Ay, Dios mío: Dominican Yorks on Broadway

The NY Times theater section has a review of "In The Heights," a new Broadway show that takes place in Wash Heights. Aside from the relative positive and negative points of bringing the Hts. to Times Square (see below), the best part of the review is the old (white?), if to his credit, enthusiastic, fuddy-duddy who wrote it - lines like "the rhymed verse currently known as rap" (um, yeah, since about 1975), and "zesty choreography."

The fact of Dominican visibility on Broadway is definitely a good thing (the only other pop culture representation of a Dominican I can think of is Tracy Morgan's Dominican Lou character), as is the fact that writer/actor Lin-Manuel Miranda could get it out there. But the thing fairly reeks of cutesiness. Remember the movie version of Mambo Kings, with the irrepressibly plucky pair of brothers running around being plucky, gazing deep into chicks' eyes, dancing around with trombones or whatever, and crossing themselves every five minutes? Shit like that starts to grate real fast, and we all know there's going to be plenty of zest, vivaciousness and pluckiness in "In the Heights." Well, that's what they want from us so that's what we (or at least "In the Heights," Mambo Kings, and that ilk) are gonna give 'em. (Talk about Latinos, Inc.) That all of this goes hand-in-hand with the gentrification of El Barrio just speaks to the deep links between multiculturalism and neoliberalism. So it goes. Like Audre Lorde said, the way they get you is that you've got to tear the master's house down with his own tools.

LAtin American Theater in NY/Teatro Latinoamericano en NY

Looks good - if they have student-priced tix I might go!



Gemelos
Compañía Teatro Cinema from Chile


July 10-14 at 8:30
Pope Auditorium at Fordham University
Tickets $50

Gemelos is a chilling play about twin brothers
who live with their grandmother while learning
the harsh reality of a devastating war. The
three renowned Chilean actors wear a variety of
half-masks and perform all the roles on a
small-scale stage, creating a forced perspective
that gives the illusion that they are the size of puppets.



Un Hombre que se Ahoga
Proyecto Chejov from Argentina

July 17-19 at 8:00

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

Tickets $50



A new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters
from director Daniel Veronese featuring
minimalist staging and gender reversal. This
imaginative adaptation captures Chekhovian themes
relating to the tedium of provincial life.



De Monstruos y Prodigios: La Historia de los Castrati
Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes from Mexico

July 20-21 at 8:00
July 22 at 3:00
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College
Tickets $50


Extreme physical comedy combines with live music
in this play that explores the contradictions,
romances, and whims of the castrati. Directed by
Claudio Valdés Kuri for the Mexico City based
Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes, the work has toured
to Europe, Mexico and South America.


Performed in Spanish with English supertitles


Divinas Palabras
Centro Dramático Nacional from Spain

July 26-28 at 8:00
Rose Theater
Tickets: $20, 30, 40, 50


Written by Spanish playwright Ramón del
Valle-Inclán, this spectacle examines the
struggle between the religious fervor of a
conservative rural community and the search for
personal fulfillment and sexual awakening.


Performed in Spanish with English supertitles.
All tickets $50 unless otherwise indicated.

Sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. and Telemundo 47.

For tickets and complete program information
www.LincolnCenter.org/lcfestival