Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Danny Burgos first spoke with me in early 2016 as he was working on the national tour of the Beauty and the Beast musical in San Jose.
Then he was a fresh-faced performing artist straight out of college who had just joined a touring Broadway show to begin his professional career in the arts.
Nine years later we spoke again, this time as he prepares to come back to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts with Moulin Rouge! The Musical from July 8-13, older and wiser, having had several transformations in those nine years and walked many paths in his career and his life.
In the last near-decade, Burgos spent some years working in Broadway, from In the Heights to The Band’s Visit, then switching careers into nursing, covering his arms in tattoos, growing a beard and surmising he was leaving his performing career in the past. But just as he settled into the rhythm of his new life and new career, he was given the opportunity to come back to the stage once more.
Burgos graduated from the Columbia University School of Nursing with a Master of Science in 2021, and saw a bright future as a registered nurse helping people in his day-to-day life. But the pull of the stage came back to him and let him relive his dream of performing in front of audiences night after night.
And through this journey, he says has cherished what he has worked hard for, both in the fields of nursing and performing arts, a journey that has left him much appreciation for the path he walked to get where he is now, knowing full well he’s stronger for it.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the winner of ten 2021 Tony Awards and has delighted audiences with its tale of romance, glitz, music and splendor since its premiere in 2018. Based on Baz Luhrmann’s iconic film, it features odes to 160 years of music, with even some modern artists such as Lady Gaga being added since the film’s release in 2001.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is taking place at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts from July 8-13. Tickets and more information available at broadwaysanjose.com.
Arianna Rosario as Satine in the North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade
Hello Danny. So, how have you been since we last spoke in 2016?
Since then, I ended up moving back to New York. I did a bunch of regional gigs. I did a lot of In the Heights because In the Heights was really hot then. And then I ended up going back out on tour with On Your Feet after doing it on Broadway. And then I did The Band’s Visit up until the pandemic. And then I went back to school, became a nurse. I worked for a year as a nurse at a hospital in New York City, and then I got the Moulin Rouge! call. So yeah, quite a bit of life.
You had studied nursing before moving onto the performing arts. How did the switch happen back from performing arts to nursing?
So back then, back in my Beauty and the Beast days, I didn’t finish nursing [studies].
So I started as a nursing student, and then I dropped out. So during the pandemic, that was when my mom was like, “You have the credits. Why not just go back to school and finish?” So yeah, that’s what I did.
Tell me a little bit about what the experience has been since then, how much have you learned in that time and all that life you’ve lived and work you’ve done?
I thought I was never going to perform again. I’m a 5’11 bald guy with an arm full of tattoos now. So I was just like, “Oh, okay. Theater is not really for me anymore.” And I think that’s what I’ve learned so much about theater post-pandemic.
I think a lot of creatives are getting a lot more, and I know that this sounds reductive, but they’re being a lot more creative and open-minded about how people look on stage and representation on stage. So I think that this was an amazing opportunity for me to hop back into musical theater, portraying a character that, yes, is me, but in a skin that is me now, as opposed to me back in 2016 when I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and fresh out of college.
So I thought it was completely gone for me. I thought that I was just never going to perform again. And then I was given this opportunity, an opportunity of a lifetime to portray not only a Latino on stage, but a Latino who is bald and has tattoos and is just authentically himself. It’s a really great opportunity that I never thought I would get.
So I thought it was completely gone for me. I thought that I was just never going to perform again. And then I was given this opportunity, an opportunity of a lifetime to portray not only a Latino on stage, but a Latino who is bald and has tattoos and is just authentically himself. It’s a really great opportunity that I never thought I would get.
-Danny Burgos
Can you touch a little bit on your character of Santiago in Moulin Rouge! and what it is like to portray him and step in those shoes?
I try to be a little trepidatious when I say this because I love that I’m portraying a Latin man. And to add to that as well, I would love to see Latin men portrayed in a three-dimensional light as opposed to a bit two-dimensional like I am right now. I’m a bit stereotypical in my part. I’m the Latin guy, the one that’s always dancing, the loud one, the passionate one, all the stereotypes that comes with being Latino.
I very much play into them with my character because we are doing a campy version of life. It’s a larger-than-life portrayal version of Paris. And so that’s fine. And so my character is very passionate and very loud and very rambunctious, the life of every party. And I love doing that. And I would really like to one day portray a three-dimensional version of what it is to be a Latino, like I did in On Your Feet, like I have been able to do in other shows. I saw it portrayed in Buena Vista Social Club when I saw it on Broadway, it was really beautiful.
What is it about Moulin Rouge! that even as it ages it continues to captivate audiences?
I think what draws people to this show is the fact that it is an amazing love story. There’s a popular quote. I forget it now, so I can’t really quote it. But we only tell five stories as human beings, and this is a love story. And everyone loves a love story. And even though it is a tragedy, you feel that sadness because you understand how beautiful the love was.
You know, nothing is as tragic as love lost. So, I think that is what’s so beautiful, what keeps people coming to our show. Aside from the fact that if you’ve never seen a musical in the history of your life, you can come to this one knowing full well that you will leave humming a few of the songs because it’s told through pop music.
We have songs by Beyoncé, songs by Lady Gaga, by Sia. We also have songs from the classic rock repertoire. There’s something for everyone. And so, I think that’s what keeps people coming. They’re like, “Oh, you’ve never seen a musical before? This isn’t your stereotypical musical. You have to come with me to this one.”
So we see a lot of first-time musical theater people at our show, and they leave loving it.
For you personally, what has been one of the memorable moments or experiences from working on this show?
So I will say, I think getting the call that I booked the show has been one of the most memorable moments of my life. I went in for this show in 2018 and I auditioned for Santiago, and they told me that I was too young because I just was. I booked it in 2023, that was five years before I got it. I was 32 years old when I got it. So I was just too young to be portraying this character.
Like I told you in the history of everything, I was on The Band’s Visit at the time. I ended up going back to nursing school. I became a nurse. I was working as a nurse. My agents kept calling me. They were like, “Hey, they want to see you again. They want to see you again.” I was like, “I can’t believe this is happening.”
It feels very weird to be working as a nurse, going to do a med pass and give my patients their medicine. And then my agent calls me and is like, “Hey, Broadway’s on the line.” It’s something that I always imagined but never thought was actually a practical thing to do because everyone always told me, “I don’t know, that’s a pretty big dream. I don’t know if you could accomplish that.”
And so when I finally got the call, I was on my lunch break and my agents called me and they were like, “Hey, they chose you. You’re going to be going on tour.” I started crying in the middle of the lunchroom, and all of my nurse colleagues were like, “Are you okay? Does something hurt?” They went straight into nurse mode. And I was like, “No, I’m just happy.” And sure enough, I told them what happened and they threw me a party.
The very next day, I came in for my shift and there was a cake. And it was just such a welcoming group of people and a way to say it gave me a bit more control over my life. It made me look at my life and be able to say, “Oh, damn, if I want something badly enough, it really can be accomplished. All I have to do is work for it.” And so it was the first time that I actually concretely saw that the only thing standing in my own way is myself. It was awesome.
How has your family taken it that you accomplished dual careers, from going back to school, doing nursing, and then back into acting?
Oh, man. They make fun of me all the time because that’s the running joke in my family. It’s that “Danny’s just going to do whatever he wants.” But I think it’s really great to have a fantastic support system. And I will say, as a Latino, I have a Cuban mother who would always tell me, “Ay Danny, no hagas eso, haz algo que vas a ganar dinero!” Something where it’s steady and stable. And I was just like, “Okay, that’s fine. I can do that, but my heart keeps getting pulled towards this.” And so I just can’t ignore that.
I have therapy once a week, it’s my favorite thing I do. But I talk to my therapist weekly about the fact that you just can’t ignore something that your body is telling you. You can’t ignore when your heart is speaking to you. And it was that. My family wasn’t super supportive about me going into musical theater, and then I became successful. They weren’t super supportive about me transitioning so late in life to nursing, and then I was super successful. So I think as long as I understand what I am doing, as long as I understand the assignment, my mom and my dad, they go off of me.
It’s the popular saying when they say, “You don’t have to freak out on a plane unless you see the flight attendants freaking out, then it’s time to panic.” It’s very much that. I think my parents have deferred to, “If Danny is looking calm, then Danny’s got it figured out.”
I always tell Latin parents in particular, I’m like, “Don’t freak out if your kid’s not freaking out. They’ve got it handled.” And if they don’t, your job is to establish such a trusting relationship with your child that if they need your help, they’ll come ask. They don’t have to hide it from you. They’re going to come and be like, “Hey, I made a mistake. I need your help.”
What advice would you give to someone who does have that pull in their heart towards a career in the performing arts or something that’s not seen as a usual career?
It’s so interesting because I have had this flip-flop life where I was a nurse, then I was an actor, then I was a nurse, then I’m an actor again. It seems kind of strange, but I wouldn’t change it for the world because these different paths have taught me different things. I feel like if I was super successful at 22 years old, I would not be working as an actor anymore because I wouldn’t have been humble.
And I think that’s what my life taught me, to just be humble. And so, to people who are coming from households like that, I would just have to say so much of what your parents are saying is because they love you and because they care for you and because they want to protect you. And it’s, again, something that I talk to my therapist a lot about.
When your body is feeling anxiety, when it’s feeling sadness, when it’s feeling anger, fear, that’s just your body trying to protect you. It’s your job to thank it for protecting you and then listening to what it is that you want truly. I know that that might sound like I’m saying, “defy your parents,” but it’s not.
I’m saying, listen to your parents and understand that everything they are saying is coming from a place of wanting to protect you. That’s how they express their love. And then you have to do the hard part of saying, “Hey, I understand you’re trying to protect me. I want to talk to you about how I actually I have full confidence in myself that I can make this work. And I need you to help me by being confident in me as well, because we can conquer this together.”
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is coming over to the Bay Area soon. Why would you recommend people come and check it out?
I Like I said before, it is the perfect intro musical. Now, our show is a little risqué, so I wouldn’t say that just anybody can come. I’d say, I don’t know, maybe 12 plus, 13 plus. If you don’t If you can’t go to a PG 13 movie, don’t come to our musical.
But it is a great musical in that, again, there’s a song for everyone. I feel like if it is your first musical, it’s a good introduction to watching story telling through song, and it’s an excellent way to just get in touch with this art form. So I always recommend it to a first-time musical theatergoer, especially because it’s a stereotypical love story told through these pop songs.
Secondly, it’s just a really big spectacle. From the minute you walk into the theater, we have a pre-show. So some of the dancers are on stage, basically welcoming you to the Moulin Rouge, welcoming you to the club. And then from there, it is just getting shot out of a canon. It is song after song after song. It is high octane, lots of lights, lots of costumes, lots of just joy, and a lot of energy coming from the stage.
So I don’t think that there is a moment for you to be bored, really. It’s two and a half hours, so it is a little bit long, but it is constantly entertaining.
Any last words or thoughts you’d like to end the interview with?
I think my last words are always just words that have helped me in my journey, not only through theater, but also through life. I really do think that anything is possible as long as you believe that it is possible. And like I said in my nursing story and in my story about people dealing with their Latin parents, I think that what we need more of, not only in this career, but in life in general, is people who deeply believe in each other.
So rather than being your first no, we should all be our first yes. We shouldn’t say, “Oh, I can’t do that because blank.” We should say, “Oh, I want to do that, and so I’m going to give it a try.” And I think that if we have more people who are willing to try and fail and try again until they perfect it, we’ll have more people who are just genuinely happy with their lives, look around at their lives and see how accomplished they are in things that they failed at once, and now they’re super successful at it.
