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February 23, 2015
Review: Rosario and the Gypsies
Rosario and the Gypsies. Photo credit: Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation.
Rosario and the Gypsies. Photo credit: Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation.

It’s a post-sexual revolution world and Rosario is hung up on the 1970s counterculture she was once a part of. The glory days are over for this flamenco dancer and now she hangs around an old stage in San Diego, waiting for someone, anyone, to show up and watch her and her band of disillusioned performers. Cuban-American playwright Eduardo Machado’s uneven musical Rosario and the Gypsies is mostly about persistence in the face of shattered dreams.

Rosario (Heather Velazquez) speaks of revolution but it means nothing and everyone else knows it. She shouts ad nauseam about “the man” and “liberation” but there’s no substance to it. She’s just a middling talent with energy to burn and no one to perform for besides herself and her few friends. Her husband, Howard (Quinlan Corbett), is a bitter man desperate for a normal life and a family, and avails himself of the freedoms their open marriage affords. She returns the favor by making out with Max (Robert Boston), pianist and the most hippie-like of the group, every chance she gets.

The rest of the troupe seems like they are trying too hard for a woman they vacillate between loving and hating. Drag queen Claude (Michael Domitrovich) is trying to do his best as a dancer while staving off the advances of Joe (Kirk McGee), a closeted homosexual who ironically works for a Christian morality group trying to censor Rosario. McGee is best when he doubles as the vaudevillian Uncle Sam during scene changes. Gustave (John J. Concado) is the comic relief; though underutilized in the first act, he comes back fairly strong in the second.

Heather Velazquez and Gizel Jiminez in Rosario and the Gypsies. Photo credit: Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation.
Heather Velazquez and Gizel Jimenez in Rosario and the Gypsies. Photo credit: Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation.

The two women of the group truly stand out, to such an extent that it highlights how lackluster the other actors are. Heather Velazquez is magnetic and fierce as the stubborn and ambitious Rosario. She really commits to the performance even as her supporting actors seem to give up. Gizel Jimenez as the irresistible flirt Mary has easily the nicest singing voice of the ensemble, which she doesn’t get to use enough in this play. The choreography (Crystal Field) relies heavily on the writhing bodies of its female actors.

The music (Rick Vartorella) is pretty good but the lyrics (Machado) are often confusing. There are many songs that seem like they have nothing to do with the story. It’s like it’s trying to channel Hair with the free love idealism and each character doing a solo about some counterculture idea. However, there are a couple of really beautiful songs that stick out: the intro to the second act, a piano solo played by Max; and “Ramon,” a gorgeous lullaby sung by Rosario to a late friend’s son. The music is best when it’s sincere.

All this to say the play could use some tightening up. The second act drags on and the message isn’t very solid. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a play about a hero or about a failure. Besides a few good songs, a bit of decent acting, and some entertaining choreography, Rosario and the Gypsies needs a revolution…and a jolt of electricity.

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Written by: Tami Shaloum
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