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Happy New Year Wondrous Folk.
It's 2026.
The fires that forced us out of our Sierra Madre home for four months are finally behind us, leaving scorched reminders of all that happened. In all of my forty-plus years as a performing artist, I have never spent more time in hotels,
temporary apartments, and on friends’ couches than I did in 2025. But we were lucky. Our hearts are broken for those whose lives will never be the same. Whose homes, treasures, memories, lifetimes of work product, legacies just ...gone in one terrible evening.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped — not just me, fortunate to have my home intact, but especially those who lost everything. Heartfelt thanks to World Central Kitchen, FEMA, the Entertainment Community Fund, AGMA Relief, SAG-AFTRA, the SBA, the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and all who stepped up for those of us who work from our homes and suddenly could not. Truly — thank you.
And special thanks to Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bristol, PA; The Music Center of LA County; and Woodminster Summer Musicals for the brilliant productions that quite literally took me out of the ashes to create, work, and make art when it was needed it most.
A season of Dowagers, Abuelas — and more loss. Cousin Marv, sweet Peter,, dearest Alice C. and Auntie Babe. For those of you who remember, Tia Babe was our constant companion around the world. The saddest thing is also the greatest joy: she didn’t get to see m’boy and his wife welcome their beautiful new son into the world in New York City, making me an Abuela de verdad.
Which is why you’ll now find me in Hudson Heights with the East Coast Guzmáns — a lot.
(‘Get off at 181st and take the escalator@”.)
If your travels bring you to the Big Apple, please drop a line and let’s get together. And if you’re in LA in February, April, May, don’t miss our Music Center Spotlight Master Class, the Very Special Arts Festival on the Music Center Plaza, the Sptolight Grand Prize finale and as Abuela in, In the Heights in Long Beach.
Be safe. Say warm. Help change this world into the best it can be.
With gratitude, always. 💛