In Miami and then in Fort Lauderdale, the North American tour of Buena Vista Social Club has set new house records for a one-week Broadway tour engagement, finishing at the top of each theater's history for both gross and paid attendance.
The tour gave eight performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in the week ending October 4, taking $1,822,889 and selling 18,745 tickets. It then moved up the coast to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, where eight more performances in the week ending October 18 brought in $2,035,016 from 20,428 tickets. Florida Theatrical Association presented both weeks in partnership with Broadway Across America.
“It’s been incredible to see how audiences have embraced Buena Vista Social Club on the road. To break both box office and paid attendance records in Miami and Fort Lauderdale is a great reflection of the connection audiences are making with our show,” said producer Orin Wolf. “Buena Vista Social Club is rooted in the music and spirit of Cuba, but the story is universal. We’re thrilled to be sharing it with audiences across the country.”
The musical tells the story behind the famous album. Years after she last set foot in a recording studio, the Havana singer Omara Portuondo, once adored across Cuba, is offered a chance to record again by a young producer with big plans, and accepting it means confronting the life she left behind. The score is drawn from the songs of Cuba's golden era.
On the road, Karmine Alers plays Omara, with Frank Rodríguez as Compay, Mauro Castillo as Ibrahim and Robert M. Jiménez as Rubén. Their younger selves are played by Isabel Gonzalez, Aidan Olmo, Jaleel Battles Jr. and Irving Aday O’Connor, and Nicolas Perez leads the onstage band from the piano as music director.
The production has a book by Marco Ramirez, direction by Saheem Ali and choreography by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck. The tour is produced by Orin Wolf, John Styles, Barbara Broccoli, Atlantic Theater Company, Luis Miranda, LaChanze, John Leguizamo and Networks Presentations.
The show began at Atlantic Theater Company in December 2023, went on to win five Tony Awards, and its Broadway cast recording took the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. The Broadway production is still running at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
The tour is booked through 2027 and beyond, with further cities to be announced over the next year. Announced stops and dates are listed on the production's official site, buenavistamusical.com.
