Confessions of a Mad Journalist

Jack Bowers

Senior Contributor since 1997

A former newspaper writer / editor who has been writing about big-band Jazz for more than fifteen years.

Recent articles (1,749 total)

Published: May 6, 2011

There was one other outing in April, the following evening, for a Spanish zarzuela cabaret at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. As noted here before, zarzuela is colloquial for Spanish musical theatre or light opera. It was created in the 1640s and reached its zenith of popularity in the 1930s during the short-lived Socialist Republic. The plots are typically lightweight but the voices, at least the ones Betty and I have heard, are world-class. In this case they included, on the distaff side, Ashli Hargrave, Andrea Kiesling, Virginia Herrera Grilly, Nelly Maria Kirmer and director Salome Martinez Lutz; male vocalists Javier Gonzalez, Jose Daniel Apodaca and our special favorite, baritone Armando Mora, with maestro Pablo Zinger as pianist and narrator (scenes from more than a dozen or so zarzuelas were performed). The zarzuelas at NHCC were underwritten for five years (2004-09) by Patty Disney; since then the sponsoring group, Teatro Nuevo Mexico, has been scuffling to find new benefactors. Sadly, it seems that unless that happens soon, April's performance could be the last, and that would be a shame. Zarzuela is unlike any other theatre being presented today, and deserves to be seen, heard and appreciated by a wider audience, not cast aside by lack of knowledge, interest or funding. Let's hope someone steps forward to help save it.

And that's it for now. Until next time, keep swingin' . . . !

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