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New York Post
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
'Real Women Have Curves' on Broadway: Where to buy tickets, thoughts
Vivid Seats is the New York Post's official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Featured pricing is subject to change. Broadway musicals typically don't receive mid-show standing ovations. However, sometimes songs within these professional productions are so good, so powerful and so raw, the only defense the audience has is to stand and cheer. Nearly three quarters of the way in to the show-stopping 'Real Women Have Curves,' our ensemble busts out the show's title track while ahem busting out of their tops while working in a sweltering factory. They're doing everything they can to finish an order to complete 200 dresses in time to meet an impossible deadline. Advertisement While the scenario is tense, our heroines are having a blast. At the show I attended, the crowd was too. When the tune concluded, a wave of appreciative fans stood and emphatically cheered. Then, we took our seats and the show continued. That was just one of many unforgettable moments in this boisterous, crowd-pleasing musical at the James Earl Jones Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. 'Real Women Have Curves,' which is based on the 2002 film starring America Ferrera and George Lopez, opened on Broadway this past April. In the month since its opening, the musical has netted two Tony nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Justina Machado and Best Original Score yet that undersells the jubilant, uplifting energy emanating from director Sergio Trujillo's stage. What's it like to see this emotionally satisfying one-of-a-kind show live? Advertisement Well, let's start before the curtain comes up. The James Earl Jones Theatre Upon entrance at the recently-renovated James Earl Jones Theatre, one quickly notices how intimate the 1,082-seat space is. The seats in the balcony are spacious but they're all close to the stage. Even if you're in the last row, you're not too far from the action. That's hardly the venue's best feature though. According to Playbill, 'the newly constructed wing off the building's western face with a grand staircase, elevator, accessible bathrooms, concession areas, lounge, dressing rooms, and rehearsal space' are just a few of the Theatre's features that got a facelift. Advertisement Once you've taken stock of the amenities, you'll notice a colorful, tropical backdrop onstage that evokes a sunny summer day. The mood has been set. 'Real Women Have Curves' summary 'RWHC' tells the story of 18-year-old Los Angeleno Ana Garcia (the magnetic Tatianna Córdoba). She dreams of attending Columbia University in NYC, which she has been accepted into on a full scholarship. The only problem is her mother, Carmen (Tony-nominated Justina Machado), wants her to stay and work with her and her older sister Estella (pitch-perfect Florencia Cuenca) tailoring dresses. Another sticking point? Ana is the only U.S. citizen in the family and is needed for handling the bureaucratic issues of everyday life. The tension boils to a fever pitch when a buyer asks Estella — who runs the business — to accepts an offer to produce 200 dresses in just two weeks. This seemingly impossible task forces the family to look deep within and figure out what they really want. While that workmanlike plot provides a narrative engine, the charming immigrant characters and body-positive, empowering message is what makes the timely story resonate. Thoughts on 'Real Women Have Curves' Advertisement We'll be honest. The hero's journey within 'Real Women Have Curves' is nothing to write home about. Yet, the stock story flies by thanks to emotive performances, lively songs and heavy-hitting social weightiness. In this case, the 'finish a job by a deadline!' plot is a blank slate to draw upon; 'Real Women Have Curves' is all about the artistry in the margins, which elevates the tale at hand here. What we loved All throughout the show, multi-cam sitcom-type jokes hit hard. When Pancha (Carla Jimenez delivering a breakout star-making performance full of gravitas and panache) says 'say adiós to Andres' when Mrs. García realizes she's going through menopause, the James Earl Jones Theatre erupted. This wasn't just a laugh, this felt more like a gut-busting conversation with a friend. These characters weren't just stand-ins. They're real, relatable people who could be your neighbors, cousins, pals. It's that verisimilitude that kept the crowd engaged for the two-hour-plus runtime. As lived-in as the show is, it should be noted that 'Real Women Have Curves' is also a dynamic musical. The production's opening tune, the 'Make It Work,' is a singalong 'In The Heights'-esque ear worm and brings the text to life through song. Not only do we get a sense for how these dressmakers have to make things work with their limited resources, we feel it through the energy coursing through the theater, which at times felt more like a concert than a Broadway musical. And let's not forget the amazingly executed sequences within the musical. A punchy back-and-forth between young Ana and the blonde buyer wasn't original — we won't spoil why — but plays out so effectively, it's hard not to marvel at how well-constructed the dialogue and blocking is. On a technical level, 'RWHC' makes the most of its charming, DIY sets. The factory, house and restaurant roll in and out effortlessly taking us from scene to scene without a hitch. While other productions rely on outsized theatrics, this musical proves you don't need spectacle to deliver top-notch drama (and comedy). Final verdict 'Real Women Have Curves' is an effectively told crowd pleaser that the cast and crew really 'make work.' Universal themes like family, dreams, youth, generationally trauma pulse throughout the heartwarming, emotionally satisfying musical that overcomes its pitfalls and most hackneyed ideas (and slightly overlong runtime) thanks to excellent performances, laugh out loud punchlines and party-starting, dance-floor ready songs that will melt even the most cynical of audience members. Advertisement The good here is great and more than outweighs my minor quibbles with the musical. Given the opportunity, you should actually go. Just be wary, you may be moved to deliver a standing ovation mid-show. 'Real Women Have Curves' schedule As of now, 'Real Women Have Curves runs eight nights a week from Tuesday through at New York City's James Earl Jones Theatre. Matinees go down Wednesdays (2 p.m.), Saturdays (2 p.m.) and Sundays (3 p.m.). The production goes dark on Mondays. Advertisement At the time of publication, the show will run until Oct. 5, 2025. If you'd like to snag seats to the show of your choosing, you can find seats for all upcoming 'Real Women Have Curves' shows here. The show runs two hours and 20 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. 'Real Women Have Curves' cast For those that want to match names to faces, here's a bit about each of the five biggest players in the 'Real Women Have Curves' cast, courtesy of the musical's website. Advertisement Tatianna Córdoba (Ana García) Tatianna is SO excited to be making her Broadway debut! This Bay Area native is a proud Latina/Filipina who received a BFA in Musical Theater from Boston Conservatory. HUGE thank-you to the DGRW family, the Córdoba 5, Joe, and the RWHC team for believing in her. Justina Machado (Carmen García) A talented and versatile actress, Justina Machado continues to endear audiences and earn critical acclaim working on stage, television, and film. She stars in Netflix's upcoming 'Pulse' and was previously in Prime Video's 'The Horror of Dolores Roach.' She is best known for her work in 'One Day at a Time' and 'Six Feet Under.' On stage, Machado previously held roles in A Free Man of Color and In the Heights. She was nominated for an Elliot Norton Award for her role in Real Women Have Curves by the Latino Chicago Theatre Company. Florence Cuenca (Estela García) Broadway debut! First Mexican immigrant to originate a co-leading role in a Broadway musical. Original Real Women Have Curves ART cast. Off-Broadway: A Never-Ending Line, Children of Salt. Projects: Broadway en Spanglish (Concord), Lincoln Center, Little Island, MASS MoCA. Gracias, IKIGAI Management. Para mi familia. Jaime & Alonzo los amo todo siempre. Mauricio Mendoza (Raúl García) Notable roles include regional theater: Addams Family, Nine, Anna in the Tropics, In the Heights. TV/Film: 'Resurrection Blvd.', 'Matlock,' 'The Oval,' 'Reboot,' 'The Santa Clauses,' 'Criminal Minds,' 'NCIS,' Blow, Ruthless. Proud member of Actors Equity, AFTRA-SAG, and PGA. Co-Owner of True Form Films with his wife, Yeniffer Behrens. Advertisement Jennifer Sánchez (Rosalí) A few of Sánchez's biggest parts include work on Broadway: Elf, The Rose Tattoo, Pretty Woman, Sunday in the Park With George, On Your Feet!, Spider-Man, Ghost, Women on the Verge, West Side Story. Off-Broadway: The Alchemist. Film: Kiss of the Spider Woman. 'Para mi familia, Sánchez y Padilla.' Tony-nominated Broadway musicals Hoping to catch a few more musicals in Midtown before Tony Sunday? In that case, here are just five you absolutely won't want to miss live these next few months. • 'Death Becomes Her' • 'Sunset Boulevard' • 'Maybe Happy Ending' • 'Dead Outlaw' • 'Just In Time' Still need even more? Take a look at our list of all the 2025 Tony-nominated shows on Broadway to find the one for you. This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change
Chicago Tribune
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: ‘Real Women Have Curves: The Musical' gets a feel-good Broadway bow
NEW YORK — 'My husband likes a big woman,' says one of the characters in 'Real Women Have Curves: The Musical,' enough to spark a roar from a matinee audience. 'More territory to explore.' 'My husband likes a short woman,' comes the fast response from a fellow worker. 'You get to the destination faster.' Sexy quips like that are sprinkled throughout this affirmative musical about Latina garment workers in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1987, a new Broadway attraction based on both Josefina López's original play and the 2002 film adaptation that starred America Ferrera. Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, it's a modestly scaled melodrama about the experience of mostly undocumented and hard-working immigrants and, although theoretically set nearly 40 years ago in the late 1980s, it has arrived at the James Earl Jones Theatre with striking timeliness. The show, which has a score by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and a book by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin, wisely leans into that circumstance. The cultural touchstones of the 1980s aren't exactly dominant here and until someone mentions Ronald Reagan, I swear most audience members thought they were watching a show set, sad to say, in the present. The title of the piece, a value statement, signals the show's point of view, and that there will be support and community and determination and body positivity aplenty. That's exactly how it goes. The plot is straight melodrama and derivative of several recent musicals, from 'In the Heights' to 'The Full Monty,' but especially 'Kinky Boots.' Carmen (Justina Machado), a Mexican immigrant who has opened her own garment factory, gets an order from a mean, pencil-skirted buyer named Rosalí (Jennifer Sánchez) to sew hundreds of dresses on a ridiculously tight deadline. If she doesn't make it, she won't get paid (you suspect she just might find a way before the end of Act 2). That's one source of dramatic tension, especially since the factory also has to worry about immigration raids and workers disappearing. The other big conflict flows between Carmen and her daughter, Ana (Tatianna Córdoba), an 18-year-old with Big Dreams, including an acceptance with a scholarship letter from Columbia University, allowing her to pursue her goal of becoming a journalist (still a viable career ambition in 1987). Ana's gentle dad (Mauricio Mendoza) is cool, her sister (Florencia Cluenca) is ready to step up at the shop and Ana's boyfriend (Mason Reeves) is geeky-cute and supportive (the show is no font of machismo), but mom Carmen wants her kid to stay and help with the garment biz. Ana is torn between her familial responsibilities and her own desires. You think she may figure out how to manage both before the final bows? The book for 'Real Women' really does tie itself into a pretzel trying to achieve its goal of keeping Carmen a likable character with whom the audience can empathize (the enemies here are the evil capitalists who forget where they came from, along with the immigration authorities) while also creating conflict with her daughter who just wants to go to any Ivy League college on a full scholarship. Certainly, children of immigrants feel much pressure due to their parents' prior struggles and those first-generation Americans often count family loyalty above all, but they also typically prize education and Carmen's lack of support for college for a whip-smart daughter the show insists she adores is just very hard to believe. Machado does her best to make it work and the personalized passion with which the talented Córdoba approaches her standard-issue, let-me-at-'em 18-year-old is enough to lift the character, especially in front of an audience willing to let her stand on their collective shoulders. This show, which has a genial, populist score of entertaining and empowering numbers, is not really about that plot anyway. Everyone who has ever seen a musical knows where it is going. It's more about the collective journey, the chance to celebrate oft-overlooked garment workers who know of skill and artistry and to enjoy actors with panache (Aline Mayagoitia, a very notable talent, is notably moving as a Guatemalan refugee). Most of the company is celebrating a Broadway debut and the audience is primed to enjoy their triumph, fictionally and formatively. Trujillo, an old pro, understands his material and his lively choreography is both created for the bonafide dancers in the cast and designed to make everyone else look and feel good. So they do. There's a song about menopause that went over like gangbusters at the show I saw, determined ballads of hopes, fears and resilience and even a bit of PG semi-nudity when the factory gets too sweaty and confidence rises. The curves promised on the marquee are vivaciously delivered.
Express Tribune
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
George Clooney recalls James Earl Jones pausing Fences over audience disruption
George Clooney recently shared a memorable and humorous moment involving the late theater legend James Earl Jones, recalling the time Jones paused a Broadway performance of Fences due to excessive audience chatter. The story surfaced during Variety's inaugural Broadway edition of 'Actors on Actors,' where Clooney spoke with Patti LuPone. The incident took place during a performance of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences, where James Earl Jones originated the role of Troy Maxson. Clooney explained he was seated next to two older audience members who were chatting throughout the show. During one of Jones' powerful soliloquies, the talking continued, prompting the veteran actor to break character and address the disruption directly. "James is just staring into the crowd, and I can tell he's looking right at me — though he couldn't quite see who was talking," Clooney recounted. "And then he goes, 'I don't appreciate that shit.' I was literally pointing at this old lady, like, 'It's not me, it's her!'' Jones' portrayal of Troy Maxson in the 1987 Broadway run earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor. The production went on to win multiple accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The role remains one of his most iconic stage performances. James Earl Jones passed away in September 2024 at the age of 93. A memorial held at the James Earl Jones Theatre in Manhattan earlier this month celebrated his life and career, with attendees including Denzel Washington, Phylicia Rashad, and Courtney B. Vance. Clooney's anecdote adds to the growing list of memorable celebrity encounters with live theater etiquette, echoing similar stories like LuPone's confrontation with a texting audience member during Shows for Days.
The Independent
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Broadway welcomes 'Real Women Have Curves: The Musical,' which lets the Latino community see itself
The immigrant experience takes center stage on Broadway this spring as 'Real Women Have Curves: The Musical' explores Latino culture in America with a predominantly Latino cast playing characters not usually portrayed on the biggest stages. 'We are here. We are the largest consumer demographic in North America,' said director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, a Tony- and Olivier Award-winner. 'We represent the vast majority of immigrants in this country. We believe in making a better life for ourselves. We believe in the American Dream. We are a hardworking, devoted, happy and joyful community. I want to be able to represent all of those wonderful colors in what I know how to do and that's through musicals.' Based on the play by Josefina López that inspired the HBO 's film, 'Real Women Have Curves: The Musical' follows Ana Garcia, as she dreams of flying away from East Los Angeles and her family's sewing factory. But when her family receives a dress order that could make or break their businesses, she finds herself juggling her ambitions, her mother's expectations and a community of women trying to make it work despite the odds. Preview performances for 'Real Women Have Curves: The Musical' are set to begin Tuesday at the James Earl Jones Theatre, ahead of opening night on April 27. Along with 'Buena Vista Social Club," which opened on March 19, the musical is one of the few shows on Broadway since 'In the Heights' and 'On Your Feet!' with a predominantly Latino cast. The musical works to encapsulate the long hours many Latino mothers worked and sacrificed to make their children dreams come true. Trujillo was drawn to do the show because he was inspired by the movie's message of resilience and the authenticity of the Latino immigrant experience. The son of a seamstress, Trujillo said him directing and choreographing is in honor of his mom. Trujillo, who is of Colombian heritage, said the musical is a way for him to empower the Latino community, through a story where they can see themselves. For Aline Mayagoitia, the musical marks her Broadway debut and she couldn't be more excited. Mayagoitia plays a factory worker from Guatemala, a character she says she never imagined seeing on Broadway. She said she's honored to serve as representation for the experiences of many Latinos in the U.S. 'To demonstrate that on stage, on Broadway, I think is pretty historic,' Mayagoitia said. 'I've never seen that on stage. And I think, sadly, because of the way things are happening right now in our country, it is going to hit really hard.' Having moved to the U.S. from Mexico City at the age of 10, she has an inside perspective into the struggles of many of the show's characters. Mayagoitia said she understands the pressure there is when you grow up in a family with different immigration statuses. Having each actor on stage understand the Latino immigrant experience is a bonus as they can bring that to their role, Trujillo said. 'These are actors who know it, who live it, who breath it, who understand it," Trujillo said. Trujillo said the show will be one where all Latinos can see themselves and celebrate their community and the show's cast album will be a big part of that. The music specifically represents the Mexican American experience, he said. 'That was an opportunity to be able to find ways in which we can create a sound and reflect the beauty, joy and passion of our culture,' Trujillo said. Mayagoitia said she feels the show's score is true Latino pop. She said it feels like the music she grew up listening in Mexico. Joy Huerta, the show's co-composer and lyricists, said she was excited to be part of the show because she felt its message is one that can still resonate with the Latino community. 'I liked all the possibilities of things we can do in terms of representation and visibility and just a story that many people can relate to,' Huerta said. Huerta said each song in the show represents the Latino culture but have a bicultural element to show the how the characters have adapted into the U.S. but still keep their roots in mind. The songs are also a bit of English and Spanish, Huerta said. He said it was a way to show all audiences an insight into Latino culture. 'It's just represents our culture so much,' Huerta said. 'Being bilingual and bicultural has been a really big part of my life,' Mayagoitia said. Huerta said when they started working on the show five years ago she could not predict what would be happening in the U.S. right now. But that is why she thinks the show will 'transcend generations." 'I cannot emphasize enough the fact that this is a human story,' Huerta said. Trujillo said he hopes young Latinos who see the show with their families can stay true to their dreams and stick to what they believe in while still respecting the sacrifices of those that came before them. 'My hope has been to inspire and ignite the passions of young audiences,' Trujillo said.
