Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, was the first and only Chicano play to ever make it to Broadway. This happened back in 1979. Although many people may argue that Zoot Suit is a musical, it isn't; it is a play with music, and we can all engage in a conversation about this topic later. Right now, I simply want to highlight that since Luis Valdez's master piece, no other Chicano play or musical has ever been on a Broadway stage until the musical Real Women Have Curves opened a few weeks ago. Just to clarify, there has been many Latiné/Latinx plays and musicals on a Broadway stage, but never a Chicano musical. And if we also need to engage in a conversation about this topic, we can do this too, but at this moment, this space is for the new Broadway musical Real Women Have Curves.
With a book by Lisa Loomer with Nell Benjamin and music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, "Real Women" is based on Josefina Lopez's original play and also on the HBO's screenplay written by Josefina Lopez and George LaVoo.
The musical is set in Boyle Heights (a section of Los Angeles) in 1987, and its story follows a recent high school graduate named Ana Garcia--played with high energy and enthusiasm by newcomer Tatiana Córdoba--who just been accepted to Columbia University with a full scholarship. The problem is that her mother Carmen Garcia--played by Justina Machado, a seasoned TV and film actress who's accolades are too many to mention, but also a Broadway newcomer--expects her to join the family sewing business. The business is run by Ana's older sister, Estela Garcia--played with so much charisma by Florencia Cuenca, also a newcomer to the Broadway stage. As we follow Ana's story we learn that the women working at the shop are all (except for Ana) undocumented immigrants. Ana was born in the US. These women, against all odds, have been surviving and living the best way they can in a country that doesn't welcomes them at all.
It is no secret, or perhaps for many it is, that Ana's story in based in the life of its creator, Josefina López, who as an undocumented immigrant was expected to work with the family rather than study. In the play and in the film, the story highlights the complicated and often tumultous relationship between mother and daughter while also underlining the lives and the constant fear undocumented immigrants carry while navigating life in the US. The musical makes an honest attempt to reach those goals. But the fear of being undocumented and the heaviness one feels due to such reality seemed to be challenging issues to truly put into song. In the same manner, the tension created and explore between mother and daughter in both the play and the film, while exposed in the musical, are not truly explored.
This doesn't mean the musical isn't entertaining, fun, or emotional because it is. There is in fact, a character that doesn't exist in Josefina's play and film that became an addition to the musical story and plot, Itzel. Itzel is a recent undocumented arrival, an Indigenous Guatemalan teenager who has experienced hardship and atrocities back in her homeland. She's now trying to live a better life in the USA by looking at her situation in a positive way. She sings the funny, yet uplifting song "If I Were a Bird," a song about soaring above all challenges. The song is heartwarming and, at the same time, funny. But no song is as funny as "Adiós Andrés," where the woman at the shop sing about the trials and tribulations of "Andrés, que viene cada mes." Andrés is now leaving Carmen because she has reached menopause--if you know, you know.
But perhaps the most entertaining, uplifting, and empowering song of them all is the musical's title song, "Real Women Have Curves." Where, due to the high temperature conditions in the sewing shop, the women find themselves in the necessity to work in their underwear. And let me tell you, seeing these women on stage, reclaiming space, and embracing their bodies, while singing, dancing, and celebrating their curves without apologizing, really makes you cheer and celebrate. As a male, I have nothing but praise and respect for the courage and pride these women as characters and actresses, transmit during this number.
Like Josefina, I grew up as an undocumented immigrant in the 1980s. I identified with her story and many of her struggles are familiar and have hit home since I first read the play back in the day. The musical made me live moments I rather forget, one being the moment when "la migra" rates the shop next to them and the women have to hide while experiencing moments of desperation and fear, hoping no immigration officers would come their way. I went through that more than once. The other moment was when we find out that Itzel's has been "capture" by la migra at a bus stop. This immediately reminded me of what is going on today all over the country, where brown men and women are being detained on the way to work, to the doctor, or simply while grocery shopping. And when Ana was at the detention center, trying to help Itzel, I felt the frustration and hopelessness our people feel at seeing our lives being completely shuttered by a system, that once again, only exist to remind us that we don't belong here.
The musical received two Tony Award nominations, one for Music and Lyrics (Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez) and one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Feature Role in a Musical (Justina Machado.) Both nominations are well-deserved. And while the musical didn't received any other nominations, as a musical Real Women Have Curves is a groundbreaking piece of theatre because it is the first Chicano musical ever to grace a Broadway stage. It is also a musical work that addresses the undocumented immigrant story, and allows immigrant women who are not the "typical leading ladies" to shine and reclaim space on a Broadway where most of the stories are by, for, and about White people. I only hope it doesn't take another 46 years to have another Chicano play or musical on Broadway.
The bows at the end of the show!