How Andy Señor Jr. Went from Producing Rent in Cuba to Making a Documentary

Andy Señor Jr. has been involved with Rent since 1997, and now he's offering audiences an inside look into the musical's historic 2015 Cuban production with the new documentary Revolution Rent. Marking the first Broadway musical co-production between the United States and the Cuba in 50 years, Señor brought Jonathan Larson's award-winning work to Havana, and through the documentary viewers can see what went into the production. In honor of Revolution Rent having its film festival debut at DOC NYC, Señor stopped by Broadway.com's #LiveatFive to talk to Paul Wontorek about releasing the documentary, representation and more.

Señor's journey with Rent began when he appeared as Steve the Squeegee Man in the La Jolla production. He eventually went on to take over the role of Angel and continued to appear in the role in both London and Broadway. "Seeing [Rent's] Wilson Heredia win the Tony Award was the first time after watching many Tonys that I saw a Hispanic guy win an award," he said. "For me, it was the opening of what was possible. I knew I had to be a part of it. Now it's not only a part of it, but I've just made a whole life out of it."

After appearing as Angel, Señor went on to associate direct Broadway's On Your Feet and Holiday Inn, giving him the experience that made the Cuban government give him a call. "The Nederlander Organization was doing a program with the Cuban Ministry of Culture at the time," he said. "The goal was to do programs that were Broadway-oriented to help bridge the cultural divides. Mariela Castro, who was the president's daughter at the time, chose Rent as the next program. She wanted to shake things up."

Going to Cuba was a personal decision for Señor whose family left the country during the revolution and vowed never to return. "I always wanted to see it for myself and after doing Rent all over the world, how could I not go and do it for my own culture," he said. "We had to completely build the show. They lost the tradition of musical theater and the documentary really captures our attempt to cast the show and what went into finding the people that we did. We went on to have a sold-out run for three months. It was very much like the original New York Theater Workshop production. We couldn't bring in any money. We had to make do with what was there and be creative, so it was very much in the spirit of the original production off-Broadway."

Five years later, Revolution Rent is about to be released out into the world and Señor can't wait to hear the reactions. "I'm curious to see how an audience reacts," he said. "I've gone through every emotion with the film and now it's at a point where I want to everyone to see and learn from it. The musical has a lot of truth and love and connection in it that doesn't get old."

Learn more about Revolution Rent here!

Watch the full #LiveatFive episode below!