“Anna In The Tropics””

[rating=5] Tradition! While many of us are familiar with this from “Fiddler on the Roof”, there are a great many traditions in life. One of these deals with cigars, in particular the Cuban cigar. In all my years in sales and attending conventions, the after party cognac and cigar tradition always stood out. If the cigar was Cuban, the event became even more special and memorable. Why is that? The Cuban cigar is hand rolled and filled and the people who create them do so with love. There are no machines involved, just love!

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, a company that brings real stories to life, is now presenting Nilo Cruz’ “Anna in the Tropics”, a masterpiece that takes us back in time and allows us a peek into the lives of a family that is dedicated to making the cigars that will bring pleasure to men all over the world.

Smoothly directed by Laura Alcalá Baker ,on a wonderful set designed by  Lauren Nichols, we are in Ybor City in Tampa, a Cuban community. It is 1929! In the beginning, the ladies of the house are waiting for their new “lector”. The “lector” is a reader that reads novels to the workers as they hand roll the cigars. Many other factories were going to machines making the need for the added expense of another human disappear, but our family led by Ofelia ( a sparkling performance by Charin Alvarez) and her husband Santiago (deftly handled by Dano Duran) love the traditions and feel that this is the way to create the best of the Cuban cigars.

Try to imagine working all day, doing the same simple thing, hour after hour, day after day. In many cases, you might get sloppy as your mind would wander. Having someone read romantic novels makes the time  move along and at the same time keeps your mind alert and since they  are romantic stories, your heart becomes more into the labor and thus, a loving cigar each and every time! The book that is being read by Juan Julian ( handled to perfection by Arash Fakhrabadi) is “Anna Karenina”. Ofelia’s oldest daughter, Conchita ( the stunning Krystal Ortiz) in hearing the romantic plight of the book’s heroine, begins to feel feelings that are not normal for women during these times. Like “Anna Karenina”, her husband Palomo (Roberto Mantica) is having affairs. She misses the love and finds herself  caught into the rapture of the story and the Lector. They fall in love and there is a scene in this play( Director Baker along with intimacy and violence director Micah Figueroa) that will make some people squirm while others will be captured by the rapture.

Another part of the story is Santiago’s half brother Cheche (Eduardo Xavier) who is attempting to take over the  factory and modernize. He has lost his wife and he is not accepted by his “new familia” the way he would like to be. He also finds himself to be the “outsider” and in many ways is treated as such. Marela ( deftly handled by Alix Rhode) the younger daughter of Santiago and Ofelia) finds herself in a fantasy world from the story and when they unleash a new cigar, named Anna Karenina, and she is allowed to be the face of the cigar, her love of the story becomes even greater.

Yes, this is a story of love, fantasy, dreams. It also deals with gender issues as this was the 1920’s ( 100 years ago) and women were not the leaders, making their own choices. We also see how family stays together no matter and how, in the end, they will survive. The ensemble players in this production add to the story. Jalbelly Guzman, Jonathan Moises Olivares and Tina Munoz Pandya who also plays several instruments to add to the moods. The tech side of the production brings it all together to make a solid 2 hours and 30 minutes of quality story telling. Claire Sangster’s lighting and Peter Clare’s lighting set the moods for each scene and the music composed by J. Sebastian Fabal worked effectively. The costumes (Gregory Graham) and props (Rowan Doe) along with the movement designer ( one cannot call this choreography, but there are some wonderful moments) Rigo Saura complete the epic production that you should not miss!

“Anna In The Tropics” will continue at Theater Wit, located at 1229 West Belmont with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.    March 16h an additional 2:30 matinee

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  7:30 p.m.  (on February 25th , there will also be a  Audio description with touch tour at 1 p.m.)- March 4th at 2:30 p.m. is the Open Caption performance and March 11th, a 2:30 matine

Sundays  2:30 p.m.

Tickets range from $36-$50 with special prices for industry and students and can be purchased by calling box office at 773-975-8150 or www.remybumppo.org

Masks are to be worn for the entire production.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Anna In The Tropics”.