I dare you not to fall for South Coast Repertory’s American Mariachi, the crowd-pleasingest season opener any major American regional theater could wish for.

Playwright José Cruz González takes us back to the 1970s, where 20something Lucha Morales (Gabriela Carrillo) must put familia ahead of nursing school the better to stay home and care for her still youthful mother Amalia (Diana Burbano), a victim of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

The accidental discovery of an old 45-rpm mariachi record briefly returns Lucha’s mamá to the present before her papá Federico (Mauricio Mendoza) shows up and sends Amalia hurtling back into the distant pasado, and when the disc gets broken in a father-daughter tiff, Lucha determines to form her own mariachi band in hopes of bringing her mother back to life.

Though it’s fairly easy to get her feisty cousin Hortensia “Boli” Perez (Satya Jnani Chavez) on board with the plan, a couple of major roadblocks stand in Lucha and Boli’s way.

First of all, Mexican tradición forbids female mariachis even in the women’s-lib ‘70s.

Secondly, they’ll have to find three more women to join them, trabajo more easily said than done.

Church choir soloist Isabel “Izzy” Campos (Alicia Coca) has the voice of an angel, but her husband Mateo (Andrew Joseph Perez) is too macho to ever let his mujer sing mariachi.

Holy Roller Gabby Orozco (Luzma Ortiz) can cantar like nobody’s business but her Spanish may not be up to the task of performing mariachi lyrics.

Beauty salon owner Soyla Reina (Marlene Montes) is more than willing to join the band, but her only singing experiencia is in the shower.

Still, a little persuasion goes a long way, and before long a mariachi quintet is born.

Unfortunately, other than Gabby, no one can play a lick of música, and they’ll need to master the trumpet, violin, guitar, vihuela (little guitar), and guitarrón (big guitar) before they can even start to think of harmonizing.

Fortunately for the fivesome, Lucha is able to persuade her father’s onetime compadre Mino Avila (Sol Castillo) to teach them to play.

Unfortunately, Mino and Federico have been estranged for years, so whatever teaching and practicing and rehearsing are going on will have to be kept top secreto.

All of this intrigue adds up to an abundancia of laughter, some well-earned tears, and música, música, música, not to mention perceptive glimpses into Mexican culture and a mariachi primer. (Did you know that there are at least five distinct mariachi styles–waltz, polka, bolero, juapango, and son jalisciense–each with its own flavor and ritmo? I didn’t.)

American Mariachi’s South Coast Rep debut reunites ace director Christopher Acebo with half of his 2018 Arizona Theatre Company cast and designers, who together with SCR additions make for the dreamiest of dream teams.

Carrillo’s radiant and winning Lucha, Chavez’s super-spunky Boli, Coca’s ready-to-rebel Izzy, Montes’s fiery Soyla, and Ortiz’s awkwardly adorable Gabby are absolutely splendid as are Mendoza and Castillo’s powerhouse pair of amigos turned enemigos, with Castillo scoring bonus comedy points as a muy viejo Padre Florese.

Hyper-masculine Mateo and flamboyant fashionista Rene are just two of fight captain Perez’s terrific featured turns and Burbano is as heartbreaking an Amalia as she is a big-haired, pistol-packing treat as Doña Lola.

Mariachis E​steban Montoya Dagnino, ​​Sayra Michelle Haro, ​​Ali Pizarro, Antonio A. Pró, and Adam Ramirez merit their own cheers as well; the production’s five young leading ladies prove that they can strum and blow passably enough to form a legit band; and the entire cast show off vocal prowess under Cynthia Reifler Flores’s expert dirección musical.

Recreating their Arizona Theatre Company designs, Efren Delgadillo Jr. (sets) and Kish Finnegan (costumes) fill the Segerstrom Stage with color, tradición, and pizzazz enhanced throughout by newcomer Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz’s vibrant lighting, with SCR newbie Rebecca Kessin’s crystal-clear sound design completing a stunning production design.

Victoria Yvette Zepeda is assistant director. Moira Gleason is stage manager and Kathryn Davies is assistant stage manager. Kat Zukaitis is dramaturg. Casting is by Joanne DeNaut, CSA.

The ideal antidote to all that’s been running rampant since America got made “great again,” American Mariachi will put a canción in your heart as you stand up and cheer. It’s as bona fide a crowd pleaser as crowd pleasers get.

South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.
www.scr.org

–Steven Stanley
September 15, 2019
Photos: Jordan Kubat/SCR

Tags: José Cruz González, Orange County Theater Review, South Coast Repertory