Latinologues
I'm Isa Goldberg reporting
on LATINOLOGUES at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway.
There's no doubt that
LATINOLOGUES exploits Hispanic stereotypes just as much as Jewish
humor reiterates the stereotypes of Jewish mothers and their overly
attached sons. People aren't perfect, and ethnic humor being what
it is, points the accusatory finger at identifiable behaviors.
But as the first Latino written, directed and produced show on
Broadway it's a breakthrough and an entertaining one.
Through the show's stand
up comedy, a series of monologues, we meet a lineup of characters – from
a Mexican border control cop to a Puerto Rican "puta" and
everyone else in between. In a coup de theatre, the show's star
comedian, Eugenio Derbez, shows that all of these characters belong
to one family when his gender-bending portrayal of a matronly Puerto
Rican proves to be the mother of them all. Wearing excessive rouge
and gesticulating with a large silver cross, Derbez reveals a capacity
for self mockery which he brings to other characterizations – a
Mexican Moses who hands down commandments such as, "Thou shalt
not bootleg DVDs" and a migrant worker who establishes the
3rd world Olympics. In this aerobically challenging role, he demonstrates
how he trains 80 hours a week picking tomatoes and lettuce and
handing out flyers for sex clubs.
Subservience, a condition
for many of these characters, sometimes takes the form of political
satire. In one "Saturday Night Live" type of scene, Elian
Gonzalez's father complains to Fidel Castro on the telephone. "I
want to travel to America and I want to be younger than the Buena
Vista Social Club when I do."
More poignant is Rene
Lavan's transformation from a macho bus boy with a gold chain to
a world trade center janitor after 9/11. Sweeping the stage floor
he describes how he lost a lot of friends on that day. "You'll
never hear about them because they're illegal aliens." The
janitor says as he insists on sweeping until he finds his wife.
Humor, of course, is
the show's primary playing card. Along those lines, Shirley A.
Rumierk is divine as the Puerto Rican beauty pageant winner and
Madonna wannabe who pulls a gun on the crowd rather than giving
up her crown and her scholarship to NY Tech.
Stereotypes or not, LATINOLOGUES
expresses diversity within the Latino community with a sense of
how we invest in our own cultural personas – virgin, puta,
stud, wetback and father.
That’s This Week on Broadway. I’m Isa Goldberg.
