Hear songs from the new Off-Broadway production that pays tribute to Latino New York’s Music idols.
“We didn’t have politicians or other idols to look up to [in those days],” explains David Maldonado, producer and co-writer of the new off-Broadway musical I Like It Like That. “There were not many Latino athletes around. The idols became Eddie Palmieri and Hector Lavoe.... Music artists were the most important figures. Music became like the religion of the masses.”
So Maldonado sets the scene for the show, now playing at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York, which includes songs from the repertoire of Palmieri and Lavoe, Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, Joe Cuba, Tito Puente, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, La Lupe and more. (Check out our playlist featuring some of the songs performed in the musical below).
I Like It Like That takes its title from the song that was a Billboard chart hit for Pete Rodriguez in 1967. Thirty years later, the bugalú cornerstone was revived in a hit cover by Tito Nieves, who plays family patriarch Roberto Rodriguez in the new musical.