Argentinian musician lands dream role in ‘Hadestown’ at the Straz – Tampa Bay Times

In 2019, Belén Moyano and her husband saw “Hadestown” on Broadway.

She sat with him upstairs in the very last seat. “Way up within the theater, ” she said.

“At the end of the show, I told my husband that I is going to be in this production, ” said the Argentinian musician. “I saw myself represented. There were so many amazing women of color, playing instruments, doing all of this stuff that I did. ”

At the particular beginning associated with 2020, the girl auditioned for “Hadestown. ” But the pandemic came and there was no work in the arts. The production called her in 2021.

“I auditioned by Zoom; my husband (who is a musician plus composer) was listening and when I finished on the particular call he was crying and informed me, ‘If this role is not yours then it was not the time, because you are perfect, ’” Moyano recalled.

Three days later, she signed a contract for “Hadestown, ” a musical that will be presented at the Straz Center from Tuesday to Dec. 4. Hadestown has won eight Tony Awards and the Grammy Award. The work intertwines two mythical tales, that will of the young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife, Persephone.

“Hadestown” is really a story of hope that even within the dark of night the soul always finds a way to go out and look for the light, Moyano stated.

“It is this idea of hope that everything can become achieved, ” she said. “We sing it from beginning in order to end. It is really beautiful, so I think this is the biggest reason why the musical has won so many awards. ”

It will end up being the first time Moyano has visited Tampa, but she stated she knows the city’s history because through a composer friend, Dan Furman, the lady had the particular opportunity to be part of one of the initial stages of a musical, “Ybor City, ” about a strike at a cigar factory and how immigrants came to Tampa.

Moyano’s talent was nurtured in the girl hometown associated with Buenos Aires. In Argentina, when she was 6 years old, her mother realized that her daughter loved music and started her inside piano lessons. But her mother has been unable to continue to pay for lessons plus Moyano had to drop out.

She reached the United States when she had been 9 years old.

“As soon as we moved to the particular United States, that was the first thing my mom was interested in, she wanted me to learn (music), ” said Moyano, who began playing the particular violin in age 11. She after that learned the cello, guitar, viola and accordion.

At age 13, Moyano began singing and dancing on stage. She went to college in Utah, where she studied singing.

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“I never thought I was going to be a professional actress, ” she mentioned. “But We kept auditioning for different plays that people invited me in order to. I started working professionally at 18 and then I actually relocated to New York. ”

When the girl arrived in New York, it took the girl about six months of auditions plus perseverance until she landed a job.

“It’s hard to get a good contract, yet it’s not really impossible, ” Moyano said.

“I in no way had the particular opportunity to feel or even know that I was highly valued in the theater, ” she said, adding that will she thought her chances would be limited.

“It wasn’t till Lin-Manuel Miranda was presented on Broadway with ‘In the Heights’… it began to open my mind, and instead of always putting myself in roles that were written only for Latinos, I began in order to have more opportunities, ” stated Moyano.

Want to go?

When: Tuesday to Dec. 4

Where: The Straz Center, 1010 N Macinnes Place, Tampa

Cost: Starting at $70. 50

More information: Strazccenter. org or 813-229-7827