Natalie Toro, NJ Youths Celebrate Cinco de Mayo Tomorrow, 5/5

Bloomfield, New Jersey, May 4, 2013 -- Latina Broadway star Natalie Toro, best known for originating the role of Madame Thérèse Defarge in Jill Santoriello's stage adaptation of "A Tale of Two Cities," a novel by Charles Dickens, and for playing the tragic heroine Eponine in Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's stage adaptation of "Les Miserables," a novel by Victor Hugo, will join the young students at Collective Youth Theatre Company, an educational program of Jersey Arts Collective, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a festival of Mexican heritage and pride, via a concert at Westminster Arts Center tomorrow, May 5, at 3 p.m.

Alan Van Antwerp, who recently played the lead role of Claude in The Center Players of Bayonne's production of hippie movement-friendly "Hair," will direct Toro and the concert's young cast that hail from Livingston, Mount St. Dominic, Blairstown, Nutley, and Wayne Valley, among others.

"The concert's repertoire will include songs from Broadway musicals with Latin American flair such as 'West Side Story,' 'Evita,' 'Rent,' and 'In the Heights,'" Antwerp tells BroadwayWorld.com.

He adds, "Ms. Toro is a Broadway veteran and a world-renowned vocalist; we're very happy she even gave a workshop to our young performers."

"And the concert is a perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Please join us."

For last-minute tickets ($10-20), visit brownpapertickets.com or check out the box office at Westminster Arts Center.

Photo by Pablo Pimienta