This Saturday at 2 p.m., the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will hold its author talk, I Wrote That. The featured speaker will be Lilly Colon. And she has a story to tell. It begins with a childhood in an orphanage in the Bronx and goes all the way to Radio City Music Hall. WSHU's Randye Kaye spoke with Lilly about her life and her memoir, Lilly: The First Latina Rockette.
Randye Kaye: The book is about your life. So let's start with that. Can you first tell us about your journey from being a child, and how you got to the Rockettes? And I know nuns are involved, so go ahead and share the story with us.
LC: About 22 nuns are involved. Well, I was born into the projects in the Bronx. My parents were from Puerto Rico. I stayed there until I was three years old. And at three years old, my father dropped me off at an orphanage. It was the Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Home for Children. You can never forget that name, and there I stayed with 22 nuns as our leaders. They took care of us. There was 500 children in the home, 250 boys and 250 girls. We were separated, of course, and I lived there until I was 18.
RK: Oh, my goodness, can I just back up for a minute? So your father was alive and your mother too, but they dropped you there. May I ask why?
LC: My father basically dismantled the whole family. He sent my mother to live in a mental institution. He sent me and a younger brother away to the orphanage. There was another sibling that he just dropped off at a neighbor's house, and they brought her up.
RK: Wow, so when your book is about resilience, that had a start when you were three years old, wow. Okay, so go ahead. Go ahead. So you stayed there till age 18.
LC: And during that time, my older brother had nothing to do with the orphanage at all. They asked him if he would like to go, and he was like, no. But what happened was, of course, he got drafted into the army, and he went to Vietnam and he got killed. And the thought that he knew that he was going to get killed. He said it to me before he picked me up in the orphanage and said, I'm just want to let you know that I will not be coming back. And I was like, why? You know, I didn't understand why. The fact that he went back to Vietnam, knowing that he would not come back home, gave me the strength that I needed to do my life. And I always thought that that fortitude that he had was something that I needed to have in order to continue on. And so therefore, I thought, if he could do it, then I'm going to do it. And just at that moment, the orphanage had brought in a dance teacher to teach dance classes, and that's like, once a month. But the first time that I took that dance class, it was like, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
RK: And how old were you in this first dance class?
LC: I was 11.
RK: Oh, so that's a late start for a dancer.
LC: Yeah. But, and there wasn't even a lot of dance classes at all, but that first class was all I needed. That's all I needed. I was I was hooked. But I didn’t have the training which I needed. I mean, I was Latina, I could dance, I could move my hips. I could do all of that stuff.
RK: Right, right? But that's not the same as training and becoming a Rockette, for sure.
LC: Then one day, the orphanage took us to radio city to see the Christmas show, and sitting in those red velvet seats and looking at something that was such perfection in a world that I that was not perfected at all for me. I thought this is what I want to do. I want to be in a perfect world. I just set my sights on being a professional dancer, and then I went to audition for the high school performing arts. I didn't have any leotards and tights. I didn't have any shoes or anything like that. I had a pair of gray sweatpants and, you know those white kids sneakers?
RK: Oh, this sounds like a movie in the making, for sure.
LC: I hope so one day. So then I said I was going to go audition, and the nuns were totally against it. I mean, they didn't expect a little Catholic girl to be going to take up a dance career. And it had such a stigma dance in that, in those times, you know. So I was like, but I really want to do this, and they were totally against it, but they let me go to the audition, thinking that I wasn't going to get it anyway. So let her go. So I went, and I got it. And I couldn’t believe it.
RK: My goodness, I am, I am casting the movie in my head as we speak. So you went, so you lived in the orphanage, but once you got in, they let you go, obviously. Well, the
LC: Well, the conditions were if I was to be back on the orphanage grounds, 45 minutes after the bell rang, and if I was to be back on the grounds, 45 minutes and they were standing there clocking me.I was able to go to the school, but the minute that I abused that privilege, then I would not be able to return to the school. So you know that I ran out of that school first thing, catch that first train back to the Bronx, and I made it for four years. I did it, And so I was able to finish performing arts. And then from there, there was a lot of jealousy, because I was dancing at this time now, and I was training, and I'm in class with people that were like an amazing dancers. I didn't have any of that training, you know, I had to work a little harder, but that was okay. I didn't care, because I loved it so much. So I didn't care. From there. I wanted to leave the orphanage because it got a little dangerous for me. I had to leave, but the orphanage wouldn't let me go. And I was 17 and a half.
RK: So it's not until you're 18, right? You they couldn't let you go.
LC: Not until you're 21.
RK: What? Oh my goodness.
LC: Not until You're 21 you have to be in school in order to stay in the orphanage. So, I mean, the girls were beating me up. It was a bit it was really a difficult time for me in the orphanage, so I needed to get out. I wanted to get out. So I begged them, please, let me out. And they went through my file and they showed me that my file said that I was not allowed to be adopted or fostered the whole time, which I didn't know. I didn't know that at the time, my father would not sign any papers for me to be fostered or adopted, so I had to stay. It was really dangerous for me, and I was, I was afraid. So what happened was they married me off. I got married, but then I fell into a domestic abuse relationship, and I was getting beat up every day. Now, I had run away a lot from the orphanage about, you know, a few times I had run away. So I was experienced in running away, although I always got picked up and brought back. But whatever. I didn’t stay out too long. So what I did was I ran away from him as well. I took my little token, and I took the train down to Broadway, and I just sat under the marquee at the Marquee Theater. And I just sat there, and I waited for dancers to come out of the stage door with their red lipstick on, and I was like, I'm gonna be like that one day. But then it got dark, and then I got really nervous and scared, because I was homeless at the time. I didn't have anything. All I had was my dance bag with my dance clothes and my dance shoes. That's all I had. And I really didn't care. As long as I had my dance clothes, it didn't matter to me what else I had. Where
RK: Where did you sleep? I'm sure this is all in the book. But like, how did you survive?
LC: So I called a director that I had spoken to years before that, and I asked him if he knew somebody there I can sleep on their couch for a minute. You know? They said, wait there. I'll call you back. So I waited at the phone booth on 47th Street and Broadway across from the Palace Theater.
RK: Back when they had phone booths.
LC: And I waited for that phone to ring, and he had found me a couch to sleep on. So I slept on that couch that night, and the next morning, I opened up the daily news that had been sitting in the paper, right on the table, and I opened it up, and there was an audition for No, No, Nanette. And I went, I'm gonna go. I had no tap shoes. This was a major tap show, which I didn't know about at the time, but it was a major tap show, and it was in the Daily News. It wasn't in the trade papers. That was different.
RK: Wow. Was this a non-Equity call, a non-union call?
LC: No, it was an Equity call, but since it was in the Daily News and not in the trade papers, nobody knew about it. Five girls showed up. I was one of the five girls, and I ran up the stairs to Showcase Studios. And those those stairs were all crickety. And in there, there was a phone booth. There an old phone booth sitting in there, and I got my sneakers on, and I went into the rehearsal studio, and I auditioned. This producer walked in, and she was just like, stunning, lovely, gorgeous. And I was like, Oh, wow. I had never seen somebody like that before. You know, she had one of those rhinestone leashes that went to a white little dog.
RK: Oh, my gosh, of course.
LC: It's like, so beautiful. So they asked me when we did the tap combination. They stopped me and they said, where are your tap shoes? Well, I didn't want to tell them I didn't have a pair of tap shoes. So I said, Shoemaker? And they went, you know, you're gonna have to work a little hard, dearie. I was like, I will work as hard as you want me to, and they only needed one girl, and I got the job.
RK: Wow. And how soon before rehearsal started, so that you could get a paycheck,
LC: Rehearsal started right away, because they needed one girl. So Monday morning, I was there. I ran. Capezio, I got those patent leather tap shoes, you know, the cheap ones, the cheapest ones, yeah. But I got them and I went to rehearsal on Monday morning. I rehearsed for two weeks, and I went on the road, and then from there, I just continued my career. I was staying in hotels now, and I was making money that I have never, ever made before in my life, and I just kept putting things away and just praying. But then, you know, after six months on the road back in New York.
RK: I know that well. I've done a few bus and trucks myself, so I back in the day, and not a dancer, but a singer in the chorus at the time.
LC: Oh, very nice.
RK: So yeah, I know that life, and it's exciting at first, but so, my gosh, I could talk to you for three hours, but let's get to the Rockettes, and then just a little bit about what happened after that, because obviously there are many more details to be heard in your book, a huge story of resilience, as you can hear. So tell me how you got in into the Rockettes.
LC: So I traveled throughout the country, you know, I went to California, and I lived there for a while, and then I went to Mexico, and I lived there for a while, and then I I did a lot of shows. I did TV, movies, nightclub, I did it all there in Mexico. And then I was a big fish in a little pond. And I thought, Hmm, maybe I need to go back to New York to see exactly where I stand as a dancer. And I came back to New York, and I was like, Oh, I got this. No problem. I took a few classes. I knew where I was. I went back to Mexico, and I saved some money, and I came back, and I did A Chorus Line at the Gala Show on Broadway.. And then what? And then after that, Menudo called the little boy band, Puerto Rican boy band. They called the choreographer, called me and asked me if I would assist him. And I said, of course. And then during that, that period, that first week of rehearsals, he had died, he got very sick and died. So I took over choreography. And so we opened at Radio City Music Hall on February 14, 1984 and I looked at the hall and I thought, I want to be a Rockette. And so therefore I waited for the auditions. I waited. I mean, I traveled with the Menudos throughout Latin America, and then I came back, and I just waited. I had gotten Sugar Babies, and I waited, and then there was an open call, which was unheard of at the time, right? So I ran to the audition, and I auditioned, and it was for Can Can with Cheetah Rivera and the rockets. Well, she was my idol at the time.
RK: So it was Can Can the show at Radio City Music Hall. And of course, the Rockettes came in.
LC: It was a touring company.
RK: Okay? I played Claudette in Can Can a long, long time ago, so I know the show.
LC: So you know it. That’s a great part.
RK: I did it. I did it in summer stock, which is not quite Radio City Music Hall, but was there any resistance to a Latina?
LC: No!
RK: No, nothing. Just your dancing told the story.
LC: Nothing like that. Nothing like that. I mean, I didn't scream Latina either. I mean, I did have dark hair at the time. But I there was nothing. There was a girl that you know had left my contract and the coat check, and I didn't know any of the girls. I had just come to see the show to make sure. And one of the girls waited for me outside. Her name was Ginny. Her name still is Ginny, and she and she waited for me outside because she knew that I didn't know where I was going. She knew she knew that I was new, and she waited for me, and I came out, and it was dark and nobody was around, and she goes, I waited for you because I thought maybe you needed to meet to help you get back. And I was like, and that was the kind of love, yeah, that I felt from the women, that there was never that animosity of being the Latina or anything like that. I felt that all the women were accepting and loving.
RK: I love that. I love that. And, you know, theater is a huge, a huge melting pot. I think it's, well, not going to get into that, but way the world should be, I think so that is the hook that might get people to read your book, but your life is so much more than that. And I'm going to ask you to tell just one more story, which is In The Heights.
LC: Oh! In The Heights.
RK: Because that you know, the Rockette was a while a while ago, but you auditioned for Lin-Manuel Miranda's movie in the heights, and what happened?
LC: So I had auditioned for the Broadway show, the national tour anytime that they were doing In The Heights I was going to audition. So I ran to audition when I saw in the paper that they were looking for people for the movie. And it was 20 to 65 years old.
RK: Amazing.
LC: Well, I'm 64. I just make it so I'm going so and I thought that a lot of people were gonna go, and nobody of my age was there. And I was like, Really, where is everybody? And I thought, am I in the wrong place? Maybe I should be in another room, I said. But I was determined to audition for this show and to work with Lin-Manuel, Miranda. I was like, I have to do this. I wanted to walk out several times, but I said, No, you're going to stay. So I stayed, and people kept looking at me, and then they started partnering. Nobody wanted to partner with me. They wanted to partner with the young, beautiful ones, with their, you know, big curly hair and, you know, big earrings, right? Push your bras. So I felt intimidated, but I thought, no, stay, stay. So I stayed, and I got to the end, and they asked everybody their resume, and I really didn't want to say first Latina Raquette, because I know that that gets a lot of attention, and I didn't want to overshadow anybody else in the room. But I got to the end, and I kept saying, they'll say it, they'll say it, say it, say it. And I gave them my resume, and at the end I said, I am the first Latina Raquette. And the room went berserk. Everybody started screaming, oh my God, I want to be like you when I grow up, and all these different things. And I'm like so I felt that love Latino style, you know. And I ended up doing the movie, but they didn't give me a break, because the first day of rehearsal, I walked in and I thought, Oh, do you do you want? I went to the choreographer. Do you want me to be in that room? Because they're all the 20 year olds. And he goes, “Yeah”. I said, Well, wait a minute, you want me to dance the same thing they're dancing? “Yeah”. I said there's, there's no senior citizen choreography, “no”. And I was like, oh boy, but I could do it. So I wasn't worried about being able to do it. I just would thought that maybe they needed me in another room. I did it. I ended up dancing the same thing that's 20 year olds dance throughout the entire time.
RK: That is fantastic. And so this book came out in 2021, and so what made you decide to write a book?
LC: Well, you know, in this business, as you probably know, since you you know, this theater, you have to continue to reinvent yourself.
RK: Oh, boy, do you. Yes.
LC: I never thought of my life as a story. It was just my life. And then I really didn't talk to too many people about where I grew up. My Raquette girlfriends are all like, “Well, why didn't we know this story Lil?” Nobody ever asked, and I never told anybody, but I felt that I wanted to inspire other children that don't have the support that other stars have. You know, and I listened to a lot of interviews and to see how they interview and and I realized that all of them say, Oh, I had the support of my mother, my father was right there, and, la, la, la, la, and I’m like, Yeah, but what about the child that doesn't have that support? And I wanted to be able to inspire other children to be in whatever career they want to be. And of course, for me, it's always dance, but I wanted to let them know that you, too can do it, because the support is within yourself. You fight for yourself. You're here on this earth to make the best out of who your life was going to be. You can do this all on your own, and it's not easy, that's for sure. And I wish all the time that that I had that support behind me. But you can do it too. If I can do it, definitely, anybody can do it.
RK: Wow, that is a wonderful message. And I'll close here by by reading a review from one of your readers who on Amazon who said twists and turns and totally unpredictable, this woman's story is awesome. One hell of a quest. Each chapter, I felt like I was watching a Broadway show. There's never a dull moment. So your book is Lily, The First Latina Rockette. But Lily Colon you are so much more than that, and thank you so much for joining me today. Remember it is this Saturday, October 18, at 2 pm at the Palace Theater in Waterbury for I Wrote That, author talks.
LC: Thank you so much, Randye for having me. This is so lovely.
