By Harry Haun
14 Oct 2005

Eugenio Derbez is a top name in Mexico, where his television sketch series has made him a household face, but he was plainly moved by his Broadway beachhead. "My story is really different from everyone else's," he says. "Two years and ten months ago, I went to L.A. to take English lessons, and my English teacher told me to go see Latinologues, which was playing a run there. Now I'm doing Latinologues on Broadway! Amazing!

"I've always been a Broadway fan. I came to New York when I was a child and saw the shows so, for me, this is a dream—really a dream come true. I'm really honored to be a Latin in a Broadway play. This opening night is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Rosie Perez, fresh from finishing her documentary ("about the politics between the United States and Puerto Rico and how it changed the culture," she announces somberly), gave highest marks to Najera's caricaturing of a redneck border cop and an effete Hollywood producer.

Sherri Saum, who used up her "One Live To Live" a year ago when her character exited that series and this mortal coil, was on the arm of Karmar de los Reyes, whose character drove her to that extreme. Love apparently conquers all, and both loved the show. Geraldo Rivera arrived unrecognized under a furry raincoat, gallantly parked his gorgeous date in the lobby and then went off to park his car. He and Marin warmly embraced. One of The Mambo Kings whose reign ended in the San Francisco tryouts, Jaime Camil, was the evening's best sport, showing up to support Latinologues, which is going after the large Latino audience that Kings had hoped to court. That project is not entirely dead, Camil says. "They're saying in six or seven months they'll get back on track, and there's talk of a Vegas version."

Meanwhile, he has a movie opening Nov. 4 called 7 Days and another he'll start shooting later that month in Miami called I Love Miami (plot: "Fidel Castro, for some reason, arrives in Miami on a raft like most Cubans"). He is also going out for "Law and Order" and is one of the three dozen entertainers who'll be performing in "Standing Ovations IV," the New Orleans benefit that Richard Jay-Alexander is staging Oct. 16 at Joe's Pub. Long live the King!

MTV deejay Quiddus likewise dug the show: "It brought to life for me the Latin perspective, which I did not know much about prior to this. Some theatre tends to be very engrossed in itself, but this was very inclusive. It was very engaging, and it also happened to be an education for anybody who wasn't a Latin." Which was, of course, the desired effect.