“I’m really grateful to her and in support of everything that she does. “I’m just honored to live in a time where people like her exist who represent me,” Valentina gushes of AOC, noting that she is a huge fan of her as well. Valentina is already on the right track, and even has one very famous, public supporter in her corner: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has named Valentina as one of her favorite Drag Race stars and even “fangirled” when the performer joined the politician’s Instagram Live one night. “ I hope this will be a great year for me, and I hope I can open doors for people like me as representation as a proud, Latino, non-binary goddess who is able to believe in their dreams,” she adds. In the short term, she wants to continue “exploring artistically” and continue taking risks like Rent: Live. In fact, some fans believe Angel is a gay male drag queen, while others believe the character is transgender or genderfluid - which wasn’t the terminology when Larson created the role. For example, Valentina is hoping that her own identity as a non-binary queer person will help open up the possibilities of Angel’s story. For many of the performers, the telecast is not only a way to flex some of their less visible abilities but also find ways to translate the story to modern times. “He is there holding my hand, believing me and telling me I’m doing a great job,” she says.Īlong with Dixon, Valentina has forged other close relationships with the cast, making dinner plans with Vanessa Hudgens and her mom while talking through newfound vulnerability with Tinashe. The seasoned, Tony-nominated Broadway star has helped assure Valentina that she’s on the right track. It moves us to be grateful for life.”īy nature, she works most closely with Brandon Victor Dixon, who stars as Angel’s boyfriend Tom Collins. The material is so vulnerable and so raw that it makes you feel and cry and hug and enjoy the experience together. “The level of community that is so prevalent throughout the process of building the show - not even the show itself but the process of us being together every day and working together - we have to be close to one another. “There’s some magical shit that goes on with this show that Jonathan Larson created,” she explains. Given the newness of putting on a show where she is tasked with singing live and performing as a long-beloved fictional character has been a source of new insecurities for the typically confident performer - “Sometimes I go, ‘Oh my God, am I right for this role?'” - but the months of rehearsal have turned the cast and crew into the same support system the show depicts. Valentina is part of a stellar cast, including Vanessa Hudgens (Maureen), Tinashe (Mimi), Mario (Benjamin Coffin III) and Jordan Fisher (Mark), among others. Only, I’m no longer a baritone - they got me singin’ these high notes now, girl!” “I went to explore the rest of the music and saw the movie and have been in love with it ever since. ”Īs a teen, Leyva’s first encounter with the musical came in choir class when the students performed “Seasons of Love.” Leyva, at the time, sang in the baritone section and soon became enamored with the musical’s tale of a group of struggling artists and their found family in Nineties New York City. I was not an expert performer in those times and I wasn’t getting the best training, but I always had a love for what I get to do now with Rent. “So those things that I did in school are all part of what I get to do now. “ I was always a big fan of musical theater, dance and choir,” the Los Angeles-native explains. Luckily, however, before Leyva (who identifies as non-binary when out of drag) created Valentina, they had gained some performance skills. “ had be audition without knowing if I could sing or act or anything!” Valentina’s appearance in Rent: Live was announced just before the new season of the reality competition began airing, but her Season 9 performance had been so beloved by one of the telecast’s casting agents that the drag star was hand-selected to audition for the role of Angel.
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