There are issues that do not lose their validity and are affected by geographical locations. The story that reflects the Canadian musical comedy Come from Away by Canadians Irene Sankoff and David Hein sought to reflect what happened on the island of Gander, after the attack of September 11, 2001. That population was an example of solidarity and so it was The director Carla Calabrese understood when she began rehearsals in Buenos Aires thinking of opening in 2020. The pandemic did not make her lower her arms and against all odds she kept her full cast and they premiered last year. The public arrived, the excellent reviews and the awards. Everything prompted her to return to her house in 2023: the Maipo stage. The functions will be from Friday to Sunday with the same interpreters: Gabriela Bevacqua, Carla Calabrese, Sebastián Holz, Mela Lenoir, Fernando Margenet, Argentino Molinuevo, Edgardo Moreira, Silvina Nieto, Marisol Otero, Agustín Pérez Costa, Pablo Sultani, Silvana Tomé, Manu Victoria, Lali Vidal and Pato Witis, plus eight live musicians on stage.
She, Marisol Otero, was born in this musical genre, while Edgardo Moreira returned to it after several years. In this report, both share the same passion and reflect it in two voices.
—What is it like to put on a show and are fears good?
MARISOL OTERO: Replenish has something very beneficial, which is knowing that the show was liked, that’s why it comes back. One goes from a more relaxed place, knowing that the people supported him. At the same time you have fewer rehearsals, because the body has memory and you are looking for a different growth. I wouldn’t say fear, but the challenge is to have your character alive, finding something new for him every day and keeping the story alive.
EDGARDO MOREIRA: With this proposal, I am concerned about performing well, since the vocal demand is greater. I take care not to catch a cold, on the other hand, since there are several choreographies, I added pilates to have the most elastic body possible. We have been watching the videos of the different musical groups for almost a month to refresh, then come the face-to-face rehearsals with many hours. We have been since December without doing it. I need to play it like a movie, frame by frame. The fear or fear is not being in a good state, but now I’m pretty calm.
—Do nominations and awards help?
O: I think so, beyond the ego. An award that adds is visibility, it gives us an extra press that encourages those who did not see it to see it. And sometimes the one who has already seen it makes you want to see it again. The public of the musical usually comes more than once and knows the songs, it is very typical of the genre. It’s easier to learn the lyrics, since music always helps. It is a beautiful energy that is palpable. When I made Mamma mia, everyone knew the songs, since they were from the ABBA group.
M: I think not us. It seems very good to me that there are prizes, but I feel that the public is not interested. It is used for advertising and at one point in the season, when the premiere notes have already been made and to be able to remember that the show is still on the billboard. The nominations and awards help to put it back on display. There are people who came last year five times to see it. Come from Away was the most nominated show in Hugo Awards history and that marks an event.
—This musical focuses on solidarity: do you think the pandemic changed us?
M: The pandemic isolated us and it seems to me that Come from Away had an impact because it is the big hug, where containment is shown. Today you see theaters, concerts and restaurants full of people, despite inflation, it seems to me that people seek to be with more people. I think there was a need to leave the house, that’s how it was seen at the World Cup celebration. It was the largest concentration in history, regardless of ideologies, they say there were five million people. Beyond the fanaticism that football awakens. It seems to me that the pandemic, without forgetting the traumatic events and deaths, opened the doors to another type of communication such as Zoom, taking advantage of the sidewalks and the outdoors. I feel that there is more need to communicate with the other. Perhaps reality, being distressing, seeks joy and the hug with the one next to it.
O: I think many of us became more supportive. It seems to me that these blows in life change us. Either you get stronger or you stay the same. Everyone learns and heals what they have to learn.
—Can you draw a parallel between that attack on the Twin Towers and the current war in Ukraine?
M: When we were rehearsing this play and while we were assembling the chairs as if it were an airplane, the director Carla (Calabrese) came showing the plane that her husband Enrique Piñeyro has with his NGO (Open Arms) where the refugees leaving Ukraine were seen.
O: It’s like love in the middle of war. The show does not talk about the attack. In our case, both Carla and Enrique are supportive and I think we have to show people with light. It seems to me that revealing the good, trying to see the light, helps. I seek solidarity at all levels, there is no need to be in the dark. I choose a lot what I do and I think that today people need hope.
—How are they affected by the aesthetic pressures of the medium?
O: At this moment in my life I pay more attention to my existence from another side. I’m not going to lie that I killed myself in the gym, I even had eating problems, sometimes losing weight or gaining weight. The actor must be a mass, which must be worked, depending on the character. I often wonder why don’t we make real people? At this time there is even cyberbullying, we must learn to deconstruct ourselves, so as not to become what we are not. .
M: Luckily I don’t have the age problem. I seek to maintain myself as best I can, but the years do not weigh me down. I’m not lying: I’m 71. I think it’s part of the insecurity and madness that producers sometimes try to impose. One does not need surgery, because the faces end up being others. It seems to me that identity and expression are lost. I had to work with different actresses and I couldn’t stop looking at their mouths so stuffed, I saw the plastic and I couldn’t see inside that person. I am very sorry that they suffer from it, also when actresses are required to be thin and always young, putting their health at risk and losing their identity. At this time I believe that we should all try not to lose common sense and take refuge in the real affections we have, to maintain sanity. The battle against time is lost, you have to make friends with the years. And the most beautiful verb is to learn.
film, television and teaching
Edgardo Moreira anticipates: “I just finished two chapters for the second season of While You Were Breeding for Disney+ and I think it will be very difficult for air channels to compete with that quality and resources. There were more than a hundred people attending in all areas. I took riding lessons, so I don’t need double. I play a ranch patron, surrounded by actors of different nationalities, with a Mexican director. It seems to me that we should think of other formats. Today there is a lot to choose from”.
Moreira calculates that the film Luces azules by Lucas Santa Ana will only be seen next year. “It was produced by Sombras Cine and was the last work of Claudio Da Passano (he died in January). I was moved to see it in a special private film that they did for us before it began its tour at festivals, since they demand that it be unpublished. We filmed it in July 2022. It is a fiction closely related to the gay world, the interesting thing is that it shows human beings in a relationship with death and old age”.
Marisol Otero, as well as an actress, is an author and composer of pop rock. She can now be seen in the jury of the new edition of Canta conmigo by ElTrece. She has been running her own musical comedy school for fifteen years now. She assures: “When I started I had to study everything separately, in which I founded we specialized in each area: singing, dancing and acting, to unite everything. I come from a very humble family and we are many siblings, luckily I was able to study and graduate thanks to winning a scholarship. I had many no’s and it strengthens me. It seems to me that today they have everything much easier and sometimes they lack commitment, the discipline has changed”.
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