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Champagne Tears: The Rich Also Cry, A Telenovela Musical-What to Know
- Damian Ali
- 19 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Key art for Champagne Tears: The Rich Also Cry. Courtesy of Broadway Sin Barreras
A mysterious locket. A mansion filled with secrets. A young woman who refuses to back down. That is the premise behind Champagne Tears: The Rich Also Cry, an original musical telenovela parody set for Wednesday at 6:30 PM at Pregones/PRTT, 571 Walton Avenue in the Bronx.
The workshop performance is part of a bilingual theater evening presented by Broadway Sin Barreras.
Written and directed by Vanessa Verduga, the production leans into the heightened drama of classic telenovelas while using musical theater to explore class, inheritance, delusion, and self-discovery. Ballads swell. Emotions erupt.
Comedy cuts through the chaos. At its center is Mariana, an orphan who arrives at the gates of extreme wealth and sets off a chain reaction of scandal, rivalry, and long-buried truths.
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This Bronx native isn’t waiting for permission. She’s building now. Vanessa Verduga shares why she is creating space for Latiné artists through Broadway Sin Barreras. Read: Vanessa Verduga on Building Space for Latiné Theater Artists
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The show asks a simple but pointed question. Who really deserves the fortune when the truth finally reaches the mansion doors?
Meet the Cast and Crew of Champagne Tears: The Rich Also Cry
Credit: Broadway Sin Barreras
The production stars Juliana Padilla as Mariana and Diego Millan as Luis Alberto. Padilla, a graduate of the New York Film Academy, is active in the New York cabaret scene and also choreographs the companion production Querida. Millan’s New York stage credits include Romeo and Juliet: In Progress and Sweeney Todd.
Alongside the leads, the ensemble includes Susana Raposo as Doña Malvada, Thomas Vorsteg as Diego, Arelis Cruz as Consuelo, Bruno Giraldi as the Mysterious Man and Lawyer, and Vanessa Verduga as The Nun and Narrator. Raposo trained at Atlantic Acting School and has worked as a voice actor on Netflix projects. Vorsteg has performed across film, television, and theater.
Cruz holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU Steinhardt and recently appeared in Pippin. Giraldi’s stage credits include Waiting for Godot, and he has appeared in television projects, including Presumed Innocent. Verduga is the founder of Broadway Sin Barreras and the creator of the web series Justice Woman.
Creative Team for Champagne Tears. Credit: Broadway Sin Barreras
Eric Smrcka serves as music director. A New York–based musician with more than three decades of experience, he has worked on more than 80 musical theater productions. Abril López is the stage manager. Her New York credits include Romeo + Jules and Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
Champagne Tears was developed as part of a workshop night focused on new bilingual musical theater. Workshops allow artists to test material, refine performances, and build work in front of an audience before moving into larger productions.
In rehearsal materials shared with TalkTeaV, performers worked through musical transitions and heightened dramatic beats, underscoring the project’s focus on craft as much as comedy. Champagne Tears blends parody with cultural commentary. The humor is broad, but the themes are grounded. Wealth, power, and belonging sit at the center of the story, filtered through music and theatrical spectacle.
As Broadway Sin Barreras continues expanding its programming in the Bronx, productions like this reflect a growing bilingual musical theater ecosystem rooted in both training and performance. For local audiences following the borough’s arts scene, Champagne Tears: The Rich Also Cry offers a look at original work being developed close to home.