BWW Reviews: CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA - A Crowd-Pleasing Exercise in Pop Opera

Behold, the Opera Pops!

Arizona Opera has now followed its Houston and Chicago counterparts in mounting a regional premiere of the soi-disant mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (tr., To Cross the Face of the Moon) and aiming to attract and engage a new audience with a program of thematic relevance.

The production, directed by Leonard Foglia with music by José "Pepe" Martinez, the director of the venerable Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, features thirteen mariachi instrumentalists clad in handsome chalecos and sombreros, a minimalist set (a crate and a cot), a luminous backdrop of a color-drenched sky, and the mellifluous vocalization of Cecilia Duarte, Octavio Moreno, Brian Shircliffe, and David Guzman.

This sweet and sentimental tale revolves around themes of love and lost loves, the quest for the good life, the centrality of family, and the definition of home. This immigrant's story centers on Laurentino, whose deathbed disclosure about a long-lost son triggers remembrances of his Mexican origins, the challenges of life in the old country, his romance with his beloved first wife Renata, and his fateful decision some fifty years earlier to leave home and journey north in quest of the American dream. His plea to see his son sparks his grandaughter's determination to fulfill Laurentino's wish and to reunite the family.

As the chronicle of the Velásquez family unfolds, the melodic and vibrant sounds of mariachi evoke the mood of time and place and seem to convey an uplifting message of continuity through time and of hope in the face of adversity.

The promotion of Cruzar as a mariachi opera (with the accent on opera) has stirred some debate as to whether it indeed qualifies to be an opera. For many with whom I spoke before and after the show, the issue seemed pointless. What mattered to them most was whether or not it was entertaining ~ and by the standing ovation, hoots, and whistles, it was clearly a crowd-pleaser.

I wish it was that simple for me as a reviewer to join wholeheartedly in the accolades. Clearly, among the members of this audience, I felt like a lone voice of dissent. It is not that the cast and the musicians weren't proficient or that there wasn't poignancy and drama in the story or that there isn't sensitivity to be mined in understanding the challenges of immigration. It is more that, notwithstanding its particular merits, the production felt like a tedious and solicitous indulgence with music that lacked variation and a saccharine libretto. What is ironic is that, these days, this is enough to spur a standing o.

I left Symphony Hall with more questions than satisfaction.

Understandably, opera companies like symphonies and ballets, for their own sustainability, must find creative ways to reach new, younger, and more diverse audiences, fill the seats, and meet budget projections. (Indeed, I've been an avid advocate of new and creative audience development strategies.) At the same time, great care needs to be taken not to apologize for or diminish the art form on whose foundations the artistic institutions have been built.

The program notes honestly acknowledge the risk inherent in venturing into unfamiliar turf for the traditional opera patron while inviting the audience to be open to more diverse interpretations of opera.

However, it might be well to ask why the program notes have loads to say about mariachi music and nothing about opera ~ a missed opportunity to educate and explain to novitiates the distinctive attributes of the two forms of musical expression and what distinguishes the fusion of the two.

It might be well to ask, if the interest in reaching out to Latino audiences is veritably to promote opera, why staging the operas of notable Latin American (including Mexican) composers ~ Manuel de Zumaya, Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, León Ribeiro, Aniceto Ortega, Miguel Bernal Jiménez to name just a few ~ isn't in the programming cards. Tata Vasco certainly is one of many legitimate examples of opera that fuses indigenous music with dance and even Gregorian chants!

It might be well to ask what more can or will be done to engage the newbies as attendees of future programs. What's the likelihood of their attending Rigoletto or Eugene Onegin? Or, is the marketing strategy focused on special programs tailored for special audiences?

Yes, these days, you might ask, what does the distinction really matter? After all, fusion and crossover are de rigueur. There's rock opera! Tango opera! Salsa opera! Pop is in!

For this reviewer, it matters. Some things are sacred and to be preserved as they define, enhance, and uplift our cultural sensibilities. So, this reviewer's bottom line regarding Cruzar is that, as uplifting and sonorous as it may be, it is far more a mariachi musical and far less an opera.

Photo credit to Edward Wilinsky, San Diego Opera

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