Natalie Venetia Belcon Has The Most Enviable Self-Care Routine

Actors often jump at the chance to play legends. But when Natalie Venetia Belcon was offered the role of iconic Cuban singer and dancer Omara Portuondo in Broadway’s new musical Buena Vista Social Club — named for Portuondo’s Havana-based band — she worried about one thing: singing in Spanish.

She already knew the Grammy-winning ensemble’s songs — or so she thought. “My parents had introduced me to the album,” the 56-year-old actor tells Bustle. “I was already singing the songs with what I thought were the lyrics that just weren’t.”

She’s since remedied that, of course, and now, eight times a week, Belcon belts out the numbers in flawless Spanish (the spoken parts of the show are in English). Created by Marco Paguia, the Tony-nominated musical time-jumps between the pre-revolution ’50s with a young Omara (Isa Antonetti) and 1996, when Belcon’s Omara, now in her 60s, reconnects with friends with whom she performed in her youth and decides to record as a group.

Belcon’s performance garnered the actor her first-ever Tony nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical — one of 10 the show received, tied for the most this year along with Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending. Along the way, she’s fooled a few audience members into thinking she actually speaks Spanish. “When audiences speak to me at stage door, it’s always in Spanish,” she says. “That’s the best compliment.”

The most special visitor so far, however, was the 94-year-old Portuondo herself, who flew in from Cuba with her son and granddaughter to catch the show.

“The second night, they brought her for curtain call, and I got to make a special little introduction,” she says. “Her son and her granddaughter brought her down the aisle. It was just so nice. The audience was surprised. They flipped out. I geeked out.”

On celebrating her Tony nomination:

I have issues sleeping. I fall asleep really late, when a lot of people are waking up. I woke up at about 9:30 a.m. the day of the Tony nominations and I jolted up. I was like, “Oh my God, I missed it,” and saw a bunch of missed phone calls and text messages.

I called my mom, of course. Then I went out onto my balcony. I have a postcard view. Me and my beasts — Bob Marley and Percy Sledge, two dogs; and Winnie Meowndela, a black cat — just chilled out. I took everything in and had a moment and looked at the view.

I try not to get too excited ahead of myself, because anything can happen. Never drink the Kool-Aid. I go one day at a time. If they do call my name, I’m most excited to not trip and fall on television.

On her dressing-room amenities:

The dressing rooms are small in that theater, so I don’t get very fancy. I have about 15 gallons of distilled water, a humidifier, my personal steamer, and lots of alcohol that I’ve gotten as gifts. So I’ll break the glass in case of emergency.

I have a little ottoman that pulls out into a bed. It’s hard for me to nap, although lately I have been lying there and falling asleep for a good 20 to 30 minutes before the show. But I do wake up in a panic because I’m automatically like, “Oh my God, I’m supposed to be on stage!”

On intermission animal videos:

I sit in my little room off on the side of the stage designated to me so I don’t have to deal with the stairs. I had meniscus surgery in both of my knees right before we started rehearsal and the healing process was to rest, but whatever, I have a show to do.

Because of what’s happening in the show, for me it’s very emotional and personal with the death of a close person. I just had an unexpected death in the family with a very close family member. So I sit in that room and I watch animal videos to help my soul out a little bit. I watch dogs and cats, because I live vicariously through them. Wouldn’t you just love to swat away whatever you wanted and everybody’s like, “Aww”?

On the show’s A-list guests:

I didn’t know beforehand that Jennifer Lopez was coming. We share a little bit of history, and so to see her just standing there backstage looking at me almost like, “Do you remember me?” was ridiculous. I was like, “Miss Thing, it’s been a long time.”

We had a little five- to 10-minute conversation. I used to take dance classes with [award-winning ballroom dancer and choreographer] Phil Black in his studio on Broadway. I was on a scholarship there. She wound up taking classes there, too, and we did a couple of background dancing things for different club artists together. We would hang out. Then I went off to college, and she just started the In Living Color thing. She was like, “When was the last time we saw each other?” Then it popped into both of our heads — it was the final callback for Money Train in LA.

We’ve had some really great people show up. Gloria Estefan came. Rita Moreno also watched — we took a picture together. Cynthia Erivo wanted to come to meet us after. And Whoopi Goldberg. I don’t think she left out a compliment. They’ve all said really, really, really, really wonderful things.

On her day-off R&R:

A really long steam shower. Then I get to wash my hair, steam my face and my scalp. I bring in my cocktail in a sippy cup in the shower, and I take my time in there, and then I call a masseuse in and have a three-hour deep-tissue massage in my apartment. It’s the best.

On her pre-show meals:

I tend to DoorDash from a Vietnamese place. I get jasmine rice, a ton of veggies and steak, with a runny egg on top. The combo is perfection. Or sashimi with a little bowl of rice. And I get them to just give me the ginger dressing, and I pour that on top of all of it.

I prefer not to feel full before and save eating for after. But if I don’t eat, it’s like, “Oh my God, my stomach’s growling.” It happened to me a few weeks ago. I thought, “Just wait until the end of the show,” and my stomach was growling. I was like, “Can these people hear?” Because the quiet scenes are quiet. So I don’t do that anymore.