“Success is a very rare beast”

by time news

Antonio Banderas performs during the presentation of the musical ‘Company’. / JJ GUILLEN / EFE

Antonio Banderas reopens the Albéniz Theater in Madrid with the musical ‘Company’ and welcomes the hopeful moment that the genre is experiencing

Antonio Paniagua

It still smells of varnish, paint and wood at the Umusic Hotel Teatro Albéniz in Madrid, a historic venue once again recovered for the stage after 17 years with the gate down. The renovated stage will host the musical ‘Company’, which opens on November 17 in Madrid, the “Spanish Broadway”, according to the expression Antonio Banderas, director and protagonist of the show. The actor prepares to face a demanding public accustomed to seeing works of excellent quality. The challenge does not catch him new: the work arrives in Madrid when 11 performances had already been made in Malaga. True to his promise, the actor presents himself without artifice, traps or recorded music.

He knows that the stake is expensive, but musical theater either incorporates instrumentalists who perform live or it doesn’t deserve the name. Despite the fact that the genre is experiencing an “exciting and hopeful moment” thanks to a good harvest of montages, the challenge entails some danger. And it is that the risk that quality becomes cheaper is lurking there. He is willing to assume the onerous cost of programming a work of these characteristics, although applause is always something uncertain and elusive. “Success is a very rare beast and you don’t know where it comes from,” he says.

Finding the headwind is an undertaking as indecipherable as it is capricious. “Sometimes it has happened to me that I have done works with which I thought they were going to crucify me and then I got a string of awards and recognitions, and vice versa,” argues Banderas, who makes a passionate defense of the theater: “If it did not exist, it would have to be invented”.

Unfulfilled promises

Banderas had proposed not to star in musicals outside of Malaga, but, as he himself says, “strategies are there to break them.” He has broken off his engagement because the occasion deserved it. A theater with deep roots in the city is not always reopened, an effort that has been possible thanks to the struggle of artists such as the late Pilar Bardem. «A theater does not open every day; It is a ray of hope, especially considering that theaters unfortunately close every day to be converted into nightclubs or shopping malls. Here in Madrid I lived through a historic era, the Movida, and this place has meant many memories for people like Pedro Almódovar,” says the actor, who assures that the filmmaker, who is now in New York, will go to see the musical.

‘Company’ is a conceptual work, in the sense that it dislocates linear time. It has music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, author of classics such as ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Follies’ or ‘Sweeney Todd’, as well as a libretto by George Furth. This production of the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank recounts the adventures of Bobby, who visits his friends on a trip back to the 70s, when he faces his contradictions, his fears, his loves and heartbreaks. The director and producer is pleased with the good moment that the musical is enjoying, which is shown in the interest and favor of the public, and in a splendid pool of performers. «When I did tests to choose the cast of ‘A chorus line’, for which they needed 17 members, 1,800 dancers showed up. 25 years ago that was unthinkable.

«I have done works with which I thought they were going to crucify me and then I got a string of awards»

The work will remain on the poster until February 14. Banderas does not lack strength, nor does he lack discipline, says the actor, recovered from the heart attack he suffered five years ago. The cast, made up of 14 actors, is made up of María Adamuz, Albert Bolea, Lorena Calero, Javier Enguix, Laura Enrech, Lydia Fairén, Robert González, Dulcinea Juárez, Silvia Luchetti, Julia Möller, Paco Morales, Marta Ribera, Carlos Seguí, Rai Borrell, Bealia Guerra, Beatriz Mur, Álvaro Puertas and Lourdes Zamalloa. All of them are supported by an orchestra of 26 musicians.

The man from Malaga has always been interested in the genre, although he recognizes that he is sacrificed and you have to take care of yourself to face the season. “The only way is quality, as we try to bypass to take advantage of the situation… we are going badly”. The musical is not, says the actor, a second rate show. Through songs and dance you can reach the same depth as with a Shakespeare text.

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