Cruzar La Cara De La Luna - MN Opera at the Ordway

 "Cruzar la Cara de la Luna" opened Saturday night at the Ordway Theatre. Presented by Minnesota Opera, this was my first experience with a mariachi Opera. Written by Leonard Foglia, with music by José "Pepe" Martínez, the opera is told through the style of traditional mariachi music. It was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and premiered there in Sept. of 2010. I am a bit sad that it took this long for this wonderful piece to show up on my radar.

Expertly directed by David Radamés Toro, and conducted by David Hanlon (who also did amazing orchestral arrangements), the work is a short piece. As my friend Jill from Cherry and Spoon says - her favorite phrase is "90 min, no intermission." This work is less than 90 minutes, and tells the story of Laurentino, and his family. So what makes this interesting? The fact that Laurentino has two families in two countries. After leaving Mexico to come to the USA for work, he ends up having a family still in Mexico, and after certain events take place, starting a family here in the US. The opera starts with him at the age of 75, very ill, and this is when his American family finds out about his Mexican family. The story unfolds through Laurentino's memories, and we also see current family members struggle with the new knowledge of the family tree. 

In a similar vein to Mozart's Magic Flute, the work is not sung through, but has some spoken dialogue. The music is all in the mariachi style and I found it to be an incredibly moving work. The music is fantastic, the story is current and relatable in many ways, and the whole evening was magical. The cast is fairly small and they all have wonderful voices - as expected with a MN Opera production. What I enjoyed was hearing the combination of traditional opera singing mixed with mariachi-style singing, all blending perfectly with the mariachi band and orchestrations. This is the first work in a trilogy written by the same authors and I would love to see the other two works at some point. I think it is a great blend of cultures, as well as providing insight into experiences some of us don't have - yet plenty of people do. With the community we have here in the Twin Cities, I think this was a wonderful way to open the new Opera season at the Ordway. I think you should go, and make sure to stay after the show for a fiesta on the main second floor lobby - with a live mariachi band. The whole evening was a fantastic experience visually, musically, and emotionally.

Photos by Dan Norman