Another building that is leaving us: The Musical Theater of Havana (+PHOTOS)

30 years ago its doors were closed due to a “technical problem” and never opened again. Today, the great Musical Theater of Havana is another of the many buildings in the capital whose immeasurable heritage value gives way to the apathy of local authorities and to the indifferent gaze of many residents and tourists.

Located on the corner of Consulate and Virtues -where the legendary Alhambra theater was built in 1900- lies among graffiti, rubble and large amounts of garbage this now ghostly coliseum that generated more box office revenue in its time than any other Havana theater.

Its history dates back to the end of the 19th century, when in that direction the theatrical genre known as sainete (a dramatic piece of Spanish origin, very brief, with a humorous theme and a traditional and popular character) reached its maximum splendor in Cuba.

In the Alhambra, where the Cuban comedy theater triumphed with its most famous characters: the black boy, the Galician, the Chinese and the mulatto, more than two thousand plays were performed accompanied by the music of the moment, some 'bad words' in mouth of the actors and the daring presentation of the showgirls, aspects that made the venue an exclusive place for men.

It was then an ugly mansion with only one floor, but it managed to star the longest season experienced by Cuban theater: 35 years of unstoppable activity. In February 1935, when one of the last 'negritos' of the cast, Enrique Arredondo, had just left the theater lobby, The portico of the Alhambra collapsed.

Some time later and after a reconstruction, the place continued operating under the name Theater Alkázar, presumably inspired by the old Palacio de los Recreos on Alcalá Street in Madrid (1925).

In 1962 it opened its doors after being renovated again and was established as Havana Musical Theater, which served as headquarters for the eponymous stage collective for just over a decade. But then it was closed again for another refurbishment and did not become part of the cultural life of the capital again until December 1979.

Under the same name and directed by renowned author Héctor Quintero (With you bread and onion) the same company was then reorganized, which maintained regular programming at that headquarters until its closure in the 90s. At that time, it had 846 capacities in its main hall and 66 in the Alhambra Hall, a space dedicated to chamber performances .

Regarding its beginnings, the official bibliography highlights the direction of the actor and film director Alfonso Arau, who brought from Mexico the comedian Federico Eterno and the American musician Federico Smith, who later formed part of the ICAIC Sound Experimentation Group. There, the first musical theater school in Cuba was created with a high-level teaching staff. The musical direction was Leo Brouwer, who had studied at the Juilliard School in New York, and the choreographer Joaquín Venegas.

“It was a varied musical show with everything: comedy, sketch, music, dance, figures, cultural guests, a program that became the highest rated in Cuba. With that drive, in 1962 it was decided to undertake the colossal task of organizing a Musical Theater in Havana, in the old Alkázar Theater,” says the Cuban encyclopedia Ecured.

According to the website, Quintero always referred to the project as something ambitious, far-reaching and never undertaken before. “It offered: theater, music, dance, art classes. Everyone was very enthusiastic, it caught them at dawn and they stayed the night right there, everything was very romantic,” said the playwright.

The Cuban critic and researcher Carlos Espinosa Dominguez points out that the group ventured into different styles of musical theater, pieces of Cuban vernacular theater, varieties, zarzuelas, rock operas, recitals, concerts and one-man shows.

On the stages of the large room and the Alhambra room, productions such as La Fornés in the Musical, Decameron, This has no name, My beautiful lady, Pachencho dead or alive, The true story of Peter Navaja and Love is not a summer dream.

Among the artists who worked at the TMH at that stage were Alicia Bustamante, Zenia Marabal, Nelson Dorr, Mario Aguirre, José Milián, Tomás Morales, Jesús Gregorio, Gladys González, Zoa Fernández, Iván Tenorio and Mikel Sánchez.

In 1988, Quintero left the general direction of the group. A year later, the theater was temporarily closed by firefighters due to a problem in the electrical installation, and until now it remains in the same situation.

In interviews for the documentary Nobody knows what happened of a group of art and audiovisual communication students, the Nelson Dorr National Prize winner explains that, apparently, It was all due to three cables in the system that conducts electricity to the stage.

Espinosa Domínguez, who cites some moments from the film, said that the cables needed to be covered, and in the absence of the necessary material to do so, tape was used. Something unacceptable according to the safety regulations of the firefighters, who ordered the closure of the property until the problem was solved.

The actress and founder of the project, Zenia Marabal, indicated to the makers of the documentary that the true cause of what happened lies in the censorship, “someone closed it for no reason, someone who is no longer with us” and inferred that the authorities at the time were not interested in the genre.

According to Espinosa Domínguez, the actor and playwright José Milián went a little further and blamed the negligence, prejudices, misunderstandings. Quintero agreed with him, who then pointed out that the musical theater understatement It hurt the group a lot.

“Musical theater is usually a joyful genre, but not always. What we did had to do with the festive. But what if it were, why not? What a beautiful thing to give to the human being who goes to the theater as a spectator, joy, happiness, beauty,” said Quintero, who died in 2012.

It seems that in the case of the Musical Theater of Havana, intolerance and censorship of what is “politically incorrect” was stronger than the dissimilar artistic expressions and self-managed forms of culture that try to coexist on the Island under the authoritarian gaze of the State. .

Meanwhile, with all its history and heritage wealth on its back, the Theater headquarters is fading over the years. It is covered by tall garbage containers, improvised wooden patches, and spray paint scribbles; It is one more building that loses the battle against abandonment. Tomorrow, its collapse will not surprise anyone.