'Encanto,' Mandy Gonzalez and more shows to mark Hispanic Heritage Month

Chart-topping Latinx pop stars, divas from Broadway and beyond, sultry dancers, local artists and school kids bring global flavors to celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins Sunday and runs through Oct. 15. It's a great time to see, hear and taste how tradition meets today in Long Island theaters, galleries and concert halls.

LET THERE BE MUSIC

She's been called a diva who doesn’t act like one. Mandy Gonzalez ("Hamilton," "Wicked") comes to Tilles Center in Brookville on Oct. 4. She'll share reminiscences about past roles and her family, but the main event will be the songs including "Wicked" showstopper "Defying Gravity."

On Oct. 5, Puerto Rican bandleader Gilberto Santa Rosa, nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" will have audiences on their feet with irresistible rhythms in his show, “Auténtico."

The Grammy-winning Villalobos Brothers come to the Boulton Center in Bay Shore on Oct. 6 with their own special fusion of Mexican folk, jazz, and classical music.

Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair presents Spanish singer Paloma San Basilio on Oct. 13. At 70-plus, the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner can still hit the high notes and wow audiences.

Five-time Latin Grammy Award winner Marco Antonio Solís brings his smooth vocals to his "Eternamente Agradecido World Tour" at UBS Arena in Elmont on Oct. 18. The Mexican icon and lead singer of Los Bukis has a Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and four decades of hits like "Si No Te Hubieras Ido (If You Hadn't Left").

You're the star at the Staller Center's "Disney Encanto Sing-Along: Live!" Costumes, colors, songs, and a live band bring fresh energy to the beloved 2021 film about a charmed village in Colombia.

ART AND THEATER

Westbury Arts is programming a whole month of Latinx arts. Stop in for artists on view in "Empowered/Empoderadxs" (Sept. 28-Nov. 8), a talk on "Latinx in the Broadway Musical" (Sept. 21) and a book fair organized by author Adriana Devers and her organization Cuentos de Triades (Oct. 10-12).

For the third consecutive year, the center hosts EastLine Theatre, which will be performing “Machinal,” an award-winning play by Sophie Treadwell from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. "It's considered an expressionist, feminist, seminal work of art in American theater. It's studied a lot in colleges. It's anthologized in books of plays by women, but she's not often examined as a Mexican-American playwright," said Nicole Savin, EastLine's artistic director. When it ran in New York City in 1928 (with Clark Gable making his Broadway debut), the play opened dialogues about societal expectations, rebellion and murder, all from a woman's perspective. A century of change and entrenchment make it as relevant as ever Savin noted.

FLAMENCO, LATIN AND TANGO, OLE!

Long island dance troupe Sol y Sombra will perform flamenco and other dance styles in performances titled "El Ritmo" (rhythm) at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Berkner Hall (Sept. 20), Patchogue Theatre's Hispanic Heritage Celebration (Sept. 21) the South Shore Mall Center Stage and the Longwood Library Auditorium (Sept. 27). Along with company members, Spanish and Colombian national champions in tango and Latin ballroom light up the stage with sultry moves, fiery footwork and world-class performances. "Rhythm just makes you feel good," said founder and director Maria Loreta Celitan, adding, "What makes America so great I think — especially Long Island and the New York City area — is how we have so many wonderful cultures that contribute their music, their dance, their food. It allows us all to become bigger than what we know."

Emily Alvarado, chair of the Latino Leadership Connect committee of the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, tapped into the large Latinx creative community for the Patchogue Theater event. Also on the bill are Fiesta Tropical Triple M, a local band known for salsa, merengue and Latino pop; Bachatu, a band that specializes in the sounds of bachata; a dance performance by Thriving Latinas; and drama students from Patchogue-Medford High School.

The celebration supports Sepa Mujer, a local organization dedicated to increasing opportunities for Latinas. The event is a chance, said Alvarado, "to remember the smell of sofrito in the kitchen ... to bring back those memories from our culture, and to see all those beautiful colors on stage."