It started in 2023 and in Buenos Aires the theaters were full of spectators, to the relief and delight of those engaged in the business, hit to the core during the pandemic and, thankfully, rebounding. And also to the delight of the public who have a billboard with many options available.
Among many possibilities, here is a brief guide of advice with some proposals for different tastes offered by the theaters of Buenos Aires (many and good ones have remained, it is only an arbitrary selection), confirming the strong theatrical imprint that the City has and which makes it a point of reference for the genre in the Spanish-speaking world.
The highest grossing
Married with children: Impossible to ignore the phenomenon of the summer, of the year and who knows how many more, with the repercussion of the arrival of the Argentos in the theater which devastates with eleven weekly performances and an unprecedented call with the Gran Rex filled continuously and in which they live a party, almost worldwide.
Guillermo Francella and Florencia Peña leading the cast meet the expectations of viewers who want to see live Pepe (Francella), Mon (Peña)i, Paola (Luisana Lopilato), Coqui (Darío Lopilato), Dardo (Marcelo De Bellis ) and now Azucena (Jorgelina Aruzzi), newcomer after the farewell of Erica Rivas. They go on stage, do not disappoint and the ovation explodes.
Performances are Tuesday through Sunday at the Teatro Gran Rex, Av. Corrientes 857, with seats starting at $7,840.
piaf: The Argentinian version of the British musical Pam Gems, directed by the English Jamie Lloyd, gets all the applause. Elena Roger’s interpretation of the French singer Edith Piaf is sublime, accompanied by an impeccable cast that moves to tears. The staging elevates it to an international level.
After thirteen years, Roger returns to his role of consecratory protagonist together with the original cast and the work adds to the intensity and experience acquired by the artist during these years. The context of the Liceo Theater, the oldest in the city, completes the combo of a unique experience where La vie en rose, the hymn to love AND Non, je ne regrette rien in the impeccable voice of the protagonist.
Performances are Wednesday through Sunday, at the Teatro Liceo, Av. Rivadavia 1499, with seats from $1,000 (under 25) to $8,500.
immature: The comedy with Adrián Suar and Diego Peretti, directed by Mauricio Dayub, was one of last year’s box office successes, with an ideal proposal to relax with a duo who know how to exploit their chemistry on stage.
Alfi and Fideo, completely different lifelong friends, meet one night when Alfie wants to help Fideo overcome a crisis that makes him very melancholy. The plan is to introduce him to the ladies but, in a typical back-and-forth comedy, everything will get messy. Among the laughs, the work also proposes a reconsideration of the new and various forms of relationship between people.
Services are Thursday through Sunday at Nacional Sancor Seguros, Av. Corrientes 960, with seats starting at $5,100.
The ones that don’t fail
the extraordinary life: Through of a poetic prologue in off, which tries to explain the origin of the Universe, the work tries to tell the life of two women, Aurora and Blanca, lifelong friends, retrace their stories in an exchange where literature is intertwined with their daily experiences.
Valeria Lois and Lorena Vega are the actresses who give shape to these women, teacher and seamstress, to their love stories, husbands, children, work, pains, little joys, always with poetry as a saving guide for both, in a great text, written and directed by Mariano Tenconi Blanco.
Performances on Saturdays and Sundays at the Picadero, Pje Santos Discépolo 1857, with seats for $4,000.
The Grönholm method: Four candidates for a top executive position in a multinational corporation compete, in a job interview, to win the position no matter what. Returning to Corrientes Street, Spanish director Jordi Garcelán’s new version of the play is directed by Ciro Zorzoli and stars Rafael Ferro, Marina Bellati, Martín Slipak and Julián Cabrera, in a great acting duel.
Performances Wednesday through Sunday, at Paseo La Plaza, Av. Corrientes 1660, with tickets starting at $4,000.
Freud’s last session: The show focuses on the legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, in his last years of life, who invites the brilliant young academic CS Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia at his home in London. That day, England enters World War II and they discuss the existence of God, love, sex and the meaning of life.
Directed by Daniel Veronese, Luis Machín plays Freud, having played the role of Lewis in an earlier version, a role now taken by Javier Lorenzo, with a period recreation that invites the viewer on a journey through time.
Services are Thursday through Sunday, in the Picadero, Pje. Santos Discépolo 1857, with seats starting at $4,000.
The amateur, second round: a classic by actor, director and playwright Mauricio Dayub that is back on the bill in a new version. El Pájaro and Lopecito, its protagonists, manage to find a common goal and risk everything they have to achieve it.
The work speaks of passion and friendship and how that bond, when it is unconditional, can transform the dreams of those who share it. Dayub also stars in it together with Gustavo Luppi,
Performances are Thursdays at 10pm at Chacarerean, Nicaragua 5565, with seats starting at $2,900.
What remains of us: Unconditional love, ties marked by tragedy, abandonment and the search for affection are some of the themes that are staged in this work that lets you float among other questions, how do you go on when someone leaves , Leaves us. All this crossed by the preponderant and loving figure of a faithful dog, as a real presence and as a metaphor.
Colombian actress Carolina Ramírez and Alberto Ajaka star in this play by Mexican Alejandro Ricaño, in an Argentinian version directed by Virginia Magnago.
Services are Thursday through Sunday at Multitabaris Comafi, Av. Corrientes 831, with seats starting at $4,500.
The dull pearls
The red room: In this comedy, written, directed and performed by Victoria Hladilo, the action takes place in a kindergarten, during a meeting of fathers and mothers in which the group of adults is forced to try to coordinate and agree on situations involving their own children.
But defending the needs of one’s children is the pretext for expressing individual claims and imposing opinions which, deep down, hide secrets and frustrations. The acidic, sometimes delusional and even humorous tone is the key to this piece which exposes the disputes of ego and power that appear everywhere.
Performances Fridays at 10pm at the Picadero, Pje Santos Discépolo 1857, with $3,000 seats.
Falling in love is short and intricate talk: This is one of those small, simple works that show how a few elements can achieve a lot: climate, tenderness, humour, mischief. Ana and Pedro, the protagonists meet in a square and there, sitting on a bench, looking at the world, they talk and life happens.
With the dramaturgy and direction of Leandro Airaldo and the acting of Emiliano Díaz and Sol Rodríguez Seoane, they are a city girl and a country boy, who cross their gazes and their ideas of what love is to reach an ending surprising and poetic.
Performances are Saturdays at El Camarín de las Musas, Mario Bravo 960, with seating for $2,000.
The “rare”
There is no band: The work of Martín Flores Cárdenas as author, actor and director of this work is one of the best surprises of last year and which is now back on the billboard. In a small room, with the public as witness and accomplice (and also as containment), Flores Cárdenas lays bare his fragility and shows it as a psychological and artistic experiment.
A very difficult work to classify, with a fourth wall more than ever invisible, in which we witness a catharsis where the pain of the various losses mixes and dialogues with reflections on theatre, acting and art as a mirror of life .
The shows are at the Casa-teatro Estudio, Guardia Vieja 4257, on Fridays at 8.30pm; Tuesdays at 4pm and Wednesdays at 6pm, with seats starting at $1,000.
fuck me: The director, dancer and actress Marina Otero offers a work that invites to a completely different experience, irreverent, provocative and moving at the same time, with which she has toured several countries.
Halfway between biodrama, dance, tragedy and parody, Otero recounts his life, offering himself as an object of analysis on stage with this work which is part of a saga in which he investigates the passage of time and its imprints on the body.
Performances are at the Centro Cultura 25 de Mayo, Av. Triunvirato 4444, Thursdays and Fridays at 9pm, with seats starting at $1,600.
not proactive: Martín Urtasun is responsible for this individual improvisation which has a particularity: the viewer chooses the course of the plot, can change the genre and defines the ending through interaction with their phone. Without breaking the climate of the performance, the plot has drastic twists scenes that can bring drama to humor, according to the will of the audience
With a setting without scenography, the cell phone screens are active during the show and the spectator enacts improvised situations on stage in a different proposal, for those who are more interested in something interactive.
Performances are Fridays at 10:30pm at Belisario Cultural Club, Av. Corrientes 1624, with seats starting at $1,100.
MFB extension
Source: Clarin
