Repertorio Español was founded in 1968 to introduce the best of Latin American, Spanish and Hispanic-American theatre in distinctive, quality productions.
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An exhilarating musical adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa’s “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service) will have its world-premiere at Repertorio Español on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 7pm. (Previews begin Wednesday, October 14, 2009.) This original adaptation by Jorge Alí Triana and Verónica Triana, will have music composed by Grammy Nominee Andrés Cabas from Colombia and choreography by Sunilda Caraballo from "Celia: The Musical". The production will be directed by Jorge Alí Triana.
September 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: JOSE ANTONIO CRUZ, REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL
JCRUZ@REPERTORIO.ORG | 212-225-9955
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An exhilarating musical adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa’s “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service) will have its world-premiere at Repertorio Español on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 7pm. (Previews begin Wednesday, October 14, 2009.)
This original adaptation by Jorge Alí Triana and Verónica Triana, will have music composed by Grammy Nominee Andrés Cabas from Colombia and choreography by Sunilda Caraballo from "Celia: The Musical". The production will be directed by Jorge Alí Triana.
“Pantaleón y las visitadoras” will play in repertory at Repertorio Español and is presented in Spanish with live English translation. The cast includes Princess Grace Award Recipient Denise Quiñones, Spanish-language TV Star Anthony Alvarez and veteran Company members Ricardo Barber, Selenis Leyva, Marcelo Rodríguez & Silvia Sierra.
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-Synopsis, performance schedule and production team biographies follow-
For high resolution photos, visit http://www.repertorio.org/pantapress
For music samples and videos visit: http://www.repertorio.org/pantaleon
Repertorio Español commissioned Jorge Alí Triana, the distinguished Theater, Film and TV Director from Colombia, and Verónica Triana to prepare an original musical adaptation of Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel “Pantaleón y las visitadoras" (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service). The adaptation includes music by multiple Grammy Nominee, composer, singer and pop sensation Andrés Cabas. Cabas has created a score infused with tropical rythms which transmit the essence of the Amazonian region, where the play is set. The lyrics are by Jorge Alí Triana and Verónica Triana and choreography by Sunilda Caraballo from the off-Broadway production of "Celia: The Musical." Previews for the production begin on Wednesday, October 14 and the official premiere will be on Monday, October 19, at 7pm at Repertorio Español’s Gramercy Arts Theater located on 138 East 27th Street in Manhattan, New York. Tickets start at $25 and may be reserved now at www.repertorio.org or calling 212-225-9920.
KEY PEOPLE “PANTALEON Y LAS VISITADORAS”:
Mario Vargas Llosa (Author): Peruvian novelist, essayist, journalist, literary critic, one of the central writers in the Hispanic world. Jorge Alí Triana (Co-Adapter, Director): Film, TV and Theater Director. Triana has adapted numerous novels by master Latin American authors all presented to great critical acclaim in New York and throughout Latin America. Andrés Cabas (Composer): Colombian singer, composer and musician. Grammy Nominee for his album titled “Contacto” in 2003. Repertorio Español (Producer): The nation's pre-eminent Spanish language theater now on its 42nd season. The company presents a rotating repertory of over 12 different productions every year. Robert Federico (Production Designer): Repertorio’s Executive Director and Resident Designer. Federico has designed dozens of productions for Repertorio Español and received numerous HOLA & ACE Awards for his work. CAST: Denise Quiñones (La Brazilera), Miss Universe 2001 and Princess Grace Theater Award Recipient. Quiñones was last seen at Repertorio Español's production of Caridad Svich's "The House of the Spirits" based on Isabel Allende's novel. Anthony Alvarez (Pantaleón) is a Spanish-language TV star and a member of Repertorio's Company of Actors. Theater credits include "Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands" and "Boxcar".
ABOUT “PANTALEON Y LAS VISITADORAS”:
"…the sportiest and funniest of Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels..." - The New York Times Book Review.
In “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” (Captain Pantoja and The Special Service,) the Peruvian Army recruits Captain Pantaleón Pantoja, a model soldier, a man of integrity and a good husband, for an outlandish mission: to create and manage a Special Service of “visitors” to fulfill the troop’s necessities and to put an end to the rapes of local women by the garrison. Even though it is everything against his moral code, Captain Pantoja is a consummate soldier and the visiting service quickly becomes the most efficient branch of the armed forces.
Captain Pantoja’s official progress reports are filled with military statistics and jargon which often become the story’s funniest moments. Based on true events, the story questions and satirizes the moral standards of the government, the bourgeois and the army. The novel was seen as a provocation by the Peruvian Government which prohibited the filming of the original movie adaptation in 1974. A second movie adaptation, this time in Perú, was directed by Francisco Lombardi in 1999.
ABOUT MARIO VARGAS LLOSA (AUTHOR):
Mario Vargas Llosa, novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist and literary critic is one of the central writers in the Hispanic world. Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, Perú. He started his literary career in Europe, but most of his novels are set in Perú. Although Vargas Llosa has followed the tradition of social protest of Peruvian fiction exposing political corruption, machismo, racial prejudices and violence, he has underlined that a writer should never preach or compromise artistic aims for ideological propaganda.
He studied literature and law at the University of San Marcos and received a Ph.D. from the University of Madrid in 1959. He has worked as a visiting professor at the Queen Mary College and King’s College in London, the King Juan Carlos University in Spain, the University of Puerto Rico and Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Harvard University and Georgetown University in the United States among others. He served as President of the PEN Club International and has received numerous honorary degrees as well as prestigious literary awards including the Leopoldo Alas Prize (1959), the Rómulo Gallegos Prize (1967), the National Critics' Prize (1967), the Peruvian National Prize (1967), the Critics' Annual Prize for Theatre (1981), the Prince of Asturias Prize (1986) and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1994). He is married to Patricia Llosa and has two sons and a daughter.
ABOUT JORGE ALí TRIANA (CO-ADAPTER, DIRECTOR):
Colombian born, Jorge Alí Triana, is one of Latin America’s most successful film and theater directors. In New York and for Repertorio Español, Triana has garnered great accolades for his successful stagings of novels from Latin America’s master authors. In 2008 he directed Jorge Amado’s “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” for which El Diario expressed “Much was expected of this production and Triana (the director) and the cast have surpassed these expectations… they’ve given us – from beginning to end — a sensual feast and a joyful celebration for all of us to enjoy.” In 2003, Triana adapted and directed Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Feast of the Goat” for which Bruce Weber of The New York Times stated that “the show makes eerily atmospheric pageantry…and vivid the wages of despotism, for a nation and for a man.” (The production was picked as one of his ten favorites for the season) In 1999, Triana directed Gabriel García Márquez's “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” which The Village Voice called “Hypnotizing” and “Poetic.” Previously at Repertorio he directed “The Innocent Eréndira” also by García Márquez and “And the Carnival Erupted” an original play whose production was heralded as “staged with marvelous theatricality and skill” by Howard Kissel from the New York Daily News. Other theater credits include Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” and “Richard III”; Lope de Vega's “Fuenteovejuna” and Arthur Miller's “Death of a salesman.” Triana has collaborated with Gabriel García Márquez in various film and theater projects including “Tiempo de morir” (Time to Die) and “Edipo Alcalde” (Oedipus the Mayor.) He has won numerous awards including the People’s Choice Award in Toulouse, France and the Golden Ombú Award for his film “I am Bolívar.” He has also received numerous ACE (Association of Hispanic Theatre Critics) and HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) Awards. He is the founder of Bogotá’s Popular Theatre and currently directs at Colombia’s National Theatre and Repertorio Español.
ABOUT ANDRES CABAS (MUSICAL COMPOSER):
Andrés Cabas was born in Colombia in 1977 in a household of musicians and composers. From age five, he studied jazz and classical music as well as percussion and piano. He is best known for his “Confusion of styles,” a particular method of interpreting traditional rhythms of Colombian folklore in a modern and current context. In 2001 he released his self-titled album “Cabas,” a work loaded with sensuality, rhythm and flavor, exquisitely combined with original lyrics and melodies. "Mi bombón" was the theme that gave him a name in the international market and confirmed the appeal of this exciting musical mix as he rose rapidly in the radio listings, reaching more than three months at the top of popularity in Colombia. Cabas reached several international nominations, including Best New Artist at the 2002 Latin Grammy Awards and MTV Latin Awards as well as the People's Internet Award and Rock Video of the Year for "Tu boca" in the Premios Lo Nuestro. Cabas has collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas, Sargento García and producers Kike Santander and Carlos Jean. This is Cabas' first collaboration with Repertorio Español.
ABOUT VERONICA TRIANA (CO-ADAPTER):
An emerging playwright and screenwriter in her own right, Veronica Triana is the daughter of Jorge Ali Triana. She graduated from the University of Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia and holds a Masters in Screenwriting from the Universidad Pontífica of Salamanca, Spain. Verónica has worked as Development Director for films such as “Perro come Perro” (“Dog Eats Dog,” Sundance 2008) and “La sangre y la lluvia” (“Blood and Rain,” Venice Festival 2009.) She collaborated with Jorg Hiller in the development of “Esto huele mal” (This smells bad) a movie directed by her father, Jorge Alí Triana, and based on the novel by Fernando Quiroz. Also along with her father, Verónica co-adatpted various Latin American novels to the stage including Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Feast of the Goat” (2003) and “Captain Pantoja and The Special Service” (2009) and Jorge Amado’s “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” (2007). These adaptations have premiered at New York’s Repertorio Español and at Colombia’s National Theater. Verónica is co-founder of the Audiovisual Festival “Toma Cinco” sponsored by the Colombian Culture Ministry and Bogotá’s Culture and Tourism Institute.
ABOUT THE CAST:
The production counts with a stellar cast that includes Denise Quiñones, Miss Universe 2001, recipient of the Princess Grace Award 2009 for theater and previously seen in plays such as “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” and “The House of the Spirits” at Repertorio; Anthony Alvarez a renowned Spanish-language TV Star and previously seen at Repertorio Español in productions such as “Boxcar” and “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” as well as veteran Company members Ricardo Barber (Gen. Trujillo in “The Feast of the Goat” and Don Quijote in “El Quijote”,) Selenis Leyva (NBC’s “Law and Order” and Flor in “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” and Tránsito in “The House of the Spirits”) and Marcelo Rodríguez (Bloodied Lorca in Nilo Cruz’s “Lorca in a Green Dress” and Manuel Alfonso in “The Feast of the Goat.) Also joining the cast are Silvia Sierra (“Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” & “The House of Bernarda Alba,) Modesto Lacén (“Celia: The Musical” & “Gardel, The Musical”,) Raúl Durán (“Anna in The Tropics” & “El Quijote”,) Mónica Pérez Brandes (“La gringa” & “The Feast of the Goat”,) Ricardo Hinoa (“Signed & Sealed,” “Lorca in a Green Dress” & “The Feast of the Goat”,) Zulema Clares (“Anna in The Tropics” & “Life is a Dream”,) Yanko Bakulic (“El Quijote” & “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”,) Eric Robledo (“Boxcar” & “The House of the Spirits”,) Jessica Florí (“Doña Rosita The Spinster”) and Sunilda Caraballo (“Celia: The Musical” and choreographer for “Pantaleón…”)
ABOUT REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL:
Repertorio Español, now on its 42nd season, was founded in 1968 by Gilberto Zaldívar and René Buch to present the best of Latin American, Spanish and Hispanic-American theatre in distinctive, quality productions, and to bring theatre to a broad audience in New York City and across the country, including seniors, students and Hispanics of all national backgrounds. The organization has been awarded Drama Desk, OBIE and New York State Governor's Awards.
Repertorio Español has a long and successful tradition of adapting master literary works by Latin American authors. The Company has commissioned and produced to great critical acclaim, adaptations of Gabriel García Márquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” (10 years in repertory); Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Feast of the Goat” (6 years in repertory); Miguel de Cervantes’ “El Quijote” (4 years in repertory); Jorge Amado’s “Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands” (2 years in repertory) and Isabel Allende's "The House of the Spirits" (premiered in 2009).
Jorge Alí Triana directs at Repertorio Español thanks to a residency sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & The Booth Ferris Foundation. “Captain Pantoja and The Special Service” is made possible, in part, thanks to the generosity of The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and
The Shubert Foundation.
TICKETS AND RESERVATIONS:
Tickets for “Pantaleón y las visitadoras” begin at $25 and may be reserved online by visiting www.repertorio.org; by phone 212-225-9920 or in person at Repertorio Español located on 138 East 27th Street New York, NY 10016 between Lexington and Third Avenues (Sun-Thurs 9am-7pm, Fri-Sat 9am-9pm). Pre-sale special: $10 off the regular ticket price if reserved before October 10. Use code PANTA.
FOR AN UP TO DATE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE VISIT: CLICK HERE
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