Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel scored a huge hit in 1989 with the release of her debut novel, which became a New York Times best seller, Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate), a romance that combined the natural with the supernatural. The book was turned into a hit movie back in 1992. GALA Hispanic Theatre […]
GALA Hispanic Theatre’s new season includes another big bilingual musical
GALA Hispanic Theatre will mark its next season, its 43rd, with eyes on modern classics: a play which takes Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea as a jumping-off point, the musical version of the iconic movie Fame, and opening with opening with an adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s Como agua para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate).
Review: Dancing in My Cockroach Killers
It’s a funny title, isn’t it? Dancing in My Cockroach Killers. Yet, profoundly telling. About stereotypes. About other cultures. About “our” opinions of Latinos. Yet, this is not a show about Latin ethnicity generally, but rather a specific celebration of Puerto Rico and its rich culture, musical heritage, and ability to survive an oppressor that […]
Review: GALA’s En El Tiempo de Las Mariposas (In the Time of Butterflies)
Memory can be a warm blanket, a cruel knife, and a revolutionary act all at once. Gala Hispanic Theatre’s must-see En el Tiempo de Las Mariposas (In the Time of Butterflies) unfurls a gripping vision of life, love, and sacrifice under the ruinous rule of Dominican dictator General Rafael Trujillo. Gripping performances and audiovisual effects ensnare […]
La Foto (A Selfie Affair) at GALA Hispanic Theatre (review)
The Internet, cell phones, and photoshopping are not only for the young, and the narcissism they engender is not only the provenance of millennials. The most refreshing thing about Gustavo Ott’s La Foto: A Selfie Affair is that the subjects of both the titular snapshot and the social media-age fallout that follows it are grown […]
Review: Blancaflor. At GALA, the wizard is a girl
Another top-notch offering for young audiences began this past weekend: Blancaflor, the latest in the GALita series of theatre for children.
A sizzling Don Juan Tenorio opens GALA’s season (review)
A legendary Spanish character, that has inspired work by luminaries including Moliere, Goldoni, and Mozart, has leapt onto the stage at GALA Hispanic Theatre in a sizzling new adaptation, Don Juan Tenorio based on José Zorrilla’s romantic drama that continues to conquer female hearts. In this new vision, the rapacious cock of the walk and […]
GALA’s 42nd season features world and local debuts
GALA Hispanic Theatre’s 42nd season will feature four mainstage plays, including two world premieres, as well as films, dance, and a weekend of solo shows.
In The Heights achieves new heights with its Spanish language debut (review)
In The Heights in Spanish is a show to shout about. The Broadway smash by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes, that swept New York’s 2008 theatre awards, including the coveted Tony Award for Best Musical, doesn’t disappoint. Originally written by Miranda in English, this Spanish translation by Amaury Sanchez with English surtitles, makes GALA’s 41st […]
GALA’s version of In the Heights has never been seen in the U.S. Hugo Medrano tells us more.
GALA Hispanic Theater is getting ready to open Lin-Manuel Miranda/Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Tony Award winning musical In the Heights about a Dominican family in Washington Heights. What makes this production so special is that it will be the first time U.S. audiences will have a chance to hear In the Heights in Spanish. In doing that, GALA will also premiere their […]
Seneca: The Library Mouse / Ratón De Biblioteca at GALA (review)
Actor Adrián Iglesias, who plays Séneca, the mouse who has lived in a library for the past ten years, ambles on stage, carrying a wicker basket, filled with large books and eating utensils. Iglesias wears large oversized glasses, identifying him as an intellectual. We sense something is weird or a little wonky.
Yo También Hablo de La Rosa/I Too Speak of the Rose at GALA (review)
The set places us in a blighted area outside Mexico City in the 1960s. A cyclorama displays a skyline of city buildings. Railroad tracks emerge from upstage center. Dingy walls splotched with dirt-brown stain enclose the stage area. We are in the part of town where garbage is dumped.