SOMEWHERE
Denver Center Theatre Company:
May 1- May 31
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of Matthew Lopez’s “Somewhere” is not to be missed!
Lopez is the playwright who gave us “The Legend of Georgia McBride” and “The Inheritance,” the Tony Award-winner for Best Play in 2020.
“Somewhere” is a memory play that’s reflective of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” in many ways.
At its core, Lopez’s script presents the Candelaria family, Puerto Rican immigrants living in Manhattan in 1959. It’s a tight knit family whose absent father’s virtues are constantly extolled and his return anticipated. “West Side Story” is a big hit on Broadway and Jerome Robbins is conducting auditions for the film. Every one of the Candelarias has a big dream of dancing on Broadway and acting in the movies. The family speaks Spanish, English and most passionately, the language of dance. When a neighborhood wide eviction is posted, their home and dreams are threatened.
Inez is the matriarch of the family, who fosters all things artistic in her children. She is a woman who lives in fantasies of both past and future and is in denial of certain obvious realities. Alejandro, the elder son, does the best he can to keep the family grounded in common sense. His is the voice of reason. Francisco, the younger of the two brothers, is taking acting classes, and dreams of being the next Marlon Brando. Their sister, Rebecca, is taking dancing lessons and dreaming of getting an audition with Jerome Robbins for the film of West Side Story. Jamie is a young Caucasian man that Inez brought up with the other children and who, a long time absent from their home, is now Jerome Robbins’ dance captain.
By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Adriana Sevan is luminous as Inez. Angel Lozada is a strong presence as Alejandro. His performance is Powerful! Danny Gomez is a charmer as Francisco. Bela Serrano (Rebecca) and Keaton Miller (Jamie) are fine actors and breathtaking dancers. You will fall in love with each and everyone in this show.
Director Laurie Woolery has paced the show at a gallop making the evening fly by. Mayte Natallo’s choreography and the dancing thereof is fiery and exhilarating. Kevin Copenhaver’s costume design is the professional work the Denver audience has come to expect of him. Whether descriptive of a fantasia of joyful celebration or the trauma of explosive disaster, Pablo Santiago’s Lighting Design and Paul James Prendergast’s Sound Design work together magnificently. Mr. Prendergast’s incidental music is ear-pleasing!
The scenic design by Efren Delgadillo, Jr., which features a gleaming silver, multi-tiered fire escape, is magnificent!
This is a heart-opening production that demands to be seen!!! Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.
For tickets call the box office at 303-893-4100 or go online at denvercenter.org
