Last week, the 3rd of December 2024, Amaranta Saguar García had the chance to interview the people behind the latest musical adaptation of the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, La Celestina. Un musical joven. In a conversation that lasted almost one hour, they talked about how the idea of adapting Celestina to the musical genre was born, how the creative process was and, above all, why Celestina, and not another work.
You can see the full interview –of which an abridged version will appear in the next issue of Celestinesca– in the following video:
A few fortunate people in Zaragoza were able to buy tickets for today’s performance of Celestina: Un musical joven, which is sold out.
I do not know what kind of musical this new version is, if it is remotely linked to Brad Bond’s Celestina: A Tragic Musical Comedy or not. But, according to the descriptions I have been able to find on the internet, it is a musical by young actors conceived to make Celestina attractive for a young audience.
If it does, I do neither know, because I have not been able but to watch the trailer at the corresponding Instagram account and it does not give much information on the show. However, I would be very glad to hear more on this project.
The script and adaptation is due to Jesús Gacías, a mathematician, componist and actor himself, in collaboration with Guillermo Alcalde for the music. Choreography by Alicia Soravilla. The cast has been chosen among young actors of the city of Zaragoza (open casting at the end of 2019) and they have been working on this project since then. The musical was first staged on the 29th and 30th of June 2022 and this is the second time it is performed in Zaragoza after its initial success.
By the way, it might be interesting to remember that, besides Brad Bond’s and this new musical version, there is one less Broadway, more traditional sung version fo Celestina by Molto Vivace, which was also mentioned in this post of 2019 and of which you can see a summary here.
Some days ago I stumbled upon a poster of Celestina infernal, an adaptation of Celestina by Teatro Corsario whose principal feature is that it is entirely played by puppets. Although this concept is not totally new (I am thinking of Carolina Calema’s or Bambalina Teatre Practicable’s versions), the aesthetics absolutely are, as Teatro Corsario’s puppets are darker, somehow more grotesque and definitely more sexual. One further original aspect is that puppeteers are not on stage, so that Celestina infernal is a marionette-only show.
Until the end of 2021, Celestina infernal will be running in different Spanish and Portuguese cities:
26/08/2021: Ciudad Rodrigo, Sala Tierra 12:30 and 17:30 (Feria de Teatro de Castilla y León)
14/09/2021: Zaragoza, Teatro de las Esquinas, 19:30 (Festival Rayuela)
30/09-03/10/2021: Valladolid, Teatro Calderón, Sala Delibes, 20:00
I have been very busy these days and have not had the chance to devote a few minutes to the blog, so that I had not linked the recording of María Bastianes’ talk at the conference cycle “La Celestina: Representaciones de un clásico” at the Universidad de Cantabria yet. Here it is for you all to enjoy.
Last Friday, 7th of May 2021, Joseph T. Snow inaugurated the conference cycle “La Celestina: Representaciones de un clásico” at the Aulas de Extensión Universitaria of the Universidad de Cantabria (Spain) with a paper entitled “Un clásico en escena por el mundo”, in which he shared with the in-person and virtual audience his knowledge about the stage adaptations of Celestina. His talk was streamed via Youtube and the recorded version is now available for everyone who, like me, missed the date to watch (embedding is disabled for this video, therefore, I give the URL).
Remember that the conference cycle continues this week with the paper “Referentes pictóricos del teatro: Celestina y compañía” by Natalia Fernández (Universidad de Sevilla), which will take place at the Paraninfo of the Universidad de Cantabria, Sala Fray Antonio de Guevara, tomorrow, Tuesday 11th of May 2021 at 19:30. More information and bookings here (I do not know if it will be streamed AND recorded, as well).
