Certain examples of their art inspired Cruz’s ideas about dramatic construction. of “Universe, Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, Senor Xolotl’s Love HugFrom 1949, Kahlo portrayed Rivera as a child, embraced by herself and the Earth Goddess. He said that he derived the core concept of opera, which is to help the , or in a more idealistic and artistic world. “
Rivera Mural”A Sunday Afternoon Dream at Alameda Central Park(1946-47), which mixes his life story with the political history of Mexico, shows the artist painting at the beginning of the second act. Frida emerges from the composition and reenters her living world.
Director Lorena Maza, from Mexico City, said she and her design team were inspired by the two painters’ shared love of indigenous and folk art and their activism. Equally fundamental to mise-en-scène is the difference in their perspectives. The intimacy of the self-portrait so conspicuous in Kahlo’s work – ‘Each fights pain and disintegration’ – is the social realism of Rivera’s epic.Mural.
“Mainly what we bring to the table is the Mexican take on the story,” Maza said. “What Anglo-Saxon culture knows about Dia de los Muertos, or Frida and Diego, is a little different than how we live it. We want to avoid the folkloric and clichéd versions of human artists.For us, these have been with us since we were children and create a Mexican visual identity for us. A very intimate and personal character.
The purpose of the opera, hinted at by the final lines of the chorus of dead souls, is to transport us into the world of Frida and Diego, blurring the line between reality and imagination.
“Life is short
But the light will follow
strokes of your paintbrush.
emerging from your paintings,
hymn of the sun,
Glory in your gaze.