When the film Real Women Have Curves (RWHC) was release in 2002, it was a significant moment for Latina Representation and Empowerment. Now, More than 20 Years Later, The Real Women Have Curves musical Hits The Stage and It’s Achieving That Same Feat in the World of Theater. Both the film and musical are Adaptations of the 1990 Play By Chicana Playwright Josefina Lopez. Since ITS Premiere for Previews on April 1, with Opening Night Officially Happening April 27, The Musical Adaptation of The Beloved Story you have affected attentees in the Same Way the Film Did With the Added Element of Original Music. In an industry with minimal Latin representation, The musical is One of a Few Theater Shows Highlighting The Latinx Community. Other shows include Buena Vista Social Club—Based on the Cuban Musical Ensemble of the Same Name –Which is also on Broadway and Take the lead Starring Adrienne Bailon-Houchton and Co-Choreography by Maria Torres. The Broadway debut of rwhc is monumental for This Story and for Lopez, Who’s Been On A 37-Year Journey With This Story Based On Her Lived Experiences As a Young Undocummente Latina in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Lopez Spoke with Hypatin About the importance of this show over time and the ways it celebrators.
“It reality is a celebration of Mexican-American Culture, Latino Culture, a celebration of Women. It’s an explosion of color and music and sound. It’s so wonderful that we have mariachi music, we have Broadway Tunes, We have cumbias, We have sauces,” She Says. “What it has taught me is that when you’re growing up and you So much flavor and color and we have so many Latin. It’s Sad That We Were Made to Believe That We Were Less Than When in Fact We are So Extrainery … it’s The Perfect Story for Now. It’s a Good Act of Resistance Against Stupidity, Ignorance, and Hatred Towards Our Community and Towards Women. It’s a Wonderful Way of Fighting Back Through Art and Celebration.
LOPEZ WAS BORN IN 1969 IN SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEXICO. At the age of five, She Immigrated to Boyle Heights and Was undocma for 13 Years Before Becoming A US Citizen In 1995. It was in 1988 when She present Early Scenes of RWHC with Her First Full Draft Completed By June of That Year. This original source material is inspired by Lopez’s Experiences As a Young Latina Working in a Sewing Factory in Boyle Heights and the Women in Her Life. Following the massive success of the play, the 56-year-oold is the founding artistic director of House 0101 Theater In Boyle Heights, where She Promotes Play Celebrating Women and Latinxs and Teaches Playwriting. Her Career Also Includes Over 130 Productions of Her Many Plays Throunge The Country Including Simply Maria, confessions of Women from east la, and A Woman Named Gloria.
The Rwhc Musical Adaptation Had Been An Idea in Lopez’s Mind Since She was 18 Years Old. She Adaptation’s Third Attempt at Production. WHEN LOPEZ SAW THAT CHOREOGRAPHER SERGIO TRUJILLO, WHO IS OF COLOMBIAN DESCENT, WON A TONY, SHE IMMEDIARLY TOLED HERD HERT AGENT AND MANAGE. In Perfect Coincadence, Lopez Wanted To Reach Out To Trujillo To Direct and He was Thinking The Same Thing. After Trial and Error, The Musical Has Finly Found ITS Way To The Broadway Stage.
ALMOST A MONTH INTO THEIR BROADWAY RUN, THE MUSICAL HAS MADE HISTORY IN REPRESENTATION WITH THE CASING OF MEXICAN ACTRESS FLORENCE WHO IS NOW THE CRACE MEXICAN IMMIGRANT TO ORIGIN TO ROLE ON BROADWAY. As Lopez Celebrats Cuenca’s History-Making Casting, She Recalls The Issues She Faced When Casting Her First Play: “When I was 18, 19, I Wrote My First Play and There Was Not A Latina Actress In San Diego Who Could Play The Role, So They Job.
The Musical Follows 18-Yare-Old Mexican-American Ana Who is an aspiring Journalist Played by Newcomer Tatiana Cordoba. Ana Dreams of Leaving Her Family’s Sewing Factory, Looking to Pursue College and Her Dreams. Set in the Summer of 1987, Ana Is An Ambitious and Rebellious Girl Dreaming of Leaving Her Home in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles. WHEN HER FAMILY IMPEIVES A MAKE-OR-BREAK ORDER FOR 200 DRESESES, SHE JUGGLES WITH HERSES TO LEAVE AND THE EXPECTATIONS PLACED ON HER BY HER HER MOTER, CARMEN PLAYED BY JUSTINA MACHADO (One Day at A Time, The Horror of Dolores Roach) While Helping The Women in the Shop. It centers on the complicated Mother-Daughter Relationship Through Ana’s Dreams of Independence Classhing with Her Mother’s More Traditional Hopes for Ana Reported by Traditional Family Values.
WHETHER IT’S THROUCH CARMEN’S TRADITIONAL WAYS AND GOGY HABITS OR ANA’S REBELLUSESS AND DREAMER ATTITUDE, THIS MUSICAL, Like ITS SOURCE MATERIAL, CELEBRATES THE NUANCE OF BEING A WOMAN. In contrast to the “spicy Latina” Trope, The Madonna/WHORE COMPLEX, and other Stereotypical Portrayals of Latinas in Media, RWHC Showcases Women’s Relationship to Their Bodies, The Complicated Mother-Daughters Bonds, and The Women’s Connection to Their Culture. WHILE REMINING ABOUT HowHC Continue to Resonate With Audiences, Lopez Collection The Women who inspired her to write the play:
“What Really Motivated Me To Write it was that Although I was working in a sewing factory and it was 100 ° in there – i did the ironing and the steam Iron at that –i was so hot, i knew thate You are Women who Shared Their Stories and Who Made Life So Bearable and Interesting and Specially My Mother, My Mother Toe the Juiciest Goss Gugme and The Most Wonderful Stories. “
The Broadway Adaptation Is Also An Ode To Women and was Recently Praised by The Likes of Eva Longoria, Sofia Vergara, and Gloria Calderón Kellett for Uplifting Latina Representation and Provide Both a Story and Music That Are So Powerful And Meaningful.
The cast of the musical includes Newcomer Cordoba as Ana, Machado as Carmen, and Mauricio Mendoza as Ana’s Dad, Raul. The Creative Team Behind The Musical Includes Tony-Read Winner Trujillo As Director and Choreography and Music and Lyrics by Grammy Award-Winning Artist Joy Huerta From The Mexican Pop Duo Jesse and Joy. For Lopez, The Music in the Show Is Compsing in its Expression of Characters’ Joy and the Universal Experiences of Latinas.
She speeks speeaks to the iconic scene from the film where the factory world, in an act of liberation and Fighting off the heat, strip download of their bodies and Beauty. “You see women dancing and singing at the same time asy undress and then they start rapping… you see, Estela, for instance, She’s in her underwear rapting, talking about being a chingona, and then you go, you know what What? You’re Right. Undress in front of a thousand people? She Says.
As much as rwhc is a celebration of women, it is an ode to lopez’s mother. WHEN LOOKING AT THE MUSICAL AND LISTING TO THE MUSIC, SHE HAS CELEBRATED HER MOTHER AND SEEN HER LIVE ON THRUH CARMEN. She teases a Song in the musical where Ana Apologizes to her mother After carrying out her mother is The Way She is, Speaking to the Generational Trauma and Differences That Come Up In Latina Mother-Daughter Relationships.
“Every time I hear that song i crya schouse Her way of showing me that She loved me because She was trying to protect me.
As Her Impact on Representation and Our Community Continues, She Invites Audiences to Take Inspiration In What they see on The Stage as They Pursue Their Their Own Dreams: “I Want People To Say,“ Wow, Josefina Really Was In a Sewing Factory. Look at her. She’s on Broadway and the Community That Shaped Her is on Broadway Being Celebrated. I Want People to Leave Inspired Thinking, “Wow, What Could I Create? What Coud I Dream and aspire to manifee? I can do it, Too. ‘”
