Trying On the Crown Of Salsa’s Queen
NEW YORK — Playing the Queen of Salsa onstage might be a dream come true for Xiomara Laugart, the star of the musical “Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz,” but the singer doesn’t want to mislead the audience.
“I am not Celia. I don’t sing like Celia,” says Laugart, a former member of the funk band Yerba Buena who is making her stage debut in the off-Broadway production.
“Imagine! She is the pioneer of the music and the representation of black, Latina and Cuban women. How can you represent that?
