A roundup of some of this week’s theatrical news and notes from GALA, Shakespeare Theatre, Washington National Opera, Center Stage, and Cultural DC.
The Young Lady from Tacna / La Señorita de Tacna
There are theatrical moments when the impossible becomes possible, when ensemble harmony and a richly-layered, challenging play are beautifully realized. So it is with GALA’s richly-layered, exquisite The Young Lady From Tacna by Peru’s Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
Fabulous Mayas
Get ready, get set, go to GALA for a fabulous burst of imaginative stagecraft of ancient folklore. “Why should a rabbit have such magnificent antlers?” one masked creature of the forest asks another. That’s because the Creator (Bob Sheire) and the Shaper (José “Chema” Pineda) gave them to Rabbit (Cecilia Cackley). So the jealous Deer, […]
Cabaret Barroco: Interludes of Spain’s Golden Age
The sound of a heart pounds pa-pum, pa-pum, and blends into the strumming of a classical guitar. The original music composed and directed by David Peralto is refreshing and primes us for a new world. Eight boisterous troubadours, jeering and cheering, with black stools balanced on their heads, enter from the aisles, to recreate street […]
GALA’s world premiere: interludes from Spain’s Golden Age. We talk with director Jose Luis Arellano Garcia
A play composed of interludes? In pursuit of tracking down what I suspected would be an interesting story about GALA Hispanic Theatre’s world premiere of Cabaret Barroco: Interludes of Spain’s Golden Age, I sit across a table from the director, José Luis Arellano García, from Madrid, Spain. Right away, there is rapport. He tells me […]
Hispanic theatre’s most outstanding productions and performances, 2012-2013 season
What crosses my mind when I think back over the 2012-2013 Hispanic theatre season? Never lose sight of the impossible dream. Never, under the direst of circumstances, give up. Stay faithful to your mission. Keep reaching for perfection.
DC-7 closes early at GALA theatre
Due to an unforeseen circumstance, GALA Hispanic Theatre’s well received production of DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story has closed one week short of its planned run. GALA ends its season next week with Salvadoran comedian, Julio Ernesto Hernández Yúdice, appearing for 2 nights only (May 31 and June 1) with his latest creation, “Memorias de […]
Review: DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story
Baseball hero Roberto Clemente was once quoted saying: “If you have the chance to make things better for people coming behind you and you don’t, you are wasting your time on earth.” This statement by the first black Latino Hall of Famer (elected in 1973) doesn’t have to be said on stage. Playwright and director […]
Writer/director Luis Caballero on his Roberto Clemente musical about to open at GALA
– Luis Caballero arrives, wearing a wool scarf coiled around his neck. The morning, April 3rd, was unseasonably cold. He is wired with energy for our interview in the chilly, white-walled basement rehearsal room of GALA’s Tivoli Theatre in Columbia Heights. In awe of this multitalented powerhouse from New York City, who has written and […]
The Adventures of Don Quixote of La Mancha
The Broadway musical Man of La Mancha gave us the timeless song about dreaming the impossible dream.Argentine playwright Patricia Suarez’ play for kids, based on the satiric novel by Miguel de Cervantes, takes us inside the mad mind of Don Quijote, who peppers us with a riddle.
La Casa De Los Espiritus (The House of the Spirits)
Throughout The House of the Spirits/La Casa de los Espiritus, I sat leaning forward, agog in the spell of Caridad Svich’s powerful, multi-layered play, enhanced by inspired acting and staging by a phenomenal cast and production team. So what makes this intense, thoughtful theatre piece, that takes place in a nameless Latin American country, “reminiscent […]
Caridad Svich takes us inside The House of the Spirits
From her New York City apartment, playwright Caridad Svich graciously agreed to an hour-long phone chat last week, to talk about the GALA’s staging of The House of the Spirits/La casa de los espiritus, based on the best-selling, eponymous novel, by the award-winning Chilean-American author Isabel Allende.