GALA’s Triple Crown - LAS POLACAS: The Jewish Girls of Buenos Aires

 Culture   Sat, June 13, 2015 05:38 PM

Washington, D.C. - GALA wears a new Triple Crown with their world premiere of Las Polacas:  The Jewish Girls of Buenos Aires. Commissioned by GALA and presented in the short span of 3 years; first rate music and lyrics by Mariano Vales; and a delightful singing cast deftly directed by Mariano Caligaris.  Flowing seamlessly between English and Spanish, GALA’s Las Polacas brings bilingual wings to the stage that West Side Story could only dream about.

The musical weaves the story of Rachela, and hundreds like her, lured into enslavement and prostitution. Las Polacas sets the narrative in 1900’s Argentina with a slave trading organization, not unlike countless others around the world today.  GALA’s commissioned production underscores the comments of Rebecca Medrano at the opening curtain ‘to underscores the strength and perseverance of women uprooted from their homeland and enslaved in a foreign culture.’

The Slavic melodies reminded me of “Fiddler on the Roof” punctuated with torrid tangos. The music and lyrics beautifully score the aspirations to lives fulfilled against the ‘training’ as sex slaves.  Schlomo’s chilling double talk in his initial overtures to Rachela are as revulsive as the Duggar’s family observations’ that son Josh was interested in girls at a very early age, clichéd humor masking dark intent.

Two of Argentina’s leading musical theatre artists take the stage at GALA, Martín Ruiz as the duplicitous Schlomo and Ana Fontán as the ensnared Margot. Washington, DC’s own Samantha Dockser delivers as Rachela and Joshua Morgan as Micah, as did GALA’s fine five piece orchestra.

GALA’s well deserved commissioned work; the talented cast; and the upbeat production have earned this company a New Triple Crown.

For tickets and show times go to: www.galatheatre.org

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by T.L. Oliver Thomas@ediversity.net