Destiny of Desire
The subtitle for Karen Zacarias’ musical is “An unapologetic telenovela for the stage,” and while it is indeed unapologetic, it’s also defensive to the point of being prickly. At the outset, the cast announces, “We are here to change the social order — deal with it.” Um, okay?
And throughout the marvelously melodramatic story, you the viewer are reminded that if you think Latin soaps are crazy, just wait until you hear about American reality. In the first scene, a wealthy new mother conspires with a doctor to switch her sickly baby for the healthy one just born to a peasant, and the action pauses for the announcement that in the United States, one in eight babies winds up with the wrong family, at least temporarily. After a daughter shoots a man she sees attacking her father, we learn that 4.6 million American children live in a home with a loaded and unlocked gun. When adultery enters the storyline, it’s “68% of women in the United States say they would have an affair if they would never get caught.” And so on and so on, a level of self-consciousness over and above the one indicated by the placards announcing each scene’s theme, and even the occasional, hilarious “take two” for a diva-centric scene. It’s all right as far as it goes, until it goes too far, and inserts itself into the story — subtext rising unnecessarily to the level of text.
But that’s not until the second act, which is where most of the show’s troubles lie (songs, movement, momentum, mechanics, etc.) Before that, in the beautiful and bonkers first act, the commentary feels positively Shakespearean: the thing giving weight to the madcappery and mayhem of this story about two families intertwined by the titular destiny and desire. The song and dance are positively transporting: Bianca Marroquín’s performance of “Pain Makes Me Beautiful” is some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a theater. The talent on display points to Broadway ambitions, and it’s not hard to imagine it getting there one day. Besides being frantic and funny, it manages to keep its heart in the right place: on its sleeve.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, June 25, 2023
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 8pm |
| Tuesdays, 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |