>> major funding for Chat Box is provided by the members of the New Jersey gets a case in -- education Association.

♪ David: hey everybody.

Welcome to Chat Box.

The MLB playoffs are underway to get this ain't ESPN.

Bernie Williams is with us today so maybe a little talk about baseball.

Later Ron, the group of girls who have never played an instrument before want to form a Mariotti band.

We talked to the director of the new play.

It's a pleasure to welcome Bernie Williams.

Good to meet you.

>> Great to meet you.

Thank you for having me.

David: it's getting to that time of year.

The weather is getting colder.

Do you feel the playoffs?

>> yeah.

There is something in the back of my head.

Right there around the midsection.

Bumbling butterflies at this time of year.

So many great experiences that I have at this time of year.

So it gets activated around this time every year.

David: what do you do to quench that?

do you watch a lot of baseball, or no baseball?

>> we definitely try to stay involved and watch the team.

Stay talking to Aaron Boone.

Trying to get a good rapport with the players.

An opportunity to go to Yankee Stadium and see some games.

Try to stay involved with the team.

It's the best ticket in town this time of year.

David: Lebron James said something along the lines the other day of, I think you 38 years old, he said, in the NBA I'm an old man.

In real life, I'm still a very young man.

Did you find that your life began anew after you retired?

>> in many respects, it was a great time of my life because I still had the energy to pursue things.

It's not like I was 60 or 70 after retirement.

He gave me an opportunity to really pursue my other great passion in life which is music.

Having a great time with that.

You know, you start missing some of the things that really filled my years as a baseball player.

At the same time, you get a lot of the things that I learned from my experience as a baseball player.

Try to put them into other aspects of my life.

The whole thing about hard work and discipline and commitment.

Not dwelling on my mistakes.

Just really putting in the work.

I have been able to apply it to music and other things.

It's been very helpful.

David: philanthropy has always been part of your game.

Talk about the things you are involved with.

>> yeah.

From the time that I was a baseball player, we really thought that giving back to the community and being outside of the baseball field.

I was going to have a platform.

People were going to listen, whether I liked it or not.

They were going to listen to what I had to say about different subjects.

We picked things that were close and dear to my heart.

One of these things is interstitial lung disease.

This disease took my dads life away in 2001.

Since then, I've been teaming up on a campaign to try to raise awareness about interstitial lung disease.

My father died from pulmonary fibrosis, one of around 200's of these interstitial lung diseases.

Basically a scarring of the lung tissue that makes it difficult to breathe.

The sentence could be taken from other things.

Asthma and COPD and bronchitis.

It can be difficult to determine whether or not you have interstitial lung disease.

That's one of the biggest components of why I try to do what I have to do to get it took me and my family five years to get my father diagnosed with interstitial lung disease.

We couldn't do much to improve the quality of his life.

There's a lot more information nowadays.

We are trying to get all that information out for people that are suffering from these diseases so they can get better educated about it.

David: like a lot of things, early detection is critical.

If you are feeling something, get it checked.

>> that is correct.

Some of these symptoms, in our case, my dad starting to feel fatigued.

He had a dry cough that would never go away.

We really needed to get into the doctor to try to get some answers to our questions.

Like we said, early detection is very important.

David: your musical career really took off after, toward the ends of your majorly career.

You are classically trained.

Who were your influences musically?

>> I'm glad you asked that question.

My background in music goes back to my high school years.

I was very blessed to be part of a school for music.

I started to play guitar, learning music and theory and harmony and having this great connection with music at a very young age.

It really helped me in other aspect of my life including sports.

Trying to make those connections .

I've been playing guitar since I was eight years old.

Now after graduating from that performance arts icicle, I had my career.

I was able to audition for the Manhattan school of music.

They took me in seven years after I retired.

I came out with a degree in jazz performance.

Like I said, it has been great playing in New York and expanding the great musical experience everywhere.

David: we are in Hispanic Heritage month.

Would you say that your music has Latin influences?

>> yes.

My music has great Latin influences.

I grew up listening to boleros.

Especially in Christmas time.

All this great traditional Puerto Rican music.

My bands have to have congas and bongos because that's an important part of the music that I grew up listening to.

Part of the music that I try to convey out there to the people.

David: it was already a big influence when you are playing.

Latinos in baseball, they are just dominant, no?

>> yes.

I think that we have a great advantage.

We can play baseball all year round.

For myself and many of my fellow Puerto Rican teammates and baseball players, we all try to emulate the great Roberto Clemente.

He was our inspiration.

Not only for what he did on the field but especially what he did off the field.

His tragic death, trying to help people in an earthquake to Nicaragua.

He was a great hero for us.

It really catapulted him into the standard of what every Latin player is measured against in their community work.

David: I would say that you are in favor of retiring number 21, yeah?

>> absolutely.

No doubt about that.

They should've done it earlier.

David: I meant to always ask -- I was curious about why you wore number 51.

Is there a story behind 51?

>> there's not really that much of a story.

As I was a rookie coming into the big leagues, you were at the mercy of the clubhouse manager.

He sees the player and says, this is the number that you will wear and you will like it.

You have to say, yes sir.

At that time, the equipment manager of the New York Yankees said that I reminded him of another player Willie McGee.

He ended up getting traded.

He made a lot of great years with the Saint Louis Cardinals.

He used two wear number 51.

He said, you will wear number 51 because it hasn't been retired.

You will wear that number.

I said, yeah.

As long as I have a number on the team, it doesn't matter what number it is.

I love it.

David: I wonder about Puerto Rican players with number 51.

If they are talking about wanting to see Puerto Rico as the 51st state.

>> yeah.

I've had that questions asked many times.

It wasn't any alternate motive.

It was just a number that was given to me when I was a young player.

I had an opportunity to change, to switch numbers.

The last single digit number and the team was number six.

I was there and I had an opportunity to wear number six.

I just decided to remain with 51.

I figured that was the number that they gave me and it was the one that I stuck with.

But Joe Tori, our old manager, ended up wearing number six.

Now all those numbers are retired.

David: before I let you go, it is postseason time.

What do you think the Yankees chances are?

what do you think the Mets chances are?

>> I'll tell you what.

At the beginning of the season, things were up and down.

But I think both teams in the last four to six weeks have made tremendous advantages.

Trying to get into the postseason.

The Mets have had a great run.

I think the Yankees expectations are always very high.

With the addition of Soto in the lineup, they have a great chance to make a great advance into the postseason.

Especially plugging in Yankee Stadium.

Those fans are the greatest in the world.

They will make a difference with a home-field advantage.

I see them doing well.

They have the team and the personnel to have a great postseason.

I'm always rooting for them.

David: he's a Yankee that a Mets fan could get behind.

Good to meet you.

Things were taking a few minutes with us.

>> thanks for having me.

David: in the 1970's, it was rare to see female Mariachi, much less Mariachi bands.

The idea to get a bunch of untrained girls together to form a band was radical.

That's the context for American Marriott sheet -- Mariachi and Red Bank.

We stopped by rehearsal just bought for -- before opening night and spoke to the director James practice -- fast gas.

So let's start at the beginning.

What is American Mariachi about?

>> overall, the themes are love, family, tradition.

It centers around Lucia, about 21 years old.

She's trying to find her way in the world and her path.

Her mom has unfortunately become ill.

In an effort to play her mom's favorite song for her one last time, she decides to create a female Mariachi band.

In the early 70's when the show takes place, that was absolutely not a part of the tradition.

It was men only.

So through this story, she finds four other women and they break barriers and create a female Mariachi.

David: translated, it means struggle.

So it has a sense of, let's put on a show.

>> absolutely.

There are absolutely struggles throughout.

Trying to find those women.

When they do, number -- none of them have ever picked up a Mariachi instrument in their lives.

Over the course of the show, we get to watch them learn to play and perform their first performance.

David: Mariachi's and the sole of all Mexicans I think.

>> absolutely.

David: was it that rare?

the music goes back to the 18th century.

>> it's been in the history.

David: was it that rare to have female Mariachi?

Mariachi is the group and they play music.

>> there's many different styles of Mariachi.

You know, there was a time in Mexico when female Mariachis were starting to become a little more prominent.

And then the foot was put down in tradition went back to men only.

Here in the states, that was really the tradition.

Men only.

It wasn't until the 70's that women started stepping forward.

Now we see those great female Mariachi groups all over the country, the world.

David: with a unique power.

The music is quite powerful.

How robust it is.

>> it's from the gut.

David: to have female Mariachi presented gives it a special something.

>> absolutely.

Because it was something that they weren't allowed to do, to get the opportunity to do it, it comes from an even deeper place.

David: so this takes place in the 70's.

Does that roughly correlate where this movement to reincorporate women into Mariachi?

>> it was a time when the Chicano movement was starting to come to the forefront.

Women in general were starting to put their foot down.

The Mexican women in the community really started to step forward.

David: I would imagine, it deals with women's role in a patriarchal society.

>> yes.

We deal with that in the show.

We see a relationship with a young woman and her husband, the struggle that this causes for the two of them.

David: thematically, does the presence of female Mariachi change what the songs are about?

a lot of the songs go back hundreds of years.

>> yes.

You know, I don't think so.

Those songs are so about tradition and family and love.

That message comes through, regardless of the voice.

David: I always joke about salsa music.

Guys are always singing about mamas or food.

>> yes.

This is love.

And terrible relationships.

Celebration and birth and death.

David: baby done me wrong.

What attracted you to this piece?

were you particularly a fan of Mariachi?

>> it's funny because, my father is Mexican.

My mother is American.

I grew up really with my father's side of the family.

Holidays.

You know what those are.

Holidays, everybody gathers.

That music is put on in the background.

I don't know that it was ever something that we sat around and listened to.

But it was a part of our culture and it was a part of our holidays.

There is something about the music.

You even just hurt -- here's a first couple notes of the trumpet and your body leans forward and you are ready.

David: what is it about this space, state-of-the-art.

You were involved in the world premiere of this piece.

Here you are 6, 7 years later.

What's the difference?

did you open this thing in a small space somewhere and now you are in this fancy New Jersey place?

>> no.

They started working on it back in 2015.

I came on board in 2017.

We were doing workshops and readings in small warehouses.

Our world premiere was at the Denver Center which is a glorious theater.

We transferred to the old Globe in San Diego.

I stepped away from the production at that point.

It has had 13, 14 other productions around the country.

So to be able to come back to it seven or eight years either -- later, at a gorgeous facility.

It fits in beautifully into the space.

It's not only of thrilled to know that the story has continued to live a life, but to come back and tell it in a new production with fresh eyes eight years later is an honor.

David: is it a piece that lends itself to a more intimate space?

>> I think yes and no.

One of the things about José Cruz Gonzales's work is, although he zooms in his lends on a specific culture, his work is so universal.

What I find interesting about this show is it has played small hundred seat theaters and people have sat there and felt like a part of it.

It has played 800 seat theaters and it has felt like an intimate rock concert.

So regardless of where it plays, I think the individual's heart and soul and mind goes to that stage and they feel apart.

David: you've done hair here.

Other pieces that are not necessarily Latino specific.

We are in the middle of Hispanic heritage month.

Is it getting easier to tell Latino Hispanic stories in theater nowadays?

>> absolutely.

I think the theater world is learning that our stories as universal as all the other stories.

Why not celebrate them?

david: you were talking about how long it takes to rehearse a company for this.

Having done this originally and doing it now, what's that process like in terms of -- is it different, is it easier?

is it a new production in your mind?

>> it's an entirely new production.

It's an entirely new group of people in a new space on a new set.

But I find that they are so ready and willing to jump in.

It's been easy.

We are having a blast.

We are laughing through the tears that are both joyful and painful as part of the story.

It always ends in music and laughter which is great.

David: we are going to see a scene and hear some of the music.

Can you set it up for us?

>> Lucia and her cousin have got their group of Mariachis.

Her godfather is going to teach them how to play.

This scene is the first am they are introduced to their instruments.

♪ ♪ >> stop it.

Stop.

You all can sing, but that's not good enough for Mariachi.

OK.

They might not look like much but they have great beginnings.

What do you play?

>> a little piano.

>> no.

There's no piano in Mariachi you play the trumpet.

>> I play a mean kazoo.

>> you play -- Gabby!

these were handmade in Mexico.

>> bully.

>> for you, the violent.

-- violating -- violin.

>> the heartbeat of Mary Ouchi -- Mariachi.

High-pitched voice.

♪ Steady partner.

♪ >> OK partner.

>> accents brightly.

♪ >> that's me.

>> violin brings it all together.

♪ You have to memorize the music as well as play and sing.

>> I can't read music.

>> the music is in written down.

You learn by ear, listening to the record or the jukebox.

You have to know the waltz rhythm.

♪ The polka, a dance beach.

♪ The romantic bolero.

♪ An intricate Strum.

♪ The signature sound of Mariachi.

♪ >> no way.

We can't do that.

>> you have to do it all.

This music was born from the ashes left from the conch used to with the sword and cross.

It's been playing for many generations, feeling ordinaries peoples lives.

Music is memory.

>> do we have to wear those funny costumes?

>> the music represents the national identity of Mexico.

Yes, you have to wear the funny costumes.

It's my way or the highway.

That was the deal.

You get respect when you respect the music.

>> he's right.

We have to follow tradition.

>> yes.

>> let us begin.

♪ David: American Mariachi runs through October 20.

That is Chat Box for this week.

Thanks to Bernie Williams for joining us as well.

You can follow me on.

If you like this content, share it and subscribe to the YouTube channel to find more great work from our journalists.

For all the crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Newark, things are watching.

We will see you next week.

>> major funding for Chat Box is provided by the members of the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

♪