¡Azucar! "Celia: A Musical Journey" to open off-Broadway

There is no way to reference Celia Cruz without superlatives; la Reina de la Salsa — the Queen of Salsa — was incredibly, indisputably larger than life.

Now that life, including a fifty-year career that spanned days of winning cakes in Havana radio contests to days of winning lifetime achievement awards, is the subject of an off-Broadway production. Celia: A Musical Journey opens at New World Stages in New York City on Sept. 12. The show is directed by Jaime Azpilicueta and stars another Cuban singer, Xiomara Laugart, formerly of New York–based Latin funk band Yerba Buena.

Laugart is known in Cuba as La Negra, describes Yerba Buena's music as "a big carnival," and paid tribute to la reina in songs like "Guajira." In this newest tribute, she will likely sing some of Cruz's megahits — "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" and "La Vida Es un Carnaval" among the many — and utter the legendary cry of "¡azucar!" countless times. Considering Cruz's penchant for outrageous dresses and wigs, Laugart is also bound to have quite the dressing room.

Since I was one of the many fans hesitant at the idea of Whoopi Goldberg portraying Cruz in a Hollywood biopic, why am I so excited (truly, ridiculously excited) about this off-Broadway production?

I adore Cruz (just to clarify), so I want to see her honored well. A play will have time to find its feet before making a move to Broadway and then to Hollywood, rather than starting in the land where money would take precedence over a genuine desire to honor her life. In 2005, Blogdecine.com even reported that the Goldberg production didn't go forward because Cruz was "too normal" for studio execs (site is in Spanish). Apparently the fact that she was happily married for decades and didn't have a closet full of abused, drug-using skeletons overwhelms her international stardom and her pioneering role in Afro-Cuban music and culture, but whatever.

I'm thrilled about this particular production because Laugart is a superb singer in her own right, but she's real about it: "What we are doing is recounting her life in the most respectful way," she says. "I am not Celia. I don't sing like Celia."

When it comes down to it, who does?