The real history behind 'Buena Vista Social Club' on Broadway
The musical shares a name and a rich legacy with a Cuban club, an acclaimed ensemble of musicians, a Grammy-winning album, and a landmark documentary.
What’s in a name? When it’s Buena Vista Social Club, an exuberant musical now running on Broadway, the title is multifaceted. It actually has five distinct yet related meanings. "Buena Vista Social Club" refers to a gathering place, a band, a famous album, a film, and, now, a musical.
In Spanish, "buena vista" means "good view." The story now on stage at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre is certainly that as it flows between 1950s and 1990s Havana. The plot centers on four prominent Cuban musicians, the impact of politics on their careers and personal relationships, and their eventual reunion and collaboration on a landmark 1997 album.
Hailed by New York Theatre Guide in its 2023 Off-Broadway run as “lush, vibrant, and celebratory,” the Buena Vista Social Club musical taps directly into that album, which revived the spirited Cuban tunes of decades past. Learn more about the many meanings of Buena Vista Social Club and the history behind them, and be sure to join the club of Buena Vista Broadway showgoers.
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The Buena Vista Social Club venue
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members-only gathering hall in Havana, Cuba, that opened in the 1930s. By the 1950s, it was a hotspot for live Afro-Cuban music and dancing, which the musical honors with multiple dance sequences set in the club and choreographed by Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado. The Buena Vista Social Club was particularly well-known for hosting top musicians from the golden age of Cuban music in the mid-20th century.
The venue was a hub in the vibrant nightlife of pre-revolutionary Cuba, and many of the musicians who played at the club were stars of the Cuban music scene in their prime. They faded from the spotlight when the club closed after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
However, the 1997 release of the Buena Vista Social Club album and subsequent film revived the BVSC name and legacy, bringing international attention to the music and the surviving performers who once appeared there. The club remains a symbol of Cuban cultural heritage and the rich history of Cuban dance music.
The Buena Vista Social Club band
The Buena Vista Social Club ensemble brought together 20 veteran Cuban musicians from the ’50s in the late ’90s. Named after the Havana social club, the group included legends such as guitarist and singer Compay Segundo, vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, pianist Rubén González, and featured vocalist Omara Portuondo. All these musicians and more are characters in the Buena Vista Social Club musical.
Despite being highly influential in Cuban music history, many of these individuals were virtually forgotten until their collaboration in the '90s brought them worldwide attention again. Their story of second acts and second chances is certainly one that sings.
The Buena Vista Social Club album
Recorded over 6 days at EGREM Studios in Havana in March 1996 and released to the world 18 months later, Buena Vista Social Club’s self-titled album became a global sensation.
Produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos González (featured as a character in the musical), the recording mixed various styles of Cuban music including son, bolero, mambo, and jazz. It featured 14 tracks including the beloved songs "Candela," “Chan Chan,” “Dos Gardenias,” and “El Cuarto de Tula.”
A one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime recording, it is the only standard studio album exclusively credited to Buena Vista Social Club. It won a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album. As of 2020, it has sold a record 8 million copies.
The 1997 album bridged generations of Cuban music and shone a bright light on it internationally. Following the record’s success, musicians from the ’40s and ’50s, still in firm command of their talents, became known in Cuba as "Los Superabuelos" (the Super-Grandfathers). What started as a revival project turned into an enduring legacy that continues to influence the world of music today.
The Buena Vista Social Club movie
Wim Wenders, a German filmmaker and four-time Oscar nominee, was introduced to Buena Vista Social Club’s music by Cooder. The men had worked together before on such movies as Paris, Texas.
In the wake of the group’s Grammy-winning success, Wenders filmed a documentary featuring 14 its members — including Portuondo, Ferrer, Segundo, and González — in a series of illuminating interviews and live performances in New York and Amsterdam.
Like a living lost-and-found exhibit, the documentary explored how the Buena Vista Social Club musicians had long been in obscurity but remained vital in their art. Wenders has called the film “a true character piece.”
The film was nominated for a 2000 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In 2020, it was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.
Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway
Developed and directed by Saheem Ali, the Buena Vista Social Club musical highlights the band’s legacy and places it in a cultural and historical context. The show made its world premiere off Broadway with Atlantic Theater Company in December 2023 before transferring to Broadway in 2025.
Marco Ramirez’s fact-based book focuses on a 1996 recording session in Havana, where the musicians are reuniting to form Buena Vista Social Club and create its self-titled album. The onstage action regularly flashes back to show the younger versions of four musicians — Portuondo, Ferrer, Segundo, and González — navigating the impact of the Cuban Revolution on their lives and careers four decades earlier.
The score, performed entirely in Spanish, consists of the songs from Buena Vista Social Club's Grammy-winning album. A full band appears on stage alongside the cast, and together they perform the lively music in full view of the audience.
Buena Vista Social Club was nominated for three Outer Critics Circle Awards, seven Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Drama League Awards off Broadway. The show celebrates the richness of Cuban music and the resilience of its musicians — and all the while, noted New York Theatre Guide's critic, it “makes you want to get up and dance.”
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Photo credit: Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)
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