“Real Women Have Curves,” and ideas and courage and talent

The Broadway stage is blessed this season with two outstanding musicals featuring Hispanic and Latin influenced scores. One is Buena Vista Social Club, based on the true stories of Cuban jazz musicians around the time of the revolution. The other is Real Women Have Curves, set in late 1980’s Los Angeles. Written by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin, Real Women Have Curves, while not based on historical events, presents a strong slice-of-life picture of Hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal, struggling to make a future for themselves.

This is combined with a coming-of-age story of generational and family conflict, and also makes a strong statement about female empowerment. With the addition of an atmospheric score by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves is a joyous, life-affirming time in the theatre.

Based on the original play by Josefina López and the screenplay for the movie by Lopez and George LaVoo, Real Women Have Curves follows the stories of the Garcia family. Estela (Florencia Cuenca) owns and runs a small-staffed dressmaking concern, dreaming of the day when she will have her own fashion design studio. Her younger sister Ana (Tatianna Córdoba), a high school senior, writes for the neighborhood newspaper and dreams of becoming a journalist. Unknown to her family, Ana has been accepted to Columbia University’s School of Journalism and has received a full scholarship.

Their father Raúl (Mauricio Mendoza), a hard working house painter, and mother Carmen (Justina Machado), who works as one of Estela’s seamstresses, have given up their youthful dreams, putting effort and money into Estela’s business. Carmen expects Ana, on graduation, to go to work for Estela and support the family’s dream.

Estela’s main buyer, Mrs. Wright (understudy Claudia Mulet at the performance I attended) has given Estela a challenge: create two hundred dresses in three weeks, with payment contingent on the order being completely finished by the deadline. Wright implies that future orders hang on the acceptance and successful completion of this order. Estela accepts, to the dismay of her eight person workforce (including herself, Ana, and Carmen), but they dive into the work.

Ana, still working part-time for the newspaper, has a friendly rivalry going with another reporter, Henry Cole (Mason Reeves), a nerdy high school senior, and their romance slowly develops. Ana also befriends Itzel (Aline Mayagoitia), an illegal Guatemalan immigrant about Ana’s age who works for Estela. The two girls bond over their yearnings for freedom.

Carmen, on learning about Ana’s acceptance to a college on the other side of the country, is adamant that Ana give up her dreams to support the family business. The rebellious Ana resents this, feeling that she has always been made to feel subordinate to her sister, but also feels that she cannot pursue her college career without her parents’ blessing.

Director-choreographer Sergio Trujillo has not only given his cast sensitive direction but also has provided them with sensuous, exciting dance numbers. Jennifer Sánchez, Carla Jimenez, Shelby Acosta, Sandra Valls, and Aline Mayagoitia do outstanding work, not only creating vibrant, diverse individuals but also a believably unified group of co-workers and friends. Under Trujillo’s direction, the group comes close to being a viable character on its own.

Trujillo gets performances from Machado, Córdoba, Cuenca, and Mendoza that create the Garcia family as a closely-knit unit which captures the mixture of support and conflict found in any family. Mason Reeves embodies the bravado and the insecurity of an 18-year-old on the brink of adulthood in his scenes with Córdoba. Claudia Mulet, standing in for Monica Tulia Ramierz, paints Mrs. Wright as a no-nonsense businesswoman whose icy exterior hides a surprising secret to her success.

Arnulfo Maldonado, whose work has been seen this season in Home, Yellow Face, Buena Vista Social Club, and Dead Outlaw, has created sets that show the grittiness of Emilia’s workroom, the proud simplicity of the Garcia home, and an immigration holding center among other locations, wrapping them all in a neon-colored, fantastic Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles. It comes to life with the help of the lighting designs of Natasha Katz and the sound designs of John Shivers. The costumes, designed by Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, run the gamut from everyday work clothes to the flashy, stylish designs coming from Emilia’s imagination. 

Real Women Have Curves gives a new angle on the old story of the toll exacted by hard work and determination on a family and a people — and of the rewards that can come along with it. It is a story of families, both blood and chosen, and above all it is a story about believing in your dreams and your ability to achieve them. Plus it’s all wrapped up in a score that propels and enhances the story and its characters. I cannot more strongly recommend seeing the seamstresses of 1987 Los Angeles as they demonstrate that Real Women Have Curves!

Real Women Have Curves is presented at the James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th St., in New York. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to realwomenhavecurvesbroadway.com.