‘Cruzar’ a homecoming of HGO’s past success
To close its irregular and trying season in the makeshift Resilience Theater in the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston Grand Opera chose to feature one of its recent success stories.
Jose “Pepe” Martinez and Leonard Foglia’s “Cruzar la Cara de La Luna” (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”) is a homecoming of sorts, as HGO premiered the fully staged mariachi opera just a little over a mile away at Talento Bilingüe de Houston in 2010. It has since become one of the opera company’s most successful premieres, with subsequent performances in Paris; New York; San Diego; Fort Worth; Phoenix; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago and more to come. As heard Thursday night, the 2018 revival validates both this opera’s success and makes a solid case for its place in the standard operatic repertoire.
The story of a family divided by the U.S.-Mexico border, “Cruzar” feels timelier than ever given current U.S. immigration issues. It shifts back and forth in time and locale, between the present in Houston and the past in Mexico. Though the opera begins simply with the character Mark (Efraín Solís in a strong HGO debut) spotlighted alone onstage, accompanying himself on the acoustic guitar, the opera’s first shift back in time to a Mexican wedding soon triggers a fast curtain drop to reveal this production’s MVPs: the 13 versatile musicians of Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano.
Serving as the opera’s orchestra, Mariachi Los Camperos featured a horn line that played with staccato precision but matched the lyrically sweet sound of the strings when the score called for it. The rhythmic strumming of the guitars and harp provided this score’s percussion, and the strings lowered their instruments to sing in tight harmony when “Cruzar” needed a chorus. From the opera’s opening to its finale 75 minutes later, the members of Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano distinguished themselves.
Among the strong cast, Houston Grand Opera Studio alumnus Octavio Moreno displayed top vocal talent reprising the role of paterfamilias Laurentino, which he created at the opera’s premiere seven-and-a-half years ago. Deploying his bright, lyric baritone expressively, Moreno musically portrayed a sympathetic Laurentino in a compelling performance spanning 50 years of the character’s life. Musical highlights of the evening included a duet between Laurentino and Mark (Moreno and Solís), sung with an ardor worthy of Puccini, and a poignant aria by an ailing Renata (Cecilia Duarte, also reprising the role she created at the opera’s premiere) as she struggles in vain to make it across the border to reunite her family in the U.S.
The substantial Spanishspeaking contingent in the large, opening-night audience was welcomed by a bilingual program book as well as surtitles in English when the characters spoke or sang in Spanish, switching to Spanish titles when the singing and dialogue turned to English.
This gives rise to the question: Will an audience attending HGO for the first time at “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” come back for “La Bohème” next season? That may be beside the point. Popular operatic staples such as “Turandot” and “Madame Butterfly” are full of cultural appropriation to manufacture — however successfully — an exotic cultural setting. But with “Cruzar,” we have a score that is poignant, passionate and unabashedly melodic yet comes by its vibrant cultural color naturally and honestly. Opera’s largely European culture is enhanced by the authentic Mexican cultural cred this relative newcomer brings to the table. And that should be enough to recommend it.