Teatro La Latina hosts the 'Zarzuela en La Latina' cycle with live voices and orchestra. Coinciding with the festivities of San Cayetano, San Lorenzo and La Paloma, the neighbourhood is filled with lyricism.
The La Latina neighbourhood is experiencing its most traditional appointment with lyricism these days. The Zarzuela en La Latina cycle, organised by the L'Operamore production company, fills Teatro La Latina with emblematic titles from the Spanish repertoire just as Madrid celebrates its festivities of San Cayetano, San Lorenzo and La Paloma.
Following the success of La canción del olvido and La Gran Vía, the third production of the cycle is La Revoltosa, which will be performed from August 5 to 9. The work, with music by Ruperto Chapí and libretto by José López Silva and Carlos Fernández Shaw, is considered one of the great peaks of the género chico and approaches its 130th anniversary: it premiered in 1897 at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid.
Set in a Madrid tenement, the zarzuela tells the story of Mari Pepa, a young woman whose charm awakens the jealousy of Felipe and provokes a humorous neighbourhood tangle. With a duration of one hour and twenty-five minutes without an intermission, the work combines humour, customs, and some of the most popular musical pieces of the genre.
The most notable moment will come from August 12 to 16, when La verbena de la Paloma is performed coinciding with the festival that bears its name. An opportunity to enjoy one of the most popular lyrical farces in the repertoire during the celebration of the capital's most traditional festivities.
The cycle will continue with El barberillo de Lavapiés (August 19-23), Luisa Fernanda (August 26-30), La tabernera del puerto (September 2-4), and will close with Verdi's opera La Traviata on September 5 and 6.
The baritone and zarzuela director of L'Operamore, Marco Moncloa, assures that these titles are "genuine jewels that not only the audience enjoys but also us artists." Regarding the casts, he explains that "I look for the ideal cast for each work with the best figures in zarzuela, with a lot of experience and who know how to dissect and recite the texts, as this genre requires being a good actor as well as a good singer."
Moncloa highlights that the audience during these weeks "is mostly madrileños," although there are people from all over. He also attributes the company's growth "to the support of the audience who have appreciated our approach to being faithful to the genre while respecting the period in the scenery and costumes," without giving up modernising "the way of acting and interpreting to present the texts and characters well," maintaining "a classic approach."
With this cycle, L'Operamore consolidates Teatro La Latina as one of the reference spaces for lyricism in summer, recovering the spirit of zarzuela in the same neighbourhood where some of the most popular festivities in the capital are held. The proposal aims to bring this musical heritage closer to both regular fans and new audiences, with tickets for all budgets.
All performances feature orchestral accompaniment and live voices and are held from Wednesday to Saturday at 20:00 and on Sundays at 19:00.
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