Review Fix chats with Award-winning composer, Alfonso Molina (music, book, and lyrics) and celebrated Mayu Molina Lehmann (book and lyrics) on their new production, Monarch.
About Monarch:
MONARCH, a powerful new musical that explores the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States, premiered at the Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC) in 2022, receiving a number one recommendation for that weekend from the L.A. Times, then traveling to Washington, where it garnered a Helen Hayes Award nomination.
The musical follows Luis, as he confronts the shadows of his undocumented existence. In true “Les Miserables” style, he is relentlessly pursued by ICE Officer Castelo. As the stakes reach new heights, Luis takes refuge in a local church and draws inspiration from the Monarch butterfly. Much like the Monarch, Luis is determined to embark on a fate-defining journey.
Two special performances featuring excerpts from this powerhouse new musical:
November 18
at the Marriott Marquis Jane Elissa’s Entertainment Extravaganza featuring Broadway performers to benefit the Leukemia Foundation
(by invitation only)
November 19 at 6:00 pm
OPEN JAR STUDIOS
Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan
1601 Broadway 11th floor, New York City
Review Fix: What was your inspiration behind this project?
MAYU & ALFONSO: Alfonso and I are siblings who grew up in the Mexican State of Sonora, which borders Arizona. From early on we knew of migrants who arrived in Sonora determined to walk for days in a merciless desert. We even knew of family members who were willing to risk it all in hopes of a better life. Some of our cousins became Dreamers, growing up as Americans but without the possibility of belonging.
Many years later, we found ourselves living on the East Coast of the U.S. Alfonso enrolled in a Masters in Composition at Manhattan School of Music and Mayu moved to Washington, D.C. with her American husband. From this vantage point, we were horrified to see the rhetoric casting undocumented immigrants as criminals. We knew them as hardworking, family-oriented people. We wanted to present them in a positive light.
During a visit to Alfonso in NYC we went to see the musical The Color Purple. “Why don’t we write something like this?” Mayu said afterwards, “something that celebrates the joy, heartbreak and resilience of Mexican immigrants?”
That was the seed that many years later would become Monarch: A Mexican-American Musical.
Review Fix:What’s your creative process like?
MAYU:Challenging! We had to figure out how to work together as we think in different mediums: Alfonso thinks the story should be told through the music, while I see the play as a novel, with long descriptions that are not necessarily subject to the music duration. It took a while to connect those forms of expression. The good thing is that we had a very clear goal in mind: To present our version of the hard reality of Mexican-American immigrants, who sacrifice a lot to give better opportunities to their families, as well as showing a positive view of all immigrants: documented, undocumented and Dreamers.
ALFONSO: I wanted to bring to people a musical that could relate to Mexican-Americans, in the sense that it could finally tell our story from our perspective, talking about the thousands of miles that some people travel to be able to give a better life to their families, or the determination it takes to achieve their goals. Musically I draw inspiration from who I consider to be the greatest composers of musical theater from all times, like Leonard Berstein (West Side Story and Candide), Steven Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, and others), Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera and others), Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Miserables and others). I then tried to contribute in a personal way using elements from my own culture and musical experience, like the use of the huapango and danzón among other influences. These genres were a point of departure to create a musical hybrid, hopefully worthy of Broadway audiences.
Review Fix: What did you learn/are learning about yourself through this process/production?
MAYU & ALFONSO:When we wrote this musical, it was because it was an important and very personal story for us. We thought only Hispanics would relate to it. That is why we decided to premiere it in L.A. where it was warmly received.
Later on, when we brought the show to Washington, D.C. we discovered a beautiful thing: That the play speaks to all immigrants, not just Hispanics, but people of all backgrounds. In particular, we were surprised at how the show resonated with African Americans who later told us that, historically, they have had a similar experience of being treated as not-belonging, as being “others.” So we learned that even though we think our experience is unique, we are connected to others through our common humanity.
Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this for the future?
MAYU & ALFONSO:To remind audiences of the humanity of all immigrants. Documented or undocumented, they carry the same hopes and dreams of other immigrants before them. They don’t want to be undocumented, but the current legal immigration system has many barriers that block their pathway for them to become official residents, even if they have lived and contributed to this country honorably for 20 years, like is the case of Luis, the lead of this play.
Review Fix: What’s next?
MAYU & ALFONSO: We are doing a showcase in NYC with the aim of building partnerships to produce a season of Monarch in NYC. Later on, we would like to go on tour to as many American cities as possible. We have learned that there is a hunger to portray positive stories about immigrants and Hispanics. We are also working on a Spanish version that will be premiered in Mexico City. And after that, who knows! We believe the show has international appeal. After all, conflict and climate change are contributing to the increase of unregulated immigration all over the world.
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