Vanessa Rebeil
Latina Equity Stage Manager
Zoot Suit
March 1979 - May 1979
Book by Luis Valdez
Lyrics by Lalo Guerrero
Music by Daniel Valdez
Directed by Luis Valdez
Choreographed by Patricia Birch
Stage Managed by Milt Commons & Beth Ward
On the Page
Though I’d categorize Zoot Suit more as a play with music rather than a musical, I include it here because it is the first of any type of theatrical show on Broadway that was written and directed by a Latino. That, in and of itself, marks a huge breakthrough in the timeline of Hispanics on Broadway. Luis Valdez is highly known for his political views in every work he creates. It all stems from his work in 1965 when “he founded El Teatro Campesino, a theater troupe and ‘cultural arm’ of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers… [where] the group staged pro-union skits, which he wrote and directed” (Ito, NYT). The success in his work during the civil rights movement is what motivated him to write this piece and what moved him up to Broadway.
He tells the story of the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial in Los Angeles during the Zoot Suit riots. We see the story through the eyes of Henry Reyna’s conscience, El Pachuco, who’s been wrongly accused of murder on a night out. We see the night of the incident, the court trial and his incarceration along with three other members of his gang. We watch Henry struggle with his alter ego as he tries to leave his zoot suit days behind him. But El Pachuco won’t let him forget that the world will always see him as a pachuco, a zoot suit, a criminal leading him to make rash angry decisions that don’t help his already awful situation. The play ends with the boys eventually being released thanks to the help of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee and a double ending for Henry. In one ending we see him happily married to the love of his life and in the other we see him incarcerated once again for selling drugs, leaving the audience with a feeling of uncertainty. As Eder said in the NYT, it “aspires to be a story and symbol, universal message and popular entertainment all at once; but its creators have failed to join all these things together.”
The World Outside the Rehearsal Room
The LA audiences loved the show, giving it such rave reviews and standing ovations that it caught the attention of the New York eye. Unfortunately the NY audience only gave it a three week run. I would have thought it’d be the other way around, I’d think the LA audience would not want to see such a dark portrayal of their culture onstage whereas NY, who had been through a similar phase, was not attached to this particular event. Looking at where these two cities were in the time this show was produced, the success/failure of this show in reaching its audiences makes a bit more sense. New York in the 1970’s was suffering. Everyone was finding any reason to move out, the city was struggling financially and the rise of crime was higher than it'd ever been; gangs, much like the ones portrayed in this play, were right outside the doors of the Winter Garden. All the while, LA was thriving and becoming the new go-to city for the arts and improving rapidly. These events were far enough behind them that they could watch and learn from it and appreciate having Chicanos onstage for the first time.
In the Rehearsal Room
Stage managing this show I imagine would need a delicate hand. Not only is the subject matter within the show quite heavy, so is what’s happening outside of the room. It affects people’s lives and what baggage they bring with them into the rehearsal room. Especially since “in those days, there weren’t many Latinos looking for a career in theater, so [they] were working with a lot of first-time actors. [They] had people who had never really been onstage.” (Ito, NYT). That’s always an added pressure onto the stage manager to guide them in the process and show them the expectations and rules of what it means to be on a Broadway show.