There are very few major cities that have the distinction and honor of having an original play produced in their theaters before it moves on to Broadway. San Diego is one of those cities and has been for some time.
Local theaters, like La Jolla Playhouse and The Old Globe, have hosted many new works that have gone on to Broadway and won many Tony awards.
Currently, The Globe is presenting a play called Somewhere, written by Matthew Lopez.
Lopez’ Somewhere is a semi-autobiographical story about the Candelaria’s; a Puerto Rican family living in New York around the time that Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story, both the staged musical and film, were coming to light.
Inez Candelaria, (Priscilla Lopez) struggles to keep her apartment and family together while her husband is in California looking for work. The hope is he will find work and then send for the family to join him. This never happens.
Her children, Francisco, Alejandro and Rebecca, all have artistic endeavors on their minds. They, like their mother, all dream of the day they will make it big either on Broadway or on the big screen; all but Alejandro that is, who probably has the most talent, but sees that his family needs money. So, he gives up his dreams for work to keep his family from starving. He is also the most realistic and logic-driven character in the play. Alejandro takes all of the family’s problems on his shoulders. One of those problems is the pending demolition of their home to make way for what will become the Lincoln Center.
There are many problems with Lopez’ script. Many of the storylines and ideas come from nowhere, are not explained and don’t play out.
We never find out how old Francisco and Alejandro are. There is also a very strong sexual undertone, (in choreography and direction) in the relationship between Alejandro and his childhood friend Jamie (Leo Ash Evens). It’s strong enough to make us wonder if that was why he stopped dancing; but that isn’t followed through or even addressed.
In fact, we don’t find out why Alejandro stopped dancing until close to the end of the play; and when we do, it just seems like something is missing. However, this is a new piece and like many new pieces, it will most likely go through a few more changes before it hits a Broadway stage.
To Lopez’ credit, Somewhere is an interesting idea. It is a play with dancing. Not something that is often seen. Each of the characters has moments where they break into dance, either during or after a scene, and its choreography is engaging.
All of the cast members have strong dance backgrounds and are quite talented when they are dancing, but they are not strong enough actors to make the tentative script work.
Jon Rua (Alejandro) fares best. He’s a good actor, and does his best to find the threads to make some sense of his character, though most of his storyline is confusing.
The other Lopez (Inez) is a Broadway legend that knows her way around a stage, for sure, and it’s damned exciting to see her in action. She has some great scenes, but there are a few moments where her choices, like many in the cast, seem forced and unnatural.
Director Giovanna Sardelli tries too hard to make her play and the actors likeable. Some scenes come across as too forced, making them uncomfortable and as if we were watching a cast of eager teens in a theme park show. It’s unrealistic.
Again, the show does excel in choreography, thanks to choreographer Greg Graham. He has a very small space to work in and has created some rousing dances, most notably the duet between childhood friend Jamie and Alejandro and Alejandro’s solo dance.
It’s not often you get the chance to see the premier of a new play before its potential Broadway unveiling, or to see Priscilla Lopez in action – not to mention Greg Graham’s amazing choreography. Those aspects combined make this production well worth the ticket price.
