On Stage: “Real Women Have Curves”
Real Women Have Curves
This season’s best musical surprise is “Real Women Have Curves,” a fun, bodice-bursting collision of compassion and comedy revolving around a bright, 18 year-old Chicana woman living in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles in 1987 during the Reagan-era amnesty program for longtime undocumented immigrants.
Ambitious Ana Garcia (newcomer Tatianna Cordoba) is a first-generation Mexican-American who yearns to be a journalist; she’s not only been admitted to Columbia University but also given a full scholarship. Problem is: since she’s the only one in her family with U.S. citizenship, she has certain responsibilities she’s expected to fulfill.
Her cynical, resilient Mexican mother, Carmen (Justina Machado) settled in Southern California years ago with her father Raul (Mauricio Mendoza) and started a small garment factory that’s now run on a shoestring by Ana’s hard-working older sister Estella (Florencia Cuenca).
Suddenly, one day, they’re given an order for 200 dresses to be filled in a scant three weeks, causing a make-or-break crisis. Avidly sewing alongside the tight-knit Garcias are five other vulnerable Guatemalan and Salvadoran women — all of whom live in constant fear of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) raids.
The generational trauma inherent in that challenging émigré experience is as valid today as it was then — perhaps even more so, given the current, unforgiving political climate.
Meanwhile, there’s a sweet romance blossoming between Ana and Henry (Mason Reeves), a fellow intern on a locally distributed Spanish-English newspaper. Plus a unique appreciation of full-figured women’s bodies that culminates in a joyously bold, crowd-pleasing, second-act show-stopper!
Based on Josefina Lopez’s same-named 1990 play and its HBO film adaptation (2002) starring America Ferrera, it’s adroitly directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo — celebrating culture and community — with vibrant Latin music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and a heartfelt book by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin.
The multi-textured set is by Arnulfo Malfonsfo, lighting by Natasha Katz, costumes by Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, and video by Hana S. Kim.
Running 2 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission, “Real Women Have Curves” is currently playing at the James Earl Jones Theater on Broadway.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.