by Steve French
This month I had the privilege of speaking with BIV member Eliseo Roman. Currently appearing on Broadway in ON YOUR FEET, Eliseo has been with BIV since 2001. This was a special interview for me - Eliseo was the first person I spoke to about starting a podcast. It was his encouragement that gave me the confidence to make it happen, and I owe him so much for helping bring this project to life.
Although he has firmly established himself as a Broadway pro, this was not the life Eliseo initially chose for himself. As you'll hear in the interview, Eliseo's early yearnings for a career as a singer were tempered by his conservative upbringing and his family's desire that he choose a more stable line of work. He spent years in the upper echelons of the banking world before he decided to start over and move to New York to pursue a career in the Theatre.
It's a brave, inspiring story.
Photo: Pablo Pimienta
Eliseo speaks about his experience coming THIS close to joining the early casts of RENT, what it was like to work with Lin-Manuel Miranda on IN THE HEIGHTS, and how playing tambourine as a boy in the Spanish Pentacostal church eventually got him front and center on a Broadway stage. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
Click here to listen to Eliseo's episode of THE BROADWAY INSPIRATIONAL VOICES PODCAST.
Thanks for listening, and for your support!