A night of double celebration is what was experienced yesterday at the Telcel Theater, when after a special function of the musical “Aladdin” two plaques were unveiled, one for the 225 performances of this musical and the other for the 25 years of life of OCESA Theatre.
“This is a glorious night for those of us who do theater, thank you all for being there,” said Julieta González, producer of OCESA Teatro, after having seen the presentation of this work, of which she highlighted that it was one of the first to rise again the curtain after the pandemic.
For his part, Federico González Compean, producer of OCESA Teatro, recalled that this adventure began in 1997, when the Orfeón Theater was being remodeled to receive its first musical “La Bella y La Bestia”, although the company was an expert in organizing concerts, perform theater of this magnitude knew almost nothing.
“But after 25 years and eight million tickets, more than tickets we believe that what we did was that we touched the hearts of eight million people, it is said very quickly, it is said very easily, there have been ups and downs, ugly things, hard and difficult, but also a lot of joy, so this 25-year celebration is thanks to the public,” said González Compean.
The producer also pointed out that this company has focused on presenting productions with the best quality, at the level of Broadway or London, which is why it has always recruited the best Mexican and foreign talent to integrate its casts.
For the double unveiling, guests of honor were Roberto Blandón, Bianca Marroquín, Michelle Rodríguez and Alan Estrada, but among the audience were more than 300 actors and actresses, out of the thousand who were once part of the 27 musicals that OCESA Teatro has presented for over 25 years.
“I feel grateful to belong to such a wonderful family, which is not only 25 years of great successes, 25 years of great celebrations, 25 years of great talents, it is 25 years of many generations that we went to the theater to see them and we dreamed; but Suddenly we stopped being in the seat and we had the opportunity to be up here, I grew up somehow dreaming of doing theater and now doing it, each one of the performances is invaluable, each applause that has been given over 25 years, They are a small gift of everything that the theater has given to our hearts,” said Michelle Rodríguez, who was part of the musicals “Si nos dejan”, “Los miserables” and “Chicago”.
Allan Estrada explained the way in which this company changed his life, not only as a spectator since, being very young, he was able to enjoy the first version of “Beauty and the Beast”, but also as an actor, since one of these musicals gave him a great boost to his career, “Today I can’t get up”, but above all it gave him the opportunity to dedicate himself to what he loves most.
“I am transported to Beauty and the Beast, with Roberto Blandón in ’97, it was my first play and that of the OCESA theater department, I remember Federico Gonzáles Compean our last show and you shouted to the public ‘yes you can’ and everyone We cried. The commitment we made (the actors) is of a lot of sacrifice and a lot of resistance, the performances in the week are your life; this is not a sacrifice because we chose it and I can’t believe that 25 years later we are with the same faces, celebrating all the Thanks to the producers for giving us vehicles where we can climb to fly and be what we come to the world to do,” he said. Bianca Moroccanwho starred in the musicals “Chicago” and “Mary Poppins.”
night of anecdotes
The anecdotes continued with producer Morris Gilbert, who recalled when Roberto Blandón auditioned for “Les Miserables”, looking for the role of Jean Valjean, but not getting it, he left the place angry without hearing that the casting director had chosen him for another character. , the mobster Thénardier, so the producer had to run after him to convince him to stay.
“It was almost a hand-to-hand fight, obviously I managed to convince him – then Gilbert told the actors who were on stage – guys listen to your producers, it’s the best role you’ve ever done, you were brilliant”.
But Blandón responded by commenting that the actor must have something of a masochist, because a career in the theater is up and down and sometimes the pay is not that good, but the actor has the commitment to give one hundred percent of himself on stage, so sick or with a family member in the hospital.
“But that dose of pain turns into a dose of joy that you’re doing things right, and as Bianca says, no one put a gun to us to be up here on stage, but that dose is very healthy and hopefully we continue with these wonderful plays produced by Ocesa Teatro,” said Blandón.
The night ended with a karaoke session, in which the entire cast of “Aladdin” participated, as well as the actors and guests, who had fun dancing and singing on stage. When the public left the premises, they were surprised that they had the possibility of taking a replica of the plates that have been unveiled in this company over 25 years.
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