Marilyn, a reflection in the mirror

From the femme fatale to the woman who feels dreadful. Writer and theatre director Alfonso Zurro turns to one of the great legends of the 20th century, Marilyn Monroe, to talk about lonely women, ordinary women, women of flesh and blood.

David del Puerto, recipient of the National Music Prize (Premio Nacional de Música), has transformed the original play into a chamber opera with two interpreters: soprano Ruth González and mezzosoprano Blanca Valido. A supermarket cashier, a mother abandoned by her husband, weighed down by sentimental and economic hardships, evokes the legendary film star, while Lina, a sort of adversary, accompanies and witnesses her desperation. Marilyn as an evocation, Marilyn as an opponent, Marilyn as a legend. An intimate work, it is also a brutal social portrait of so many women whose lives have been promised diamonds which turn out to be false.

Somewhere between classic mythology and contemporary mythomania, the author presents a savage dichotomy caught amidst reality and anticipation, dreams and deceptions. Between anguish and aspiration.

A sung dialogue that David del Puerto accompanies with viola and electric guitar, an ensemble of multiple timbres builds bridges between the voice that is present and that which is imaginary. An atmosphere of “paradoxical serenity which originates from nothing and is lost in the void”.

All the programming in the Sala Manuel García is made possible thanks to the support of the Fundación Banco Sabadell.