THE NAVIGATOR: THE MUSICAL

Segarra is taking their 2017 album to the stage

INCLUDED in the packaging for Hurray For The Riff Raff’s The Navigator (2017) is an insert designed to look like a theatrical playbill, complete with a yellow banner and a listing for cast and crew. Even from the beginning, Alynda Lee Segarra thought of the concept album as a stage production and they have been working to bring it to theatres.

“It’s been in the works for a while. I wrote the first and second draft on my own, and then I was able to connect with the New York Voices programme. They put me in touch with an actor and playwright named C Julian Jiménez, who really was the missing piece. He helped me understand the form, helped me develop the characters, and wrote in some new ideas. It’s been a beautiful collaboration.”

The story follows a young woman named Navita Milagros Negron, “who is thrown into this new world where people have been forced to forget everything. But she remembers it all. She’s the holder of the memories. It’s both modern and classic, dealing with gentrification and memory and life moving on without you. It’s a story that becomes more relevant in the world.”

Segarra and Jiménez debuted the musical at Joe’s Pub in NYC in April 2023, with Hurray For The Riff Raff performing the music behind the actors. “Now we’re trying to figure out where to go with it. How can we get this made? How do we get funding? How far can we take it? Broadway? I’m so used to making a record and a year or two later it’s out and it’s done. With theatre, it’s more like 10 years!”