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review
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A Rogelio Sinán classic on the Admin Building steps review by Eric Jackson It’s a good thing that the Panama Canal is run by a Panamanian public entity now, rather than as a part of the US government as it was before. Nowadays, the canal can sponsor performances of “La Cucarachita Mandinga” without someone like Ralph Reed or Jerry Falwell or Donald Wildmon thundering condemnation about bestiality at public expense. Say what? Well, this is a musical about a foxy chola cockroach looking for a mate, and she does end up pairing off with a mouse. Ralph Reed’s God may tolerate lies, torture, unprovoked wars and scurrilous political campaigns, but he probably still hasn’t reconciled himself to the judicial repeal of southern miscegenation laws and he certainly wouldn’t approve of a musical that celebrates the coupling of an insect with a rodent. But this is Panama, not Georgia, and there were no fundamentalist pickets on hand when I arrived in Balboa at a little before 7 on the evening of February 14. There was only this huge crowd, which obliged me to find a spot almost all the way up the hill the the Administration Building itself. By this measure of attendance alone, the Panama Canal Authority’s dry season cultural program is a tremendous and growing success. One must bear in mind, however, that this play, shown on that evening and again on the 16th, was the highlight of the season. It was a Panamanian classic, Sinán’s masterpiece, with its equally brilliant musical score by Gonzalo Brenes, under the direction of Bruce Quinn. On this occasion Quinn had Dino Nugent, who has been away in the states studying on a Fulbright, back as his musical director accomplice. With the ACP’s resources behind the production, there was no skimping on the costumes, set, pyrotechnics or lighting. The choreography was great. Way up at the top of the hill, I could hear everything but leading lady Vicky Greco’s mike seemed to be a notch or two lower that it should have been, or at least her voice did not come through as loudly as some of the other characters’. Not a huge deal, and I wonder whether it was more a function of the sound system being adjusted when there wasn’t a crowd of people on the steps to deaden the sound, whether it was only noticeable at higher altitude or whether it was just an oversight at the control board. It did not much detract from my enjoyment, nor apparently from that of the folks around me. The intentions and effects of this work of Sinán’s could be, and probably have been, the stuff of an entire semester of university study. Within this montage of allegories there are expressed attitudes about different nationalities, commentaries about the aspirations of men and of women and bedrock themes of Panamanian traditional culture. It’s family entertainment, but La Cucarachita Mandinga is also profound social satire, surely in some instances deeper than this Panagringo reviewer is able to understand. But Sinán also wrote this play to be appreciated on several levels, including by children. Those of you who intentionally missed this show because you thought that your imperfect Spanish would have prevented you from “getting it” probably made the wrong choice. And anyway, what does the play say about Americans? Well, you do have the vulgar lout variety of gringo represented. However, in the end la cucarachita goes for the smooth and handsome New Yorker, this Hispanic dude who’s infinitely more attractive than Mickey. (How infinitely? That’s another point to rile the fundies --- this particular mouse even rises from the dead.) This reviewer went away having thoroughly enjoyed himself, and wondering just a bit if one of the main things she saw in the mouse from New York City was a green card.
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