Interview: Jaime Lozano of Joe's Pub Live! Free Virtual Concert June 24th

They say you should not look at your phone before going to sleep at night. Perhaps that is true, but perhaps it can be fortuitous because last night, while actually lying in bed, I went to the Broadway World website, where I saw the our amazing news desk team had posted a story about a new free Jaime Lozano virtual concert from Joe's Pub Live! They had all the news and details right there for all our Broadway World readers... but they didn't have Jaime Lozano. And you need Jaime Lozano.

During my time at Broadway World Cabaret I have become quite a fan and supporter of Mr. Lozano. His work and that of The Familia never fails to touch me, to move me, to make me wish for more. I've enjoyed interviewing him over the phone and by email, and it has been an honor to review some of his compositions. It was important to me that our readers know about what was certain to be an exciting and important event, courtesy of Joe's Pub. So I sent a middle-of-the-night email to Jaime with a simple request: Hey dude, could you please type up some answers to some interview questions? I knew my schedule for today was intense and there would be no chance to talk on the phone - an email interview was the only way to bring Jaime to the people.

Come Thursday morning, we had a complete interview - which I have not edited because Jaime writes the way he speaks, and that is part of the beautiful charm of knowing and talking to him. Even in a second language, the poetry of his thoughts and artistic sensibilities comes shining through. So, dear Broadway World Cabaret readers, please enjoy this digital chat with Jaime Lozano and, below, please find all the details of the Joe's Pub Live! virtual concert starring Jaime Lozano and The Familia - Free ticket link HERE.

Jaime Lozano, welcome back to Broadway World, where we are always happy to have a chance to visit with you!

Hola, Stephen!

You have a concert coming up at in the "Joe's Pub Live!" series. This is described, on the Joe's Pub website, as a virtual concert. Will The Familia be performing together from the Joe's Pub stage, or will the artists be performing from their own homes, as we've seen in the past year and a half?

I'm so happy that this will be hopefully our last virtual concert. I'm grateful for the last 15 months because we have learnt a lot, and as artists we were forced to adapt and create this kind of performances. For this concert every single performer filmed himself at their homes, we are still afar but as a Familia our hearts are close. And one of the benefits of this virtual presentations is that, no matter where you are. That gives us more possibilities about our amazing guests involved in this concert. I feel so blessed and honored that they all took some time to record and film themselves and put their heart and soul in this performances. You know, it has been a very hard time for everybody, very uncertain, and the fact they are joining this concert means the world to me. We as Familia are there for each other and we take care of each other.

Do we know when you and The Familia will be able to get back onto any stage in a room with an audience?

I already have some concerts scheduled starting July and I am very excited to be back on stage with a live audience. As a music director I am doing my Lincoln Center debut on June 26 with my brother and pana Migguel Anggelo, this is gonna be my first live concert after 15 months and I am so happy to be sharing the stage with him and performing in this iconic place outdoors. I promise you are gonna hear a lot about me, my Familia and our stories. If before we were working really hard and raising our voices to tell our stories, now were are gonna be unstoppable. I have been learning a lot about my community and about my brothers and sisters communities. My mission is keep giving voice to the stories of my people and keep learning to be the best ally for the others.

You've done a lot of virtual work during the pandemic, and even though it is difficult to go from a live artist to a virtual one, you've embraced it. How would you describe your relationship with virtual performing, after doing it for a year and a half?

I have to be very honest with you. It seems like I was very active but every morning when I woke up was another uncertain day. Some days I had a lot of energy and I wanted to keep creating and doing more work and there were other days that I felt down and I didn't want to get up. I am so lucky to have my wife and my son to support each other, and personally they were and always have been my fuel. As a musician and music producer this things about collaborating with people from all around the world. We were already used to record and produce albums being in different places, definitely sound wise that helped our transition to the virtual world. I love collaborating with artists: performers, musicians, writers, etc. I am very passionate about collaboration and storytelling and I tried to do my best during these last 15 months and I am just looking forward to be out there again collaborating in the same room and performing in from of a live audience but you know what, I think these virtual collaborations and performances are gonna keep happening and are gonna be part of our artistic life.

Your new concert brings together compositions from three of your works. Have you scheduled the lineup so that all the songs from each show are in a set, or will it be like a Jaime Lozano Mix Tape, with the three shows represented throughout the evening?

This virtual concert is a little taste of this 3 works: my album Songs by an Immigrant, my new musical Desaparecidas and my musical Present Perfect. For SBAI I have the honored that some of the performers who recorded in the album are performing their collaborations in this concert: Ana Isabelle, Mauricio Martínez, Mandy Gonzalez and Marina Pires. Then we have a few selections from this new musical Desaparecidas that I am collaborating with director Rachel Stevens and my wife Florencia Cuenca, and the final part of the concert are 3 songs from Present Perfect, lyrics by Nancy Cheser, we have been working now around 5 years in this musical, we have had a few reading and workshops, we were actually supposed to have its premiere last year in Florida but for obvious reasons it didn't happen. With this concert I am just very excited to be able to share a bit more of what I have been working on with the audience. More of our stories.

Your newest musical Desaparecidas - is this the first time the public will be hearing from this show?

During the past year we have been developing this show as part of The Civilians' R&D Group. This is the very first time it will have an open presentation. The songs are all in Spanish with lyrics by myself in collaboration with my wife Florencia Cuenca. The show is based on interviews and research about the very unfortunate femicides that took place in Ciudad Juárez, México during the late 90's. It is a very delicate subject and we are trying to focus in honoring women, telling the stories of these brave and hard-workers women and their hunger for a better life. Florencia's family is from Ciudad Juárez, and collaborating with her and Rachel to tell these stories is a great responsibility. I'm trying to be the best ally for them and for all women. Learning every single day to be a better human being. Learning to listen.

On the subject of new works, did you find any artistic inspirations came out of your pandemic and quarantine experience?

Definitely. I find "inspiration" - in quote marks - because I don't believe in inspiration as something magical but as a result of many things. I like a phrase that says: "The magic exists but you need to know how to do the trick." So I believe that this quarantine experience has brought me - and many to us- a lot of learning experiences. I strongly believe that we can find "inspiration" or those triggers to create in anywhere, there are plenty of stories out there that need to be told, that deserve to be told and most important, to be heard.

Speaking of the quarantine - how's the family? Did you guys enjoy being together so much during all of that?

One of the best things, and at the same time one of the most challenging things, during this pandemic was to be 24/7 in the same room with a 4 years old. Doing virtual school, entertaining him, playing with him, finding the way to keep him and us "sane." I'm really grateful for this time together, even it has been a challenging and sad time because we have lost some people close to us, I believe we were meant to live this situation and this has changed our lives forever. It has confirmed my believe about one day at the time, enjoy today. Yes, we can dream and plan but at the end we only have today, so make the best of it. Enjoy it. Enjoy happiness and also enjoy being sad. Enjoy every moment of your life. And make sure to say to your people that you love them and what they mean to you.

Jaime, thanks for chatting with us today, and when you're ready to hit the New York stages again, please let us know so we can tell everyone where you and The Familia will be, yes?

See you very soon out there. Definitely you will be one of the first ones to know. Thanks for all your support always. We need to be together as a community. And you guys are such an important part of this community. Grateful to have you with us my dear Stephen.

Jaime's headshots are by Alejandro Pujol

Jaime Lozano & The Familia's

Virtual Concert at

Joe's Pub Live!

June 24 at 8 pm

New York: Considered by Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda to be the "next big thing" on Broadway, Mexican director, composer, arranger, and orchestrator Jaime Lozano is "returning" to Joe's Pub on June 24 with a virtual concert as part of its series Joe's Pub Live!, a free series of streamed performances.

The concert will feature Melissa Barrera (Jon M. Chu's In the Heights), Florencia Cuenca (A Never-Ending Line), Mandy González (Broadway: Hamilton), Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer (Broadway: Hadestown), Ana Isabelle (Spielberg's West Side Story), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish), Mauricio Martínez (Broadway: ON YOUR FEET!), Aline Mayagoitia (Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation), Marina Pires (Ntal. Tour: ON YOUR FEET!), Ricky Rojas (Broadway: Moulin Rouge), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Jon M. Chu's In the Heights), Angélica Vale (Jane the Virgin), and Jessica Vosk (Broadway: Wicked).

Jaime's work addresses the meaningful theme of the immigrant experience in the United States through songs and stories about finding a new home, learning a new language, dealing with discrimination, trying to fit in, pursuing the American dream, being in love, growing older, and missing one's native land. It is a show about diversity, inclusion, and building bridges instead of walls. The virtual concert is a tryptic of Lozano's works: Songs by an Immigrant (including collaborations with lyricists Georgie Castilla, Noemi de la Puente, and Marina Pires,) Present Perfect (book and lyrics by Nancy Cheser) and his new musical Desaparecidas (book by Rachel Stevens, lyrics by Lozano and Florencia Cuenca).

A prolific composer, Jaime's works have been produced at venues such as the Minskoff Theatre (Broadway), Lucille Lortel Theatre (Off-Broadway), The Pearl Theatre (Off-Broadway), The Players Theatre (Off-Broadway), Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (Off Broadway), Goodspeed Opera House, The Juilliard School of Music, The Triad Theatre, Theatre for the New City, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Merkin Concert Hall, St. George Theatre, Soho Playhouse, Metropolitan Room, Théâtre du Châtelet and Comédie Nation (Paris, France), Theater 11 (Zurich, Suiza), Deutsches Theater (Munich, Germany), Admiralspalast (Berlin, Germany), Sadler's Wells (London, UK), Teatro Benito Juárez (Mexico City), and Aula Magna (Monterrey, Mexico).

Jaime is one of the five artists selected for the 2020-2022 Joe's Pub Working Group residency and one of the artists selected as part as The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. He is also a JACK Resident Artist 2021.

JOE'S PUB, a program of The Public Theater and named for its founder Joseph Papp, opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community, and artistic freedom. The organization also offers opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that helps musicians develop original theater works; Joe's Pub Working Group, an artist development initiative; The Vanguard Award & Residency, a yearlong series that celebrates the career of a prolific and influential artist; and nationwide programming partnerships. Commissioned artists have included Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Bridget Everett, Daniel Alexander Jones, Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Allen Toussaint, and more. Support for New York Voices provided by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Praise for Jaime's work:

"Songs by an Immigrant establishes Jaime as a force to be reckoned with in musical theater, in Latin music, or wherever else he wants to go." - Lin-Manuel Miranda.

"With its accessible melodies and robust harmonies, the score by Jaime Lozano and Tommy Newman earns comparisons to Stephen Flaherty's music for Once on This Island" - The New York Times, on The Yellow Brick Road

"Jaime Lozano is a thrilling new talent on the musical theater scene and if 'Songs by an Immigrant' is any indication, his will be a name we'll be hearing from...in all languages...for many years to come." - Splash Magazines

Listing Info:

Jaime Lozano & The Familia

June 24 at 8 pm

FREE Ticket Link HERE

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