BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’s Natalie Venetia Belcon Wins 2025 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon has won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Buena Vista Social Club. Belcon beat out fellow nominees Julia Knitel for Dead Outlaw, Gracie Lawrence for Just in Time, Justina Machado for Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, and Joy Woods for Gypsy.
Belcon originated the role of Gary Coleman in Avenue Q on Broadway. She also has played Mrs. Phelps in Matilda and Joanne in Rent. In Buena Vista Social Club, she plays Omara Portuondo, a legendary Cuban singer and dancer. This marks her first Tony nomination and win.
Set in Havana during the 1950s through the 1990s, Buena Vista Social Club tells the story of the effect of the rise of communism and Fidel Castro on local musicians. It follows four prominent musicians and their eventual collaboration on the 1997 landmark album Buena Vista Social Club. The show’s music is entirely in Spanish. Ali served as its director when it premiered Off-Broadway in 2023 at the Atlantic Theatre Company.
