Now Playing – Strictly Limited Run

Off-Broadway World Premiere

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New York Times Critic’s Pick!  — “The uniformly great ensemble players seem to be having the time of their lives onstage, an infectious feeling they transmit to audience members, who appear ready to leave their seats and join the party.” Click Here to Read the Review: ‘¡Guaracha!,’ Jubilantly Reclaiming Its Roots

Adapted from the internationally acclaimed novel La guaracha del Macho Camacho by Luis Rafael Sánchez, ¡GUARACHA! is a new musical satire from Pregones/PRTT’s Latinx ensemble. The backdrop is an epic afternoon traffic-jam in mid-1970s San Juan, Puerto Rico. The sun is blazing hot and hit song “La vida es una cosa fenomenal” (Life Is A Phenomenal Thing) blares out of every car radio. A cast of wild, mostly lovable, and decidedly over the top characters —The Deejay, The Senator, The Socialite Wife, The Son, The Mistress, and Doña Chon, the nosy neighbor— poke fun at a situation most messy, most sticky, and most certainly out of control!

Off-Broadway World Premiere at Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan’s Theater District. November 15–December 15, 2019

Book and Lyrics: Rosalba Rolón
Music and Arrangements: Desmar Guevara
Direction: Rosalba Rolón
Choreography: Sita Frederick
Lighting Design: Lucrecia Briceño
Set & Costume Design: Harry Nadal
Projection Design: Melisa Ramos
Sound Engineering: Milton Ruiz
Based on the novel by Luis Rafael Sánchez

Ensemble Cast:
Rossmery Almonte as Doña Chon
Yaraní del Valle as Graciela
Gilberto Gabriel as Benny
Gabriel Hernández as Vicente
Mario Mattei as The Deejay
Diana Pou as China
plus
5-Piece Live Music Band

Performed in Spanish and English with supertitles.
Premiered in loving memory of Miriam Colón.

The idea for a musical adaptation of La guaracha del Macho Camacho was jointly proposed by Rolón and the late Miriam Colón, both longtime admirers of the source novel and its author. “I am thrilled that our theater will make Miriam’s dream of the production of ¡GUARACHA! a reality,” says Rolón who also directs the play. “I am beyond excited that an author of the significance of Luis Rafael Sánchez has supported our creative process and that the production is surrounded by a community of talented artists.” The work’s premiere takes on a special meaning as it is dedicated to the memory of Colón, founder of PRTT and a towering figure of Puerto Rican, Latinx, and bilingual theater in the U.S.

—–

Praise for Luis Rafael Sánchez’s novel, La guaracha del Macho Camacho:

“Somewhere between jive and poetry about characters who have remarkable, wild, terrible and very funny lives. It is set in Puerto Rico, and the whole book is a kind of tropical dance composed of words instead of drumbeats.” –People

“A funhouse hall of verbal mirrors … a joyous razzle dazzle of pun and rhetorical figure … Sánchez’s work is lively and admirable.” –Commonweal

“Percussive, alliterative, stanza-like, full of knowing cultural allusions.” –Kirkus Review

Published in 1976, the novel was quickly acknowledged as a Latin American masterpiece, lauded for its keen insight into postmodern life and for possessing a rhythmic quality drawn from quotidian Puerto Rican life and recognizable the world over.

—–

About The Lead Artists – Click to Open

LUIS RAFAEL SÁNCHEZ is a major literary figure and one of Puerto Rico’s foremost playwrights. Mr. Sánchez’s stage works include La pasión según Antígona Pérez, Los ángeles se han fatigado, O casi el alma, and Quíntuples, among others. Pregones/PRTT’s La Guaracha is adapted from his now classic novel La guaracha del Macho Camacho. His equally influential output as essayist includes the books La guagua aérea and No llores por nosotros, Puerto Rico, and the column Desnudo Frontal for El Nuevo Día print and digital daily. He is recipient of numerous distinctions including the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, and is professor emeritus at the University of Puerto Rico and the City University of New York.

ROSALBA ROLÓN, Artistic Director of Pregones/PRTT, is an accomplished actor, director, and dramaturg specializing in the adaptation of literary and non-literary texts for stage performance with live music. Distinctions include United States Artists Fellowship, Ford Foundation Visionaries Fellowship, Doris Duke Artist Award, and Creative Capital Award (with Paul Flores and Yosvany Terry). Numerous theater credits include We Have IRÉ with Paul Flores, Betsy! with Roadside Theater, Dancing In My Cockroach Killers with Magdalena Gómez, The Harlem Hellfigthers On A Latin Beat, El bolero fue mi ruina adapted from Manuel Ramos Otero (1997), Quíntuples by Luis Rafael Sánchez (1993), and El Apagón adapted José Luis González She is a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee.

DESMAR GUEVARA is a recognized champion of new music idioms in Latin jazz, a composer of experimental and non-traditional music for live and film, and an in-demand pianist with numerous concert, touring, and recording credits. He is founding director of chamber jazz ensemble Taller Sicá, founding member of Afro Puerto Rican ensemble Viento de Agua, and has collaborated with many musical luminaries including Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Tito Nieves, Xiomara Fortuna, Andy Montañez, Soledad Bravo, and Danny Rivera. Awards and commissions for original solo, ensemble, and orchestra works include NYFA Fellowship, Meet The Composer, National Performance Network/NPN, and Multicultural Music Group. Recent premieres include Grados Inefables, which delves into the esoteric symbolism and philosophies of Freemasonry, co-commissioned by arts presenters in New York, Colorado, and California.

Our Esteemed Funders – Click to Open

This program is made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; and from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Southwest Airlines is the Official Airline of Pregones/PRTT. For a full list of our funders, please click here.

Directions to PRTT in MANHATTAN – Click to Open

Puerto Rican Traveling Theater
304 West 47 Street
(b/w 8 & 9 Avenues)
New York, NY 10036

Trains to Times Square/Broadway District

For more information call us at 718-585-1202

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Show Dates & Times
  • Thursday, November 14 @ 8:00 PM
  • Friday, November 15 @ 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 16 @ 3:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 16 @ 8:00 PM
  • Sunday, November 17 @ 3:00 PM
  • Thursday, November 21@ 8:00 PM
  • Friday, November 22 @ 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 23 @ 3:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 23 @ 8:00 PM
  • Sunday, November 24 @ 3:00 PM
  • Friday, November 29 @ 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 30 @ 3:00 PM
  • Saturday, November 30 @ 8:00 PM
  • Sunday, December 1 @ 3:00 PM
  • Thursday, December 5 @ 8:00 PM
  • Friday, December 6 @ 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, December 7 @ 3:00 PM
  • Saturday, December 7 @ 8:00 PM
  • Sunday, December 8 @ 3:00 PM
  • Thursday, December 12 @ 8:00 PM
  • Friday, December 13 @ 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, December 14 @ 3:00 PM
  • Saturday, December 14 @ 8:00 PM
  • Sunday, December 15 @ 3:00 PM

Event Details

  • Location

    PRTT in Manhattan

  • Date and Time

    November 15-December 15, 2019

  • Book, Lyrics, Directed by

    Rosalba Rolón

  • Based on the novel by

    Luis Rafael Sánchez

  • Music and Arrangements by

    Desmar Guevara

  • Featuring

    Rossmery Almonte as Doña Chon
    Yaraní del Valle as Graciela
    Gilberto Gabriel as Benny
    Gabriel Hernández as Vicente
    Mario Mattey as The Deejay
    Diana Pou as China

    5-Piece Music Band

GET TICKETS

New York Times Critic’s Pick!  — “The uniformly great ensemble players seem to be having the time of their lives onstage, an infectious feeling they transmit to audience members, who appear ready to leave their seats and join the party.” Click Here to Read the Review: ‘¡Guaracha!,’ Jubilantly Reclaiming Its Roots

Adapted from the internationally acclaimed novel La guaracha del Macho Camacho by Luis Rafael Sánchez, ¡GUARACHA! is a new musical satire from Pregones/PRTT’s Latinx ensemble. The backdrop is an epic afternoon traffic-jam in mid-1970s San Juan, Puerto Rico. The sun is blazing hot and hit song “La vida es una cosa fenomenal” (Life Is A Phenomenal Thing) blares out of every car radio. A cast of wild, mostly lovable, and decidedly over the top characters —The Deejay, The Senator, The Socialite Wife, The Son, The Mistress, and Doña Chon, the nosy neighbor— poke fun at a situation most messy, most sticky, and most certainly out of control!

Off-Broadway World Premiere at Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan’s Theater District. November 15–December 15, 2019

Book and Lyrics: Rosalba Rolón
Music and Arrangements: Desmar Guevara
Direction: Rosalba Rolón
Choreography: Sita Frederick
Lighting Design: Lucrecia Briceño
Set & Costume Design: Harry Nadal
Projection Design: Melisa Ramos
Sound Engineering: Milton Ruiz
Based on the novel by Luis Rafael Sánchez

Ensemble Cast:
Rossmery Almonte as Doña Chon
Yaraní del Valle as Graciela
Gilberto Gabriel as Benny
Gabriel Hernández as Vicente
Mario Mattei as The Deejay
Diana Pou as China
plus
5-Piece Live Music Band

Performed in Spanish and English with supertitles.
Premiered in loving memory of Miriam Colón.

The idea for a musical adaptation of La guaracha del Macho Camacho was jointly proposed by Rolón and the late Miriam Colón, both longtime admirers of the source novel and its author. “I am thrilled that our theater will make Miriam’s dream of the production of ¡GUARACHA! a reality,” says Rolón who also directs the play. “I am beyond excited that an author of the significance of Luis Rafael Sánchez has supported our creative process and that the production is surrounded by a community of talented artists.” The work’s premiere takes on a special meaning as it is dedicated to the memory of Colón, founder of PRTT and a towering figure of Puerto Rican, Latinx, and bilingual theater in the U.S.

—–

Praise for Luis Rafael Sánchez’s novel, La guaracha del Macho Camacho:

“Somewhere between jive and poetry about characters who have remarkable, wild, terrible and very funny lives. It is set in Puerto Rico, and the whole book is a kind of tropical dance composed of words instead of drumbeats.” –People

“A funhouse hall of verbal mirrors … a joyous razzle dazzle of pun and rhetorical figure … Sánchez’s work is lively and admirable.” –Commonweal

“Percussive, alliterative, stanza-like, full of knowing cultural allusions.” –Kirkus Review

Published in 1976, the novel was quickly acknowledged as a Latin American masterpiece, lauded for its keen insight into postmodern life and for possessing a rhythmic quality drawn from quotidian Puerto Rican life and recognizable the world over.

—–