Like America Ferrera before her, Tatianna Cordoba shines in a the star-making role of Ana Garcia.
Julieta Cervantes
Real Women Have Curveshas been moving audiences to tears since the early ’90s.
But make no mistake, itisquite different.
Tatianna Córdoba, Florencia Cuenca, and Justina Machado in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Credit:Julieta Cervantes
This Ana does not back down from the challenge.
Gone is the sullen, resentful young woman that markedAmerica Ferrera’s well-deserved breakout.
It’s simple: Ana yearns for her mother’s approval.
Tatianna Córdoba in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
How can she possibly fly away without Carmen’s blessing?
What do I owe my family?
How can I help them?
Tatianna Córdoba in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
It plays incredibly well to a crowd: The jokes are constant and the warmth palpable.
The show is an absolute joy to witness with its vibrant scenery and lively choreography.
Much like the film, the musical acts as a star-making moment for its lead.
In a vacuum,Real Women Have Curvesis a rather unburdened delight.
But in reality, Ferrera’s shadow, andthe film’s grounded take on this story, loom large.
She was right to have those feelings, and at times wrong about how she processed them.
The same can be said of Carmen, who is similarly sanded down.
And this is a necessary, deeply affecting update.
This is the inevitable tension of adaptation: There is something lost by this latest translation.
Florencia Cuenca in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
But then, isn’t that the benefit ofReal Women Have Curvesbeing a classic work?
These versions can coexist.
The original hasn’t been erased but retrofitted for a new crowd and a new form.
Justina Machado in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
There are moments in this iteration that exist in no other.
More importantly, despite the differences, the message remains the same.
Aline Mayagoitia and Tatianna Córdoba in ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
The cast and company of Broadway’s ‘Real Women Have Curves’.Julieta Cervantes
