The Broadway Theatre Review: Real Women Have Curves
By Ross
It’s 1987, Los Angeles, and it’s “all a mess,” sing the women who make it work, sewing up a storm to keep their heads above water and the food on the table. It’s a powerfully compelling immigrant story that is stitched into the fabric of Real Women Have Curves, the new Broadway musical that opened tonight at the James Earl Jones Theatre on the very last day of Tony Award eligibility (fingers crossed for this lovely show). With a solidly constructed book by Lisa Loomer (The Waiting Room) and Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls), based on the play by Josefina López and the HBO film, “Real Women Have Curves” (screenplay by López and George LaVoo), the music and story come alive against a backdrop of painted flowers and L.A. smog, courtesy of some very fine work done by set designer Arnulfo Maldonado (Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club) and lighting designer Natasha Katz (Broadway’s Sweeney Todd). It’s charming, lovely, and heartfelt, overflowing with honest engagements and conflicts that ring emotionally true, and we couldn’t be more engaged if we tried.
The music and lyrics by Joy Huerta (one half of the Latin pop duo Jess & Jo) and Benjamin Velez (Borderline) come alive before us, with a rhythm and sound that will make your body move with joy and abandonment. It’s filled with an endless swatch of energy and a playful edge like I’ve never heard before on the Broadway stage, sewn with a Latin beat that rivals the Buena Vista Social Club score on the other side of Times Square. Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud), the musical unpacks a layering that revolves around the conflict of familial bonds and personal dreams, as well, although to a somewhat lesser degree, the love of your physical self, regardless of your dress size.
I’ve never seen the film that this wonderfully engaging musical is based, and although love and desire is present in the forever chatter with this women, the real complication that drives this show is not the size of its lead, but the tight spot our leading lady, Ana, dynamically portrayed by Tatianna Córdoba making her Broadway debut, finds herself in after being offered a full scholarship ride in Colombia University’s writing program, clear on the other side of the United States. It sounds like a dream come true, unless you are the only legal resident within your family, and the one who manages all the legal issues that come up within a family of illegal immigrants running and working in a sewing factory making dresses. It’s a very timely story, one that packs a solid punch, even if our headlines weren’t overrun with stories of mass deportations at the hands of ICE officers and this country’s current heartless government officials.
The sewing factory, run by Ana’s older sister, Estella, played by Florencia Cuenca (Off-Broadway’s A Never Ending Line), is always in need of some tender care and an influx of help, in the form of much-needed repairs and orders. Working at the machines that constantly break down or vibrate uncontrollably (enjoy it! they joke with one another), is a pack of feisty caring women all with their own origin and survival stories in a land that isn’t so hospitable to their souls and their families, including Ana and Estella’s mother, the judgemental, hard as nails, and protective mama bear, Carmen, played by Justina Machado (Broadway’s In the Heights). Carmen runs the family like a tight ship that must navigate stormy waters constantly, after arriving from Mexico with her loving, quiet husband, the lovely Raúl, gently embodied by Mauricio Mendoza (“Resurrection Blvd“). There is fear of discovery all around them, so the idea of Ana leaving for New York City, regardless of her dreams, is seen as a threat to the safety of the family unit, and in Carmen’s eyes, that safety is of the utmost importance.
Put your dreams on hold, she says as Real Women Have Curves stitches itself into the real story at the core of this colorful musical: the immigrant conflict, and all that is required to juggle the system and keep them all out of the clutches of the INS. There is a raid in the pillow factory next door, as this crew of sewing immigrants huddle in the dark, afraid of being discovered and sent back to the homes and countries they have purposefully left behind in search of a better life. These women; Prima Flaca, played by Shelby Acosta (Broadways’ 1776); Pancha, portrayed by Carla Jimenez (“Nacho Libre“); Itzel, played by Aline Mayagoitia (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”); Rosalí, played by Jennifer Sánchez (Broadway’s Elf); and Prima Fulvia, played joyfully by Sandra Valls; try to live their lives to the fullest, while being always vigilent to the dangers of being snatched up and deported. It’s a powerful threat to their existence that these women and their families must live sewn within, and with the close call next door, the fear is only escalated.
Real women have flaws. They take chances and know their hearts. They embrace life and are beautiful to behold, regardless of their size and shape. So says the movie’s trailer. Even so, Ana has some other dreams. She wants to fly like a bird and be free (alongside another wildly funny writing release), soaring up high like the wonderfully comical, yet centered, playful song sung to perfection by Mayagoitia’s Itzel to Córdoba’s Ana on the factory’s rooftop. It speaks volumes to their position and their plight, as the song, like so many in this charming musical is emotionally authentic, while also being extremely catchy and playful, thanks to the solid work of music director, Roberto Sinha (Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen), music supervisor, co-orchestrator, co-arranger Nadia Digiallonardo (Broadway’s Hair) alongside co-orchestrator and co-arranger Rich Mercado (Broadway’s Redwood), with a solid festive sound design by John Shivers (Broadway’s Shucked). The music and the emotional clarity of the context shimmer and flow as authentically and wonderfully as the lovely costumes designed by Wilberth Gonzalez (SITP’s The Tempest) and Paloma Young (Broadway’s & Juliet). The music and visuals are colorful and honest, much like the whole piece, and we can’t help but be sewn into the realness and the rhythm of it all.
Ana’s conflict is to fly or stay caged, as she struggles to both help her sister in the factory with a huge timed order for 200 dresses by the shady, but stern fashionable business woman, Mrs. Wright, portrayed by Claudia Mulet (US Tour of On Your Feet), while also j-j-juggling an unpaid internship as a reporter at a local newspaper. This is where her true love and talent lie, helping to inform her fellow immigrants as well as exposing the truth and lies within the system. It is there where she meets the geeky, handsome fellow journalist wanna-be, Henry, lovingly portrayed by Mason Reeves (Signature Theatre’s Hair), who sees her as a smart, beautiful young woman, regardless of her curves (or maybe because of them). Together, they try to get a handle on their budding romance and learn a few things about loving themselves and each other.
“I want you to see me,” says our heroine of Broadway’s newest musical, Real Women Have Curves, and we join in with that sentiment. It seems in their world, one mistake can put an immigrant’s life on perpetual hold, where they are forced to live in anxious fear of what might happen, while also trying to embrace the world they are working so hard to embrace. It’s about growth and familial care, while balancing dreams and desires for a better future. It’s what we used to say this country was built upon, and even though lately the freedom bird is living in anxious fear, caging itself for protection and safety, the hope still exists somewhere deep inside that the tide will change, and these wonderful women and their families may once again grab hold of that next breeze and soar as boldly as this wonderfully loving musical.
