Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Pepe Martinez’s CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA makes a case for mariachi in music theater

• By drediman
• January 27, 2018
• No Comments

Octavio Moreno and Cecilia Duarte in Pepe Martinez’s “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.

Last night, José “Pepe” Martinez’s self-professed mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna opened under the auspices of New York City Opera at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, in a co-production with Houston Grand Opera (where it premiered in 2010). A mariachi opera is an out-of-the-box proposition – I applaud Houston Grand Opera for commissioning it – and a lot of it is successful.

Musically speaking, there’s much to recommend about Cruzar la Cara de la Luna. Mariachi, as it turns out, is an exciting musical language for storytelling. It’s driving, cinematic, and romantic. It’s also insistent in its point of view, which is almost always upbeat. Certainly, Mr. Martinez’s pleasing score is full of lush melodies, even if some of the story’s more tragic elements and complicated moments are not fully reflected and fleshed out in the music writing. Nevertheless, the thirteen-piece mariachi band played thrillingly throughout and the cast was solid.

My issues with the opera lie with Leonard Foglia’s book (Mr. Foglia also directed the production in a clean, straightforward manner). Cruzar la Cara de la Luna tells a trite – if well-meaning – multi-generational immigrant story of a man (played by baritone Octavio Moreno, stately) who leaves his family in Mexico to make a living in America. His wife (an affecting Cecilia Duarte) doesn’t take well to this new arrangement, and, suffice to say, a tragic series of events ensues. Much of the sentimental dialogue and lyrics were a bit too stickily saccharine for me, but luckily, there was always Mr. Martinez’s luscious score (and that mariachi band!) to save the day.

RECOMMENDED

CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA
Opera
New York City Opera at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through January 28