our favorite Broadway shows? How do Broadway composers make our favorite characters sing and our favorite scenes come alive? BroadwayWorld is finding out with Notes on a Score.

Today we continue the series with the creators of one of Broadway's most heart-warming new musicals, Real Women Have Curves- Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez (music and lyrics) and Nadia DiGiallonardo (music supervisor). They recently sat down with BroadwayWorld at A.R.T./New York to unpack the evolution of "Already Know You."

"In terms of the style... a lot of it was these women in the factory who are the stars of the story, they come from different countries in South America, so we wanted to bring some of all the flavors that they bring with them," explained Velez. "Also, the fan blowing all day, the clink of the toilet that doesn't work, the machine sounds, the sewing machine buzz. We  tried to play around with turning some of that into rhythms and beats and even samples and other things."

"We really wanted to create a sound that was specific to the show," added Huerta. "We thought about [what each woman might] sound like versus what would the sound of this region be like? So we made an entire sound for the mother. We created a sound for Daughter A, for Daughter B. Let's see what the factory sounds like! And creating those sounds and those specific songs have been so joyful to me because it's like, you can totally relate the sound to these women."

"Already Know You", performed by Ana and Henry (played by Tatianna Córdoba and Mason Reeves) begins to unfold their love story.

I don't know what it is about this
but I feel like I already know you
Isn't it strange how a stranger
Can make you feel at home?
I didn't believe in deja vu
but I know you're feeling it too
Cause I already already already
Already already know you 

DiGiallonardo noted the song's extensive adjustments between productions. "What's great about this song is that... you guys had to change the lyrics because the plot totally changed," she explained. "Then we come to prep Broadway and the plot changed again. And so you kept your verse with tweaked lyrics and then you made a return to the original music that was really musically satisfying. So it became this perfect hybrid. I think that you landed in a place that's now totally our favorite version of this."

Real Women Have Curves will begin previews on April 1 and will open at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 27, 2025. View the full 2025 Spring Preview!