AMERICAN MARIACHI


A half-dozen years after its Old Globe world premiere, José Cruz González’s American Mariachi makes an endlessly entertaining Latino Theater Co. L.A. debut under under José Luis Valenzuela’s incisive direction at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Playwright González takes us back to the 1970s, where 20something Lucha Morales (Elia Saldana) must put family ahead of nursing school the better to stay home and care for her still youthful mother Amalia (Ruth Livier), a victim of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

The accidental discovery of an old 45-rpm mariachi record briefly returns Lucha’s mother to the present before her father Federico (Sal Lopez) shows up and sends Amalia hurtling back into the distant past 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 (Esperanza América) on board with the plan, a couple of major roadblocks stand in Lucha and Boli’s way.

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

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

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

Holy Roller Gabby Orozco (Vaneza Mari Calderón) can sing like nobody’s business but her Spanish may not be up to the task of performing mariachi lyrics.

Beauty salon owner Soyla Reina (Crissy Guerrero) is more than willing to join the band, but her only singing experience 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 music 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 best friend Mino Avila (Geoffrey Rivas) 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 secret.

All of this intrigue adds up to an abundance of laughter, some well-earned tears, and music, music, and more music, not to mention perceptive glimpses into Mexican culture in general and a mariachi in particular. (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 rhythm I didn’t, but I do now.)

I’ve raved about American Mariachi’s all-around fabulous cast members in Destiny Of Desire (a show I’d dearly love Latino Theater Co. to gift us with) and Premeditation, both directed by Valenzuela, and they are each and every one on fire at the LATC.

Saldana’s captivating, compelling Lucha, América’s feisty, fabulous Boli, Coca’s radiant, rebellious Izzy, Guerrero’s glamorous, gritty Soyla (a role she originated at The Old Globe), and Calderón’s bodacious, born-again Gabby are guaranteed to have you from hello

Lopez and Rivas command the stage as friends-turned-enemies Federico and Mino, with Rivas doubling deliciously as Padre Florese.

And speaking of dazzling in dual roles and more, Livier does just that as a heartbreaking Amalia and a big-haired, pistol-packing Doña Lola and Gomez does the same as hyper-masculine Mateo, flamboyant fashionista René, and René’s macho twin Rubén.

Mariachis Luis Bernal, Manhe Martínez, Oscar Rivas, Joseph Ruvalcaba, and Juan Miguel Sossa Ropain merit their own cheers as well as does Yalitza “Yaya” Vasquez-Lopez as the ubiquitous ghost of Tia Carmen.

Not only that, but América, Calderón, Coca, Guerrero, and Saldana acquit themselves quite impressively indeed as mariachis, both instrumentally and vocally under Cynthia Reifler Flores’s expert music direction

Scenic designer Maureen Weiss’s latticework-backed set and Pablo Santiago’s evocative lighting design work in tandem to bring out the memory play aspect of the ‘70s-set American Mariachi, and the same can be said for Maria Catarina Copelli’s costumes, from disco-era wear to traditional mariachi garb in a production design completed by master sound designer John Zalewski.

Last but not least, Urbanie Lucerio’s choreography and movement coordination add to the mysterious, mystical mood throughout.

Valerie Vega is understudy. Alexa Wolfe is stage manager and Martha Espinoza is assistant stage manager. May Fei is production manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

If you prefer your entertainment dark, dank, and depressing, then American Mariachi may not be for you. If on the other hand you’d rather uplifted than brought down, if you’d opt for feel-good over feel-bad any day, in other words if you’re anything like me, then head on over to the LATC.

American Mariachi’s Los Angeles Premiere is far and away the crowd-pleasingest show in town.

Latino Theater Company, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Theatre 3, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles.
www.latinotheaterco.org

–Steven Stanley
May 11, 2024
Photos: Grettel Cortes Photography

 

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