Saturday Nov 1, 2025 : Thanks to funding from the Culture Source’s Washtenaw Artist Grant, Emilio Rodriguez, a current resident of Ypsilanti, Michigan who teaches Playwriting and Acting at the University of Michigan, was able to present a concert reading of his new musical Salomé on Wednesday October 15, 2025. The musical is based on a traditional Puerto Rican folktale that was preserved through Oral History so the details change a little every time it is told, making it a perfect basis for molding the themes for today’s society.
The concert featured University of Michigan Musical Theatre students Sofia Maldonado and Giancarlo Santiago alongside UM Voice Student Dylan Bardelas and UM Acting Student Liam Meister. The students represented a variety of the Latino Diaspora including ancestry from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and The Dominican Republic between the 4-person cast and the writer.
Salomé was welcomed by a packed house of theatre-goers excited to hear the new script in English paired with original songs in Spanish spanning multiple genres including Pop, Rock, R&B, Afrobeats, Bachata and more.
“I wanted to tell this story because so often our culture associates foundational elements of Romance stories, such as star-crossed lovers and love triangles, as belonging to and originating from European cultures, but these stories also have roots in our indigenous cultures from all over the world, including Puerto Rico,” says Rodriguez who wrote the songs and the script for Salomé.
For audiences who missed the concert, there will be a full production of Salomé in March of 2026 at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti. More information will be available in the new year.
*Photo credit: Brianna Anzures