Maniche: a rock musical like you have never seen
Nacho Cano has put together a show that is so good, so big, and so inspirational that if you don’t see it in Mexico City, I suspect you will see it in Las Vegas. The show is the rock musical Malinche ( more about her later).
Cano was a founding member of the legendary Spanish pop band Mecano in 1981 with his brother José María Cano and singer Ana Torroja. He has brought all of his musical chops, and his music festival technical chops, together in a theatrical event that is extraordinary. The cast is top-notch, and the dancers are world-class. The music is out of this world. The energy flowing off the stage is amazing and contagious. And, for Mexican audiences in the current Mexico City production, it leaves them intensely proud to be Mexican. That, from a Spaniard.
For my American and British readers Malinche is one of Mexico’s most controversial figures. A young Mexica (Aztec) girl who turned out to be a brilliant linguist and diplomat, was sold into slavery by her mother so her step brother could inherit the family fortune. She ended up owned by a Tabascan chief who gave her to Cortez as a peace offering. Cortez saw her value and after she added Spanish to the indigenous languages she spoke, she used her translation ability and diplomatic skill to put together the alliances that gave Cortez the troops he needed to conquer Moctezuma. She then translated the negotiations between Cortez and Moctezuma, which ended the Aztec empire, and for this she is held as a traitor in Mexico. But the son she had with Cortez was the first recorded Mestizo, making her the Mother of the Mexican race.
The musical reframes her history as a love story between her and Cortez and depicts the conquistadors as ambitious, greedy, and self-centered. The musical focuses on her role as a mediator during the Spanish conquest and the woman who created a new race, bringing together the qualities of the Aztec and Spanish cultures, with a heavy emphasis on the Catholic part of the Conquest. This is a fresh perspective, portraying Malinche with empathy and nuance, and reframing her as a symbol of unity rather than betrayal which challenges traditional narratives taught in Mexican schools.
Regardless of the historical debates that Cano has kicked off, the production is cosmic. The Fronton theater offers a stage roughly twce the size of the average Broadway theater, and he fills it with a jumbotron that rivals Times Square in size and sharpness, two levels of bands , a cast of 50 made up of dancers plus the leads, Carla Centenoas Malinche, and Danny Rosado as Hernán Cortés, plus fabulous supporting actors like Luis Sanchez, who played in Jesus Christ Superstar.
The story is set among exploding volcanos, fearsome warriors, human sacrifice, comets blazing through the skies, boats in bodies of water on stage, a burning city (Templo Major), and tender love. All accompanied by a soundtrack and dance extravaganza that is a high energy blend of screaming rock, flamenco, and urban hip-hop. The dance numbers combine extraordinary flamenco (I was sitting with a flamenco dancer whose mouth was agape at the dancing) and hip hop.
The jumbotron was as much an actor as the cast, enveloping the audience in magical jungles, raging war, violent seas, a raucous tavern, and the heavens filled with comments and planets and stars. At one point, in a scene of a vast Aztec army, the front line of soldiers stepped out onto the stage and joined the dancing. In the second act, a giant Aztec temple emerges onstage, backed by flame red skies as the high priest conducts a human sacrifice to the beat of native drums in the temple led by Milo Salas on the drum kit with the band, while Luis Pablo Tamayo’s guitar howled in pain and fear and anger.
Amid the rock music and dancing and storm-tossed boats, there was a story, although the narrative is a bit muddled at times, with Malinche herself occasionally relegated to the background in favor of spectacle and Cortez. But she has her moments of glory; in one dance scene, leading a veritable army of white-clad women (well, not much clad), symbolizing the army she assembled for Cortez and her power as a leader. And of course, mediating between Cortez and Moctezuma.
Malinche, took 15 years to assemble, and has seen 800 performances and 600,000 spectators in Europe. My friend, Luis Sanchez, one of the cast members, said the night I saw it marked 89 performances in Mexico. I saw it twice, so that makes 90. It is scheduled through November 2025; after that that there are no publicly known plans, except for the album, which has been recorded. For those of you who would like to venture to Mexico City (a city full of wonders and music and theatre) it is playing at the Fronton Theater. Ticket prices are roughly half of what you would pay for a Broadway ticket and far less than a major concert. For those of you who are not going to Mexico City, there is a Netflix documentary on the making of Malinche.
Patrick O’Heffernan