Cuban Zarzuela: Performing Race and Gender on Havana's Lyric Stage

by Susan Thomas

On September 29, 1927, Cuban soprano Rita Montaner walked onto the stage of Havana's Teatro Regina. The cross-dressed actress sang the premiere of Eliseo Grenet's tango-congo, "Ay Mam? In?s" and cemented the song as a classic in the Cuban repertoire. More importantly, her performance heralded the birth of the Cuban zarzuela, a Spanish-language light opera with spoken dialogue that originated in Spain but transformed popular entertainment in Cuba...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252033310
• ISBN13: 9780252033315
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"