Critic’s Pick: ‘Anna in the Tropics’ is beautifully passionate about being human

To be honest, the appeal of smoking a cigar has always eluded me. But the appeal of “Anna in the Tropics,” Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer prize-winning play certainly has not

“Anna in the Tropics” is opening Orlando Shakes‘ new theatrical season, and as directed by Nick Bazo in these anti-immigrant times it has potency just by being on the stage at all. Look at us, the Cuban immigrant characters seem to implore the audience. See us. We’re people with hopes and dreams and successes and failures. Just like you.

Set in 1920s Tampa — the cigar-rolling neighborhood of Ybor City, to be precise — Cruz’s play tells of a fateful visit by a charismatic lector to a family-run cigar business. Lectors were hired by cigar-factory employees to entertain them while they performed their repetitive work by reading aloud. This particular lector, Juan Julian by name, has chosen to read Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” — and the novel’s romance unleashes a torrent of unexpected passion on the factory floor.

What Bazo’s production does particularly well is capture the beautiful dichotomy of Cruz’s work. It’s as down-to-earth as a sturdy tobacco plant, yet at times feels as ephemeral as a wisp of smoke curling from a cigar. It’s plainspoken yet poetic, rooted in history but resonating with contemporary urgency, concerned with the ordinary things of life while reminding us of the extraordinary things about life.

And this pageant of humanity, both pungent and poignant, plays out across the faces of Bazo’s actors — faces as expressive as Cruz’s lyrical writing. Marela’s joy, Juan Julian’s confidence, Conchita’s determination: It’s all right there.

Marela and Conchita are sisters; Esther Olivo gives the former such youthful joie de vivre that to see her spirit crushed comes like a gut punch. As Conchita, Dee Quintero quietly sparkles — and then not so quietly shines as a woman determined to forge her own path. Eddie Gutiérrez gives Juan Julian the necessary smolder without making him a scoundrel. As Conchita’s husband, Orlando Lopez has a quiet intensity that can be intriguingly enigmatic.

In the older generation, Blanca Goodfriend makes a fluttery first impression that gives way to steel underneath. Bert Rodriguez adds both levity and gravitas as her husband, Santiago, while Juan Cantu as Santiago’s half-brother is wound up tight — until he emotionally snaps.

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Delightfully, many of the initial impressions — especially in the opening scene between the two brothers, gambling at a cockfight — remind us that people are complex and shouldn’t be judged on first appearances alone.

Andrea Herrera’s splashy period costumes, Tim Brown’s set with its industrial ceiling fans and institutional light fixtures, and José Santiago’s lighting all contribute to the mix of the prosaic and the poetic.

Cruz positions his play at a time of great change: The mechanization of cigar factories is just around the corner — part of the plot — and the characters are forced to consider what the cost of “progress” is, what is truly important about being human.

With mechanization would come the end of the lectors. As a character points out: “No one can hear them read over the noise of machines.” That line hits home as we daily endure the “noise” of manufactured division and artificial distraction as it overpowers the messages of unity and hope provided by the arts.

For make no mistake, “Anna in the Tropics” is also a love letter to the power of the arts — especially the power of the arts as a catalyst for change. In the play, “Anna Karenina” changes minds, changes hearts and ultimately changes lives.

“Anna in the Tropics” is a vital reminder that stories matter — and that means no one’s stories should be silenced: Through the tales we tell, we learn about our history, our world, ourselves. Indeed, there’s plenty we can learn from this passionate and heart-pounding production.

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