Franco Valerga Steps Into Broadway’s Cultural Shift

Franco Valerga is a professional musical theatre performer whose career spans multiple countries and languages. Born and trained in Argentina, he has performed regularly in major theatres and concert venues across South and North America. His credits reflect steady, ongoing work within the professional musical theatre industry.

Within Broadway-adjacent performance spaces, Valerga’s work has intersected with a broader shift toward the inclusion of Latin music in traditionally English-language musical theatre settings. His performances have not treated Spanish-language repertoire as an exception, but as part of a contemporary Broadway performance vocabulary.

Recently in New York, Franco Valerga was seen performing at 54 Below and Green Room 42. In several solo appearances, he presented a mix of Latin music and contemporary musical theatre, with songs such as “Bésame Mucho,” “Bad Idea” from Waitress, and “Corazón Partío” by Alejandro Sanz.

That approach was particularly evident in Broadway’s Best Night: The Best of Broadway at 54 Below, where Valerga performed “Corazón Partío” as the sole Spanish-language selection in the program. Within a Broadway-centered evening, the inclusion of a Latin pop ballad functioned as an acknowledgment of the genre’s growing influence on Broadway performance practice. Valerga was the only Latino performer in the program.

Valerga’s international profile expanded in 2023 when he was cast as Evan Hansen in the Argentine production of Dear Evan Hansen (Querido Evan), staged at Teatro Metropolitan in Buenos Aires under the direction of Pablo del Campo. The production received wide recognition, winning seven Premios Hugo, including Best Musical of the Year. Valerga was nominated for Revelación Masculina (Breakthrough Male Performance).

That same year, Valerga performed at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires alongside Marc Estallen as part of a concert commemorating the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Argentina and the United States, an event centered on cultural exchange through music.

In January 2024, Valerga appeared at Carnegie Hall as part of 30 Years of Stephen Flaherty, a concert honoring the composer’s work, including Ragtime, Once On This Island, Anastasia, and Seussical. Valerga was selected to perform an unreleased song originally written for Seussical, presented publicly for the first time.

Valerga has also received national recognition through The American Pops Orchestra NextGen Vocal Competition, advancing to the final round at Lincoln Center in New York City. The competition brought together performers from across the United States and was judged by Broadway artists including Aisha Jackson (The Notebook, Frozen, The Great Gatsby).

In regional theatre, Valerga appeared in Hands On A Hardbody at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati in July 2024, portraying Jesús Peña, a Latino character central to the narrative. The role aligned with broader efforts in American regional theatre to prioritize culturally specific casting and storytelling.

Across cabaret stages, international productions, concert halls, and regional theatres, Valerga’s work reflects the increasing integration of Latin music and identity within Broadway and its surrounding performance culture. His career continues to develop between Argentina and the United States, situated within a transnational theatrical context.

“I feel proud to tell Latin stories,” Valerga said. “To bring that culture to the United States, and to bring the warmth and love for art that my country taught me here.”