<\/p>\n
To be honest, the appeal of smoking a cigar has always eluded me. But the appeal of \u201cAnna in the Tropics,\u201d Nilo Cruz\u2019s<\/a> Pulitzer prize-winning play certainly has not<\/p>\n \u201cAnna in the Tropics\u201d is opening Orlando Shakes<\/a>\u2018 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\u2019re people with hopes and dreams and successes and failures. Just like you.<\/p>\n Set in 1920s Tampa \u2014 the cigar-rolling neighborhood of Ybor City, to be precise \u2014 Cruz\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cAnna Karenina\u201d \u2014 and the novel\u2019s romance unleashes a torrent of unexpected passion on the factory floor.<\/p>\n What Bazo\u2019s production does particularly well is capture the beautiful dichotomy of Cruz\u2019s work. It\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n And this pageant of humanity, both pungent and poignant, plays out across the faces of Bazo\u2019s actors \u2014 faces as expressive as Cruz\u2019s lyrical writing. Marela\u2019s joy, Juan Julian\u2019s confidence, Conchita\u2019s determination: It\u2019s all right there.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 and then not so quietly shines as a woman determined to forge her own path. Eddie Guti\u00e9rrez gives Juan Julian the necessary smolder without making him a scoundrel. As Conchita\u2019s husband, Orlando Lopez has a quiet intensity that can be intriguingly enigmatic.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s half-brother is wound up tight \u2014 until he emotionally snaps.<\/p>\n Nilo Cruz fought censors over Pulitzer-winning play: Why it\u2019s \u2018very important\u2019 now<\/a><\/p>\n Delightfully, many of the initial impressions \u2014 especially in the opening scene between the two brothers, gambling at a cockfight \u2014 remind us that people are complex and shouldn\u2019t be judged on first appearances alone.<\/p>\n Andrea Herrera\u2019s splashy period costumes, Tim Brown\u2019s set with its industrial ceiling fans and institutional light fixtures, and Jos\u00e9 Santiago\u2019s lighting all contribute to the mix of the prosaic and the poetic.<\/p>\n Cruz positions his play at a time of great change: The mechanization of cigar factories is just around the corner \u2014 part of the plot \u2014 and the characters are forced to consider what the cost of \u201cprogress\u201d is, what is truly important about being human.<\/p>\n With mechanization would come the end of the lectors. As a character points out: \u201cNo one can hear them read over the noise of machines.\u201d That line hits home as we daily endure the \u201cnoise\u201d of manufactured division and artificial distraction as it overpowers the messages of unity and hope provided by the arts.<\/p>\n For make no mistake, \u201cAnna in the Tropics\u201d is also a love letter to the power of the arts \u2014 especially the power of the arts as a catalyst for change. In the play, \u201cAnna Karenina\u201d\u00a0 changes minds, changes hearts and ultimately changes lives.<\/p>\n \u201cAnna in the Tropics\u201d is a vital reminder that stories matter \u2014 and that means no one\u2019s stories should be silenced: Through the tales we tell, we learn about our history, our world, ourselves. Indeed, there\u2019s plenty we can learn from this passionate and heart-pounding production.<\/p>\n Follow me at facebook.com\/matthew.j.palm<\/a> or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Find more entertainment news and reviews at\u00a0orlandosentinel.com\/entertainment<\/a>\u00a0or sign up to receive our weekly\u00a0emailed Entertainment newsletter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Length:<\/strong> 2:15, including intermission<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Where:<\/strong> Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St. in Orlando<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To be honest, the appeal of smoking a cigar has always eluded me. But the appeal of \u201cAnna in the Tropics,\u201d Nilo Cruz\u2019s Pulitzer prize-winning play certainly has not \u201cAnna in the Tropics\u201d is opening Orlando Shakes\u2018 new theatrical season, and as directed by Nick Bazo in these anti-immigrant times it has potency just by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1946120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[358491,358496,358493,358492,358495,358494],"class_list":["post-1988183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-anna-in-the-tropics","tag-cigar-business","tag-juan-cantu","tag-juan-julian","tag-nilo-cruz","tag-smoking-a-cigar"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lloyd-native-nominated-for-6-IBMA-awards.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1988183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1946120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1988183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1988183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1988183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Anna in the Tropics\u2019<\/h3>\n
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