Tatianna Córdoba captivates as Ana in Broadway’s ‘Real Women Have Curves.’ (Photo: Julieta Cervantes )
There’s so much to love about the delightful new musical Real Women Have Curves that it is easy to forgive some of the conceptual missteps along the inspiring journey.
Though the musical does feature brilliantly relatable women of all shapes and sizes, Lisa Loomer’s and Nell Benjamin’s book is essentially about Latina immigrants who make dresses in a Los Angeles shop.
Based on the 2002 film, the musical injects joy into a story that could easily drift to a somber tale. The women’s plight and fear about being detained is a sad reality.
The music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, coupled with Sergio Trujillo’s superb direction, makes for a profound, uplifting experience.
Real Women Have Curves began as a play first produced in 1990. Author Josefina Lopez was able to draw from her own experience as an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Los Angeles.
At the age of 18 she was granted amnesty under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Her story plays out on stage, down to the short time she spent working in her sister’s Los Angeles sewing factory alongside her mother and a group of colorful women.
Tatianna Cordoba makes her unforgettable Broadway debut in the lead role of teenager Ana.
The play was adapted into a film in 2002, starring the then unknown America Ferrera. The film’s most impressionable scene featured the women stripping down to their underwear in the scorching factory.
Florencia Cuenca belts out a song with cast in Real Women Have Curves. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
This moment also lays the groundwork for the most touching, profound musical number in the show, appropriately the title number. In Real Women Have Curves, the women are loud and proud in bodies that range in all sizes.
In a rare occasion in theater, all marginalized audiences will be able to relate and feel seen.
Ana wants to become a journalist and hopes to attend Colombia University. She works for her sister, Estela (Florencia Cuenca), who owns the factory.
Their mother (Tony nominee Justina Machado) doesn’t have lofty goals for her daughters. Instead, she wants them to find husbands and work hard.
When an enormous order comes in, the family decides to ask Ana for help, despite her ineptitude when it comes to sewing. She agrees to help her family, but she also continues to complete an internship at a local newspaper.
She befriends another intern, Henry (Mason Reeves), who unsurprisingly becomes a love interest. Curves veers into a subplot about Itzel (Aline Mayagoitia), a 19 year-old Guatemalan, who also predictably gets caught by Immigration.
The ‘Real Women Have Curves’ company. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
Ana must grapple with the choice between helping her friend, or risk the endangering the women in the factory.
Heartfelt, catchy musical numbers aside, Wilberth Gonzalez’s and Paloma Young’s fantastic dresses are as colorful as the well-drawn women. The phenomenal frocks come alive when they are floating mid-air, but the show truly shines when the women flaunt their fashion.
Natasha Katz’s lighting beautifully punctuates Arnulfo Maldonado’s lively murals. Though this is Trujillo’s superb directing debut, he also took on the role of choreographer with an incredibly creative clarity.
Loomer’s and Benjamin’s book lacks cohesiveness in its intent, with songs sometimes seemingly thrown in without specificity or purpose.
In a show called Real Women Have Curves, the curves are an afterthought to a story about immigrants and the American dream.
However, these inconsistencies within the plot are forgiven due to the dynamic heart on stage. Curves is a welcome addition to Broadway and provides a meaningful, genuine space in a busy theatrical season.
For tickets to Real Women Have Curves, visit RealWomenHaveCurvesBroadway.com or Telecharge.com.