You don’t have to be an expert on telenovelas to enjoy “Destiny of Desire,” the hilarious and affectionate homage to Latin American TV soap operas that opened Friday at the Old Globe.
Not only is the play with music performed in English, but the actors frequently break the fourth wall to explain to the audience that the preposterous plot twists aren’t all that different from real events in the U.S. Imaginatively and amusingly staged by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, “Destiny of Desire” is fun, well-cast and clever — even though its script feels overlong and only a couple of its songs are memorable.
“Destiny of Desire” made its world premiere in 2015 at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Playwright Karen Zacarías wanted to honor the telenovas she grew up watching in Mexico, but with a more humanistic and subversive approach. Sure enough, the play opens with the cast telling the audience “we are here to change the social order. Deal with it!”
A scene from “Destiny of Desire” at the Old Globe Theatre.
(Courtesy of Jim Cox)
The play is set on a TV soundstage in San Diego filled with a two-story hacienda set designed by Rachel Hauck. The actors play telenovela stars preparing to tape an episode before a live audience. Over time, the artificiality of the the TV set-up fades away, except for the ominous musical chords that play when a plot twist is revealed and the occasional “rewind” scenes that mimic the brief recaps telenovela TV viewers see after commercial breaks.
Zacarías has jam-packed the play’s story with telenovela tropes: a cheating spouse, a love triangle, a beautiful maid, class divisions, a dark family secret, an act of violence and a big reveal at the end. But in her script, the women aren’t weepy, lovesick, jealous or greedy. With one exception, the women are loyal, honest, selfless, intelligent and aspire to noble careers.
The riotously funny Bianca Marroquín steals the show as Fabiola, the ex-beauty queen wife of wealthy casino owner Armando Castillo (Al Rodrigo) in the fictitious town of Bellarica. Fabiola is the villainess of “Destiny of Desire,” but Marroquín is so hilarious and relatable in the role, you’ll root for her.
After giving birth to a sickly baby girl with a heart defect, Fabiola talks corrupt doctor Mendoza (Julio Augustín) into secretly switching her infant with the healthy newborn daughter of another patient, the poor farmer’s wife, Hortencia Del Rio (Broadway veteran Mandy Gonzalez). Eighteen years later, the now-grown girls — bored debutante Pilar Mendoza (Yesenia Ayala) and earnest but poor Victoria Del Rio (Emilia Suárez) — meet and become best friends, and the web of family secrets starts to unravel.
The play is punctuated with songs by orchestrator-music director Ricky Gonzalez and a touch of dance choreographed by Lorna Ventura. The score has two memorable songs. There’s a wonderful mariachi tune sung by Jame Olivas, who plays the telenovela’s resident hunk, Sebástian, Fabiola’s stepson and former lover. And the underused Mandy Gonzalez (whose Broadway credits include lead roles in “Hamilton” and “Wicked”) gets just one brief ballad to perform, but she makes the most of it.
“Destiny of Desire” could be shorter, and the frequent asides to the audience with U.S. statistics interrupt the story flow after a while. But the play is light, funny summer entertainment and it offers something fresh for Old Globe audiences.
‘Destiny of Desire’
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through June 25.
Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park
Tickets: $29 and up
Phone: (619) 234-5623
Online: theoldglobe.org