A concert reading of AZUL: A Bilingual Musical was presented at Joe's Pub, the intimate cabaret located within The Public Theater, May 24.
The evening featured the talents of Katerina McCrimmon (The Rose Tattoo), Robi Hager (Spring Awakening), Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet!), Joel Perez (Fun Home), Martín Solá (The King and I), Brian Flores (Head Over Heels), Gían Pérez (Sing Street), and Christina Austin Lopez. Co-creator Jacinta Clusellas also performed with a band that featured Federico Diaz, Pablo Lanouguere, and Franco Pinna.
AZUL was created by director-librettist-lyricist Tatiana Pandiani, librettist-lyricist Melis Aker, and composer-lyricist Clusellas, who produced the evening alongside creative producers Anabel Manuela Romero and Ryan Duncan-Ayala.
Check out photos from the evening below:
Robi Hager
Katerina McCrimmon and Ana Villafañe
Katerina McCrimmon and Ana Villafañe
Joel Perez
Brian Flores, Christina Austin Lopez, and Gian Perez
Ben Moss, Katerina McCrimmon, and Federico Diaz
The musical weaves together two distinct realms to question the place of art in a capitalist society. Bluebird, a hungry and idealist poet, seeks a better life in a new land, and in a mundane post-9/11 and present-day Jackson Heights, Rita, a composer, struggles to forgive her father, understand her roots, and reconnect to a land she has never known.
Arrangements and orchestrations were by Jacinta Clusellas, Kurt Crowley, and Tony winner Alex Lacamoire. Music direction was by Ben Moss with subtitles projection design by Stefania Bulbarella.
Concerts of the musical were previously presented at the 2020 National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, NAMT 2021 Annual Festival of New Musicals, Goodspeed Writers’ Grove, and the 2022 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre.
