Mexican-born musical multi-hyphenate Jaime Lozano is having a blockbuster summer, with both online and live appearances, in addition to his work on the hottest film to hit the screens.
As part of the series Joe’s Pub Live! – offering free streamed performances to audiences everywhere during the temporary pandemic closure of theaters – the prolific Lozano makes a virtual return to the iconic cabaret stage in The Public Theater (where he’s one of the five artists selected for the 2020-2022 Joe’s Pub Working Group residency) on Thursday, June 24, for his online concert Jaime Lozano & The Familia.
Addressing the momentous theme of the immigrant experience in the US through songs and stories, Lozano’s focus is on diversity, inclusion, and building bridges instead of walls. The upcoming concert will present original compositions from three of his past and current 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, with music and additional Spanish lyrics by Lozano); and his new musical Desaparecidas (book by Rachel Stevens, lyrics by Lozano and Florencia Cuenca).
The show will feature vocals by a roster of luminaries from the stage and screen, including Melissa Barrera (In the Heights film), Florencia Cuenca (A Never-Ending Line), Mandy González (Hamilton), Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer (Hadestown), Ana Isabelle (West Side Story film), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish), Mauricio Martínez (On Your Feet!), Aline Mayagoitia (Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation), Marina Pires (On Your Feet! national tour), Ricky Rojas (Moulin Rouge), Daphne Rubin-Vega (In the Heights film), Angélica Vale (Jane the Virgin), and Jessica Vosk (Wicked).
Jaime told me that, “Being part of the Joe’s Pub family has been a great experience. I have always felt their love and support. I’m very grateful because I can see they are very supportive not just with myself, but with many new and diverse voices through the years and I feel so proud to be part of this community of artists. All the Joe’s Pub staff and group have been very supportive during these very hard and challenging months and having this last virtual concert with them is a great way to close this chapter and look into the future.”
Jaime Lozano & The Familia plays on Thursday, June 24, at 8 pm, on the Joe’s Pub YouTube channel and the Public Theater website. Access is free, but donations are welcome.
On Saturday, June 26, at 7 pm, Lozano will make his debut at the legendary Lincoln Center with Venezuelan-born and Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist Migguel Anggelo’s LatinXoxo. The ostentatious and moving gender-busting solo musical-theater performance, conceived by Anggelo, directed and developed by SRĐA, with book by C. Julian Jiménez, musical direction by Lozano, and costumes by Ryan Park, is part of Restart Stages, an outdoor performing arts initiative on the Lincoln Center campus, with ten outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces designed to help kick-start the performing arts sector and NYC’s post-pandemic revival.
The one-hour show’s four-piece band features Lozano on piano and guitar, Alberto Jiménez on guitar, Victor Murillo on on bass, and Reinaldo de Jesús on percussion. “I feel so happy to be doing my Lincoln Center debut with my first live concert with an audience after this pandemic, as the music director and collaborator of my dear friend and hermano Migguel Anggelo,” said Jaime. “I strongly believe that the only way to change things out there is working together as a community and I feel very honored to be able to collaborate with amazing artists like Migguel Anggelo and many others.”
Seats are available through the TodayTix lottery, which you must enter for a chance to win a free two-seat pod; entries close three days before the performance at 12:59 pm. Each pod includes two armless chairs, with a minimum of six-feet distance from other pods. All seats are located on accessible routes and can be removed to make space for mobility devices. Assistive listening devices with headsets and neck loops, and noise-reducing headphones and earplugs are available upon request.
And in conjunction with his role as an orchestrator for the movie version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical In the Heights, Lozano will also be appearing at AMC Empire 25, 234 West 42nd Street, in the all-new Broadway Live Cinema Festival, fusing cinema with live musical theater to create an immersive crossover experience.
Following the “live cinema” performance of the highly acclaimed recently released film on Friday, July 23, beginning at 8:25 pm, audiences will have the ticketing option to stay for an exclusive encore on the AMC Rooftop lounge, where Feinstein’s/54 Below will present The Legacy of In the Heights: A Latinx Writers Concert Featuring The Work of Jaime Lozano and More, showcasing an all Latinx line-up and band (including Lozano, Marina Pires, Georgie Castilla, Noemi de la Puente, and David Davila) performing a selection of the film’s musical numbers and more on the outdoor stage.
Jaime also expressed his excitement for this show, explaining that, “It’s going to be a very special concert honoring the legacy of In the Heights – a show that changed my life. I can say that thanks to that show and the people in that show, I am here in New York City following my dream of telling and sharing my stories. It will be an unforgettable concert with my Familia, my Latino Latinx, Latine brothers and sisters, sharing songs and stories about our experiences.”
To purchase tickets for that exciting live cinema event and after-concert, go online.
