|
The Flamenco musical said goodbye to Barcelona with the frustration of not having had the awaited for audience but with the OK of those who watched itThe world premiere of "Las Mil y una Noches" ("A Thousand and One Nights") ended yesterday in Barcelona with a bitter sweet aftertaste a week before of what had been anticipated. The demanding critics of the press experts didn't forgive the lack of detail in the conception of this musical show produced by the seasoned Tito Losada, with choreography by the famous dancer Antonio Canales and scenic direction by the Colombian movie director Sergio Cabrera. It was called "Fast food of the flamenco", "A Thousand and One Nightmares" and accused of being a "Kitsch" and "Naif" show. There was no contemplation, it was "sour milk".
The task was everything but easy. Trying to reproduce nowadays in a flamenco show one of the most representative Arabian mediaeval literary works is no mean feat. It demands creativity and a very fine aesthetic sense. That is comprehensible. But one cannot however overlook the essential tact that the musical elements and dancing came foremost and in what regards this aspect little against it can be said. Music, in charge of the Losada siblings, could not be better and the performance by all dancers was "devoted". Boys and Girls exuded all the passion that could be hoped from Flamenco performers. Young people full of desire for succeeding . There was a girl of 18 and all (well, almost all) showed that there was a glittering future ahead.
Everything was not perfect though; a couple of remarks: costumes didn’t come up to expectations, the feminine forms being overdressed by loose garment and inadequate colours. Perhaps fit for a fashion show but not for a stage, some minor technical failures in what concerned the sound department, lighting and projections should also be revised, and lastly and least, the narrative. If one doesn't happen to know the tales, one ends up lost, since there is no coherence in narrative.
When we however, speak about a grand scale show with over 30 artists on stage, the lack of the above mentioned details neither harm nor hide, what is most important in such a spectacle: the determination of the 5 male and the 10 female dancers and the great professionalism of a score of musicians who offered very fine musical and scenic moments to those who watched this work.
Yesterday, on the last performance by the artists, the public seemed not to let them go with standing ovations.
Ricardo Nuno :.
Tuesday, July 25th '02
The dancers lent all their energy and passion to the spectacle