Let’s add fuel to the already explosive Papo. ---- His brother, Sammy ---- is gay. Let’s add some more candela. Sammy is about to announce he’s getting married! Wepa! Wait… there’s more ---- Ay! But I can’t spoil it for you. I just can’t. But there is one more thing that happens in this family and someone has to step up and be the man. Which brother will it be? The Macho cop? Or the gay brother? You will hear a pin drop in that theatre.

How does Latin Lives take a packed theater full of Latino New Yorkers and shut them up? It’s a mix of a damn good script and damn good acting. The script was true to the Latino experience. You know the Ramirez family! They live down the street or upstairs or maybe … They’re your own family. Either way, you know them very well.

And the acting. You got Virginia Enid Rodriguez, who although plays a role of a much older women, made you wish she were your Mom, or your Tia. You wish she was part of your family holding everyone together. After all someone has to hold the family together and who better then this strong, nurturing, forgiving, God-fearing, Latina woman. When she hugged her grandson, Papito, and spoke to him gently about life’s lessons, you felt like she was talking to you. When Virginia reached for her crucifix, you felt like she can send a direct message up to God for you. She was fabulous!

Then there’s Jaime Santana, Jr., who commanded the stage like it belonged to him. You felt his broken heart and wish you can mend it. You felt the rage he felt and wanted to tell him- it will be OK. Put it this way- he made me cry and the rest of the audience too.

Robert Maisonett, the mastermind behind Latin Lives. His character Sammy, was very controversial. A gay Latino man who wants to get married. But by the end of it, you don’t even remember what the controversy was in the first place. He teaches about unconditional love, about respect, about family.

Three thumbs up for this play about Latinos, for Latinos and by Latinos. Add me to the cult following because I’m there @ the next showing of Latin Lives!

15 years running, this play has a cult following that I just HAD to go and see what the buzz was all about. It is a play about a Latino family. In between the different scenes that delve deeply into the fabric that holds this family together are snippets – which I would call commercials or comic relief. The entire show is hilarious, but the Latino family is so dynamic, and richly intense that they make you laugh out loud and cry out loud too.

So let me introduce you to la familia. The “glue” that holds the family together is of course the Mom, Mrs. Ramirez, played by Virginia Enid Rodriguez. She is truly the matriarch of the family holding together the family of eight. There are two sisters who fight like crazy being they are on two opposite ends of the spectrum. One is up and coming, seria y educada. The other is all about dancing up the night away in the clubs. Then there are the 3 brothers. Uh-oh. Now this is the real drama in the show.

One brother, Papo, and his son Papito. Papo is a cop, whose wife died and so he is raising his son alone. Well, not alone because he lives with Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez, and his 2 sisters and his 2 brothers. Well, they are not really his blood brothers but they are hermanos because he was raised in the family since he was very young.

Then there’s Pito who’s very smart and about to go to Yale University.

And finally, there is Sammy, played by the play's creator, Robert Maisonett. Before we get to him- let’s go back to Papo played by Jaime Santana, Jr. Papo is a still grieving his wife but without emotion. He never even cried at her funeral. Working long hours to cover the pain, but he says that his long hours are to pay for his son’s private school. He wants only the best for his son. He’s very macho, acts like he’s in control but in actuality he’s about to explode!