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Tanguera
www.tanguera.com
Mora Godoy, Choreographer
Omar Pacheco, Director
At New York City Center
www.nycitycenter.org
131 West 55th Street
New York, NY 10019
212.581.1212
Producers: Diego Romay,
Michael Brenner for BB Group GmbH,
Paul Szilard Productions, Inc., Daniel Barenboim
Exec. Producer: Sabrina Romay
Production Stage Manager: Todd Clark
General Management: Sundance Productions, Inc., NY
Tango Arrangements & Musical Director: Lisandro Adrover
Music Coordinator/Assoc. Concert Master: Leonardo Suarez-Paz
Original Music & Arrangements: Gerardo Gardelin
Story: Diego Romay and Dolores Espeja
Lyrics: Eladia Blazquez
Set Design: Valeria Ambrosio
Costume Design: Cecilia Monti
Lighting Design: Ariel Del Mastro
Public Relations: Keith Sherman & Associates, Inc.
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
October 8, 2009
Cast:
Madam: María Nieves
Lorenzo: Esteban Domenichini
Giselle: Rocío de los Santos
Gaudencio: Oscar Martínez Pey
Singer: Marianella
Rengo: Dabel Zanabria
Tango is a riveting, mesmerizing, hypnotic dance, and the traveling show, Tanguera, conceived in Buenos Aires in 2002, keeps the momentum edgy and engrossing. This Tango Musical has, as its central, historical theme, created by Diego Romay and Dolores Espeja, a French ingénue, Giselle (Rocío de los Santos), an immigrant arriving in Buenos Aires, at the turn of the 20th Century, who befriends and falls in love with a dockworker at the port, Lorenzo (Esteban Domenichini). With competition from the local Madam (María Nieves), her prostitution ring, and its pimps and paying customers, Lorenzo fights hard to protect and save Giselle from the violence and tumult that ensues. With 15 singers-dancers and 13 musicians, plus onstage smoke and darkly symbolic sets, Tanguera is dynamic, fiery, chilling, and impressive production.
The program includes English lyrics from the four featured ensemble songs, by Eladia Blazquez, sung in Spanish, Promised Land, Giselle, Bordello, and Finale. They range from, “We’ll start out together towards victory…” (Promised Land), “She must first understand her heart, To know what will happen…” (Giselle), “You’ll get used to this pain as well, Of mistaking silver for love…” (Bordello), to “That’s what life is all about, an endless spinning circle…” (Finale). The stunning dance of Tango, with its sharp leg kicks, under and over the partner’s thigh, unexpected lifts, turns, and the female’s walking backward, with close upper torsos and elongated, gliding steps, is eye-catching and exciting, when it is expanded for stage presentations with the elements of drama and danger. Tonight’s show was no exception. Thanks to Valeria Ambrosio’s set design, a house became a bordello, in Ariel Del Mastro’s shifting lighting, with merging figures as duo-silhouettes in shadowed windows. Knife fights, tossed chairs, threatening thugs, murder, rape, and so on are always at the door. The music and dance drive these themes, and the intermission-less show seamlessly sweeps us through the struggles, thanks to Omar Pacheco’s detailed direction.
Among the onstage performers, María Nieves was an exceptional dancer, with rapid, authentic footwork, while Esteban Domenichini and Rocío de los Santos were powerful in their chemistry and partnering. Mora Godoy created the choreography. Oscar Martínez Pey and Dabel Zanabria showed dramatic mastery, and Marianella sang Gerardo Gardelin’s songs with impassioned artistry. The dance ensemble, in seductive, vivacious costumes, by Cecilia Monti, was fast-paced, athletic, and, at times, gravity-defying, but always in tango motif, thanks to Lisandro Adrovar’s tango arrangements. Unfortunately, most of the orchestra was below stage and out of sight, except the Musical Director and Coordinator, even at the curtain, but they were all splendidly harmonized, with a total of three violins, viola, cello, sax-clarinet-flute, synthesizer, three bandoneóns, piano, double bass, and drums. Kudos to Tanguera for tonight’s energizing event.
Tanguera Ensemble
Courtesy of Manuel Navarro de la Fuente
Tanguera Ensemble
Courtesy of Manuel Navarro de la Fuente
Tanguera Ensemble
Courtesy of Manuel Navarro de la Fuente
Tanguera Ensemble
Courtesy of Manuel Navarro de la Fuente
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