I wrote an article “On Lyric Writing For Theater” for the Playwrights Realm and had a great time doing so! It’s aimed at those looking for a more introductory approach to the form, but check it out if you’ve ever been curious about lyrics and/or you realize you probably take excellent craft for granted. Or you’ve been complaining about the horrid state of lyric writing on broadway in today’s modern era, cough cough. Some fun nuggets on the Curves process as well!
Entertainment Weekly did the honor of naming us #6 on their list of 10 best Broadway Shows of 2025, including both plays and musicals! I’m not a fan of the fact they also named some of their least favorite because theater is damn hard to get made and I prefer to uplift, but I’m happy for our little show to get featured among some of these titans. Check out the list on Entertainment Weekly here.
It was so special to get to meet some of our fans this month at the Drama Book Shop for the release of our REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES: THE MUSICAL Cast Album! We did a signing with some of our cast, and then I had the honor of accompanying our lead actress Tatiana Cordoba in a special performance of “Flying Away”. Thank you to Ghostlight Records and the Drama Bookshop for hosting us and putting this event together!
I will be forever grateful to everyone involved in this show for many things, but it has always been a dream to get a Tony nomination and I’m thrilled that today, the beautiful score I co-wrote with Joy Huerta has been recognized with a nomination for “Best Original Score, Music and Lyrics.” Also a HUGE congrats to the incomparable Justina Machado, who was recognized with a Tony Nomination for “Best Featured Actress in a Musical.”
Very excited to share that Gloria Estefan will be co-hosting a post-show talkback with my co-composer Joy Huerta after the April 22nd show of Real Women Have Curves! Middle school Benjamin is reeling right now. Check out more information on Broadway.com
It’s every composer’s dream to get an official Broadway Cast Album of their show, and I feel so damn lucky to be having my first with this show. The album will be produced by Grammy winner Julio Reyes Copello, and will come out in June! Check out Broadway News for the the scoop!
Tatianna Córdoba will make her debut in Real Women Have Curves: The Musical when it starts performances on April 1 at the James Earl Jones Theatre. She plays Ana García, who dreams of flying away from East Los Angeles and her family’s garment business. Watch her sing “Flying Away” in the video below. Thanks to Theater Mania for the post! Music and Lyrics by me and Joy Huerta.
We’ve released demo tracks from the show with my Co-Composer/Lyricist Joy Huerta (Grammy Award Winning Artist of Jesse & Joy). Enjoy this little taste of what’s to come!
Couldn’t be more thrilled to have these incredible talented women leading our show! Check out the full release on DEADLINE.
Humbled to be this year’s Kleban award winner for lyrics, alongside the talented librettist winner Madeline Myers.
To quote Edward Kleban, whose lyrics from A Chorus Line and specifically the song “Nothing” live rent free in my head, I’m definitely feeling “something”, and it’s absurdly grateful to the community of family, friends, and fellow writers who encouraged me to keep at it. ❤️🙏
I'm gonna be pinching myself all the way till April!!! It’s thrilling beyond belief to have a show coming to Broadway for the first time, and I’m immensely grateful to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way, even when it sometimes felt impossible to keep going after a project you've worked on for years and years disappears or hits a wall. But in the words of Tick Tick Boom: “You start writing the next one. And after you finish that one, you start on the next. And on and on, and that's what it is to be a writer, honey. You just keep throwing them against the wall and hoping against hope that eventually something sticks.”
Here’s hoping this one sticks!! Come see us starting in April! Check out the official announcement coverage by Broadway News, Playbill, and Deadline, and sign up for updates on tickets on our website: https://realwomenhavecurvesbroadway.com/
It was surreal to get to have our title song be performed by Joy and some of our cast as part of the Mexico Independence Day festivities in Times Square! Here’s some footage of them performing, along with Joy talking a little about the show:
"Real Women Have Curves" in Times Square, featuring Joy Huerta, Jennifer Sanchez, Florencia Cuenca, Elisa Galindez, and Aline Mayagoitia, with Nadia DiGillianardo and Rich Mercurio in the band!
I’m excited to be part of an upcoming panel discussion at the Museum of Broadway on Sunday, October 6th. I’ll be joining other writers, composers, and producers—the next generation of storytellers—who are dedicated to bringing fresh voices and new stories to the Broadway stage. If you’d like to come check it out, click here to register for the event!
Panelists include Benjamin Velez (Composer/Lyricist), Eric Ulloa (Writer), Sammy Lopez (Producer), Amanda D’Archangelis (Composer), and Jesse Sanchez (Composer/Lyricist, Writer, Music Director). Moderated by Luis Salgado and Gabriela Garcia.
We’re excited that after our premiere at A.R.T in Boston last winter, we’re gearing up to bring Real Women Have Curves to New York in 2025!! More details to come, but for now, excited to get to share this show with the world soon! Here’s the announcement in BILLBOARD and in PLAYBILL.
Joy will also be performing some music from the show in NYC this weekend, details TBA!
I was lucky enough to receive a Jonathan Larson Grant in the spring of 2020, just as everything shut down. On Monday, the American Theater Wing hosted a concert celebrating the last four years of winners who never got to have an awards concert. I was honored to have the talented Sarah Lynn Marion sing the title song from my musical BORDERLINE. Check out a few photos below from the event, courtesy of Broadway World!
Benjamin Velez and Sarah Lynn Marion
Benjamin Velez and Rona Siddiqui
Check out this video of Joy Huerta and I discussing our score for Real Women Have Curves!
Find additional videos about Arnulfo Maldonado’s Set Design inspiration and Time Lapse of the Set Murals being Painted!
Check out this video of Joy Huerta and I discussing our score for Real Women Have Curves!
Thrilled to have opened the show at the ART and to feel how much audiences seem to be enjoying the story we’re telling. Check out some of our fabulous reviews thus far: the Boston Globe, WBUR, The Arts Fuse, the New England Theater Geek, Theater Mirror, Cambridge Day, and On Boston Stages.
You still have until Jan. 21st to see our show in Boston! Find tickets on the ART’s website!
Joy Huerta and I had the honor of performing our song “Flying Away” from REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES at the Drama League Gala at the Edison Ballroom this week. It was special to preview our show amidst a parade of broadway talent, including Ariel Jacobs and Annaleigh Ashford. Check out a clip from the performance below!
CURVES will be having its world premiere at the ART in Cambridge this December. Visit their website for tickets!
Broadway World shared some photos from our first days of rehearsal. It was amazing to see everyone together, including our team at the A.R.T. We also got fabulous presentations from our costume designers Paloma Young and Wilberth Gonzalez, and from our set designer Arnulfo Moldonado.
Click here for the full article with more photos at Broadway World!
Stephen Schwartz is a living legend, and I had the incredible honor of receiving the Stephen Schwartz award from him last night at the Dramatist Guild Foundation’s annual gala. I’m still pinching myself. He is not only a huge inspiration on my work and of so many writers old and new, but also just the kindest man. My adrenaline was so high when I got onstage to thank him that I ripped my speech by accident!
I can’t thank him or the Dramatist Guild Foundation enough, as well as the incredible Margo Seibert, who masterfully performed my song “Borderline” from my musical of the same name with book writer Aryanna Garber.
Here’s a video of Stephen introducing me and my acceptance speech!
Photos 2-4 Credit: Rebecca J. Michelson / @rebeccajmichelson
