2014-2015 Season
Cruzar la Cara de la Luna
Review - mariachi opera Cruzar soars joyfully
Arizona Opera opens it 2014-2015 season with the mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna. It first premiered in Houston in 2010 as a simple, compelling 90-minute story.
The audience follows Laurentino, a Mexican immigrant living in Phoenix, who is dying and slipping in and out of lucidity. He remembers a past that he has kept hidden from the son and granddaughter at his bedside.
The affecting story, told in a mix of Spanish and English, is by librettist Leonard Foglia, who also directs the production. The music is by José "Pepe" Martínez, longtime bandleader of Mexico's famed Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, which also provides the show's 15-piece band, playing horns, strings and guitars and singing onstage with the cast of characters.