A love story born on a freestyle dance floor in 1987 is coming to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre this Friday, as “Freestyle: A Love Story” makes its Los Angeles debut, according to the Los Angeles Times. The musical follows Ana and Junior, two middle-aged Caribbean Latinos who fall for each other at a freestyle show before reuniting decades later at a Freestyle Extravaganza inside New York's Radio City Music Hall.
Created and directed by George Valencia, the production stars Justina Machado and James Martinez as the reunited former lovers, according to the Los Angeles Times. The show also features singer Judy Torres, who serves as a co-producer alongside Ana Ortiz, while Judy Reyes is credited as executive producer. The official production website notes that veteran actor James Martinez is stepping into the role for Friday's performance, per the Freestyle: A Love Story official website.
The Los Angeles run doubles as a benefit, with the event billed as a fundraiser supporting the Sound of GOL Foundation and LA Watford Women FC, as reported by Freestyle: A Love Story. The Sound of GOL Foundation, which supports Latina soccer players, was founded by Valencia and Reyes, the newspaper reports.
A Genre Born on New York Dance Floors
The musical is steeped in the real history of freestyle, an electro-funk genre sometimes called Latin freestyle or Latin hip-hop that leaned on the synthetic instrumentation and syncopated percussion of Roland TR-808 drum machines. Some fans trace the sound's origins to Shannon's 1983 hit “Let the Music Play,” while Afrika Bambaataa helped popularize the TR-808 sound a year earlier with “Planet Rock,” as noted by the Los Angeles Times. Torres, who was born in the Bronx, described the genre's early, undefined identity simply: “It was just music,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
Freestyle produced a run of chart hits through the late 1980s. Lisa Lisa, lead vocalist of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, became the first Latina vocalist to top the Billboard Hot 100 as part of a group when “Head to Toe” hit No. 1 in 1987, after the group's “I Wonder if I Take You Home” had reached No. 34 in 1985, while George Lamond's 1990 single “Bad of the Heart” peaked at No. 25 on the same chart, Los Angeles Times reported the Los Angeles Times. Other artists tied to the era include Brooklyn's Afro-Cuban singer Nayobe, who released “Please Don't Go” in 1985, and Soavé, who sang the 1989 hit “Crying Over You.”
Torres released her debut album, “Love Story,” in 1989, and her first single, “No Reason to Cry,” came out in 1996 before reaching No. 30 on the Billboard Hot Dance chart the following year. By 1993, the movement had largely run its course, lasting roughly nine years as prominent radio stations shifted away from dance-pop toward hip-hop and R&B, according to the Los Angeles Times account.
Pressure to Erase Latino Names
Torres wove a harder edge of that history into the production, incorporating monologues drawn from her own experience and that of peers who were told they had to change their last names to appeal to pop radio stations. Soavé later revealed to Wax Poetics in 2010 that his birth name was Jeffrey Martinez, saying it would not have sold a record, per a report from the Los Angeles Times. George Lamond, the Times reports, dropped the surname Garcia at the request of Colombia Records. Torres herself kept her surname and said she does not know whether that choice affected her airplay on pop stations.
Despite that pressure, Torres said freestyle helped open doors for the Latin stars who followed, even as she believes the genre was never properly celebrated. Valencia told the outlet the musical pairs a love story with freestyle's history because, in his view, Latino history shows that revolutionary joy cannot be taken away.
From the Bronx to Radio City, and Beyond
The TKA frontman known as K7, whose real name is Louis Sharpe, is among the figures tied to the freestyle scene the musical evokes, while Lisa Lisa has also performed at the wrap party for the first season of “One Day at a Time.” For Valencia, Torres and the rest of the creative team, the Los Angeles staging offers fans and artists alike a chance to revisit freestyle for an evening, the Times notes.
“Freestyle: A Love Story” isn't stopping in Los Angeles. The production is also listed for a run at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center from Dec. 5 through Dec. 6, according to BroadwayWorld. That listing, from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, describes the show as an immersive theatrical journey celebrating Latin Hip Hop, also known as Freestyle, and names Luna Lauren Vélez as Ana and Felix Solis as Junior for that engagement.
