Salsa queen's over-the-top style lives again in "Celia"

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - The story of salsa icon Celia Cruz is lovingly brought to the stage in "Celia," a meticulous re-creation of her life story that pays particular attention to the late singer's dramatic look and signature sound.

The musical premiered September 26 at New World Stages in New York, with Cruz's bandleader, Johnny Pacheco, and former manager, Ralph Mercado, in attendance.

Played by Xiomara Laugart, formerly a singer with fusion band Yerba Buena, the stage Cruz sounds uncannily like the original. Trickier still, she looks like the original, down to the heelless shoes that Cruz had designed so that she could move onstage with ease.

The look comes courtesy of makeup artist Ruth Sanchez, who was Cruz's personal stylist from 1982 until the day she died.

"I did her hair on her deathbed," Sanchez says. "She knew I was afraid of the dead, but when they asked me, well, I had to go. I asked (Cruz's husband) Pedro (Knight) to give me the jewelry. I did her nails, as I always did, we made a dress for her, and we sent her to her funeral procession dressed in white."

The mass funerals in New York and Miami, like everything about Cruz, were larger than life.

"She was daring," Sanchez says. "She was as daring as I was."

Sanchez says it took her seven weeks to develop Laugart's Cruz look, redesigning every humongous hairdo, multicolored wig and sparkling accessory.