Patricia Delgado, Tony-winning choreographer of ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ comes home as the musical opens in Miami Sept. 29

September 26, 2026

Miami-born Cuban-American choreographer Patricia Delgado, who shared the 2025 Tony Award for Best Choreography with her husband Justin Peck, is about to see her work on a hometown stage. The national tour of Buena Vista Social Club makes its South Florida premiere on Tuesday, September 29, at the Adrienne Arsht Center's Ziff Ballet Opera House and runs through October 4, according to the Arsht's announcement. The production then moves to Fort Lauderdale's Broward Center from October 13 to 18.

Delgado started ballet at age five with Cuban teachers at a studio on Bird Road and went on to spend 17 seasons with Miami City Ballet, a decade of them as a principal dancer. In an interview published September 25 by OutSFL, she said the music of the landmark 1997 album was always playing at her grandparents' and parents' homes. "I didn't know that I knew the Buena Vista Social Club music," she said, before realizing she knew "every song." She credited Peck's curiosity about her background with bringing out "a lot of my Cubanness," and recalled that the couple choreographed their 2019 wedding dance to "Pueblo Nuevo," a track from the album.

The show's book is by Hialeah-raised playwright Marco Ramirez, who first met Delgado as a senior at Coral Reef Senior High School. Ramirez said his grandfather Felix, now in his mid-90s, will finally be able to see the musical in Miami, and that the story centers on the handful of days in March 1996 when the album was recorded at Havana's EGREM studios. During the run, the Arsht will host "Rhythm and Roots," a free celebration on its Thompson Plaza with live music, dominoes and local artisans.