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A CurtainUp Review
Boleros For the Disenchanted

Boleros for the Disenchanted
(l to r) Elizabeth Ledo (Younger Flora), Sandra Marquez (Dona Milla) and René Rivera (Don Fermin)
(Photo: Eric Y. Exit)
Jose Rivera’s snapshot-packed memory play, warmly staged by Henry Godinez, manages to dramatize all the cultural contradictions contained in Leonard Bernstein’s sassy "I Want To Live in America." Rivera contrasts the first act’s utterly charming depiction of his parents’ 1953 courtship in the rural splendor of Milleflores, Puerto Rico with their settled serenity, 38 years later, in Daleville, Alabama, a very different country corner. As the title suggests, the enchantment is over. But, as we see from a hundred telling details, despite accusations of infidelity and eruptions of temperament, their love–of each other and of God--lasts to the last.

Rivera’s magically realistic poem-play delivers some ravishingly delicious dialogue between Elizabeth Ledo’s young hopeful and Joe Minoso as her dogged suitor, matched in tenderness if not intensity by Sandra Marquez and Rene Rivera as their older selves. Six actors create a family album, with the third dimension making all the difference.

But, like Terms of Endearment, this eager-to-please play employs easy laughs, cultural caricatures, sexist stereotypes and instant answers to manipulate more than persuade. Soapy-serious, the script tolerates no ambiguity as it works overtime not to confuse us about the characters. Excess exposition, pat pronouncements, and editorializing (where characters tell us how to view them rather than how they see themselves) confirm a calculated cuteness that spoils the spontaneity of a sterling ensemble. You never see any signs of struggle behind these glib speeches: They’re messages meant to save us the trouble of meeting the characters half way.

Even though he doesn’t trust the audience to get it, Rivera’s reclamation effort is a non-negotiable labor of love. His emotional travelogue takes us through love’s many mazes. For many the trip will be worth the contrivances.

Boleros for the Disenchanted
Written by Jose Rivera
Directed by Henry Godinez
Cast: Liza Fernandez, Elizabeth Ledo, Sandra Marquez, Joe Minoso, Rene Rivera, Felix Solis
Set Design: Linda Buchanan
Lighting Design: Joseph Appelt
Costume Design: Rachel Healy
Sound Design: Ray Nardelli and Joshua Horvath
Composer: Gustavo Leone
Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes with 1 intermission
Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn Chicago
(312) 443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org
Tickets: $25-$70
From June 20 – July 26, 2009
Reviewed by Lawrence Bommer
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©Copyright 2009, Elyse Sommer.
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