Jaime Lozano & The Familia

Sony Hall, NYC, August 25, 2025

Reviewed by Alix Cohen

Photos by Rebecca J. Michaelson

Sony Hall was packed with fans, many from Latin American countries who responded raucously to Jaime Lozano’s welcome from “a humble stage of immigrants.” The participating artists were often familiar to the enthusiastic crowd. I don’t speak Spanish, but I couldn’t help reacting to the vocals and the music of those songs without a translation. Introductory explanations helped.

One terrific singer after another took the stage with passion and presence, accompanied by a talented band so large it barely fit on the stage. Among the musicians, Lozano played keyboard, guitar, and vihuela. This evening celebrated the release of the Volume 3 in a CD series called Songs by an Immigrant. (See his story at the end of the review.)

Performed by Joel Perez, “Regalos” (Jaime Lozano/George Castilla) arrived with infectious percussion; the performer’s voice was muscular. The album notes included this translation: “I wish the stars were mine to give/But as you see my hands are empty;/And you deserve much more/Than promises to live.” It was a love letter from Lozano to his wife.

Marino Pires’ rendition of “Te Soñé” (Jaime Lozano) was in English. “You deserve much more than promises.” It’s a besotted love song full of flowers and dreams. (It was originally written for Doreen Montalvo who made her Broadway debut at 40 in the original cast of In the Heights) The song would likely chart if it were recorded by Jennifer Lopez.

The brass retreated leaving the strings to buoy. Pires fluidly changed octaves. Head tilted back and her eyes closed, she whipped her long hair and danced. She’s a superb vocalist with appealingly warm charisma. Later, we heard “Mountain in the Sky,” on which she collaborated with Lozano. “The only cure for days like this is sky.” The songwriters are symbiotic. Pires’ voice sailed like a freed kite.

Krystina Alabado’s performance of “Wherever I Go” (Lozano/Georgie Castilla) was “about missing your land,” Lozano told us. “You’re a piece of me/So intricate, and often complicated/Yet beautiful too/You’re the skin they see/So tan, like earth and fire consummated.” It was earthy poetry, and Albado’s vocal executed a skilled loop-de-loop. The last “Flyyy” rose from her toes to her head, erupting in sparks.

Didi Romero sang “Far from Home” (Lozano/Neena Beber), which reflected Lozano’s own memories of struggle, commitment, open arms.  “There was a ribbon of stars in the sky/Lighting the way I could go/Now I’ve been far from home for too long/But I made a new home.”

“Lemonade” (Lozano/Nathan Tysen) was inspired by Lozano’s children—his daughter Ely Aimé who lives with her mother in Mexico, and his son Alonzo, who was in tonight’s audience. It tells of children who set up a lemonade stand. The sun is warm and bright, and the song’s Lucy is hopeful. When no one buys the lemonade, she and her friends decide the day was what was fun. “Alonzo’s wisdom and kind heart teach me.” Lozano said. “Lemonade” was performed by with sensitivity Tamar Greene.

The Lozano/Tom Kitt “Because of Yours,” a tribute to “all the songwriters who inspired me,” was disarmingly humble. Max Mendoza Crum sang it with heart in his voice. “The soundtrack of my life/All the things I learned because of yours.” A brief trumpet penetrated, and chimes created filigree sighs. It was a stirring ballad.

Xavier Zazueta’s interpretation of “Mi Angel” (Lozano/Georgie Castilla), written for Lozano’s mother, was one of several melodic, Mexican-influenced songs. The lyric was almost enacted by Zazueta’s balletic left hand, which extended, patted, pointed, fisted, and landed flat on his heart. Three guitars caressed. One can’t help but wonder how it would have sounded accompanied only by the guitars.

“So That I Can Live” (Lozano/Neena Beber) was from the Lozano’s upcoming musical about Frida Kahlo, a project dear to his heart as a Mexican immigrant. Tonight Rodney Ingram played Diego Rivera: “Shout at me to go/Then stab my pride/Shoot me till I bleed/But I won’t leave your side.” It was wrenching. Ingram operatically inhabited pride, despair, need, and love. This was another song that would be further enhanced by quiet, tremulous suffering.

“Te Veré Otra Vez” (Lozano/Tommy Newman) is from Roja, “a musical adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, but in a Mexican context with Mexican music.” Strings and guitar provided vertebrae. In the play, Roja’s father has passed on, and she has to navigate without him. “The days go on and on, and on without you/Would you recognize me If you saw me today?” The story could just as easily have described a family separated by malleable immigration laws. Imagine being kept from a loved one by rules that select, separate, ignore, and prosecute. Mayelah Barrera did justice to the song’s longing and frustration. Her last note could have wrapped the club and tied it in a bow.

Florencia Cuenca (of late in Broadway’s Real Women Have Curves) delivered two songs that had pith and purpose. “Hoy Voy a Cantar” (Lozano/Florencia Cuenca) is from Desparrecidas (The Missing Ones), a musical-in-development that “explores the strategic erasure of female voices in the fight to end gender-based violence and the disappearance of women and girls, especially in Mexico.”

Cuenca, Lozano’s wife, was an outstanding performer. “Hoy Voy a Cantar” detonated; it’s an anthem. Her vocal was big, but never frayed, furious but dignified. This evening ended, as is tradition, with the full company’s performance of “Familia” (Lozano/Georgie Castilla.) “We are one of the communities that has stories, but we support other communities and their stories,” Lozano said. Jaime Lozano is a big-hearted, multitalented artist whose familia is understandably devoted.

Unfortunately, the sound design was poor. Too many heartfelt lyrics were buried in music. In those cases, I’ve quoted them from album notes.

Jaime Lozano & The Familia
Songs by an immigrant Vol. 3 is available at https://ctr.ffm.to/SBAIVol3

About Jaime Lozano

Composer/lyricist Jaime Lozano was raised in a small town in Mexico. He sang in a church choir, learned to play guitar as a teenager, and went on to study opera. “I was a very shy kid with few friends until I realized music was my main language,” he said. His only exposure to musicals was from the annual telecast of Jesus Christ Superstar at Easter. He said, “I didn’t understand what it was and hated it.” Ironically, Superstar was the first show put on by his music school. He auditioned, played in the pit, and fell in love with the genre.

The young man changed his major to composition because the show’s director, his mentor, was a composer. Never having paid attention in class, he learned some English by reading books on musical theater. In 2008, Lozano became the first Mexican (immigrant) to enter NYU’s Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program on full scholarship. At 28 years old, he could read English but couldn’t speak it; it was rough going. His musical, Children of Salt, adapted from a Mexican play, was produced as a reading in 2009 and by New York Music Festival in 2016.

After graduating he had were survival jobs, but also some were in his field. He wrote a Spanish adaptation of The Wizard of Oz that was produced Off Broadway, and he helped Lin Manuel Miranda transcribe his songs. They met at NYU and remain friends. Lozano orchestrated a number of songs for the film of In the Heights. Miranda calls him “the next big thing.”

A lawyer was hired to secure his green card, but he took the money and ran, forcing Lozano to return home. “But that’s when I met this beautiful, talented girl I would marry.” The couple came to New York on their honeymoon and decided to stay. (His wife Florencia Cuenca is a writer and actress who recently starred in Real Women Have Curves.) They had one suitcase, no winter clothes, and “I realized we were pregnant.” He garnered grants from The Dramatists Guild Foundation and persevered.

“Sometimes, especially with English being my second language, I am afraid, and I want all my writing to be ‘perfect,’ ‘clear,’ but just being brave and writing from the heart, putting everything on the page without editing myself in advance, is the best way to start.”

There are several on-going projects at present. One exciting commissioned piece is a musical about the artist Frieda Kahlo (lyrics by Neena Beber; book by Georgina Escobar). The piece already has a Tony Award-winning director and producers attached.