"Los Otros" @ Everyman Theatre

My dear friend, Dee, treated me today to my latest Theater outing! We've been sharing them and treating one another now for a couple of years. (It was my pleasure to take him to both productions of "Angels in America" last fall at Round House.) It was also our second trip to Everyman Theatre in Baltimore to see a production.

The show was the musical "Los Otros", and other than the fact that I knew it was a two person show, and that the title translates into "The Others", I had no idea what to expect. Well, that's not completely true, I knew to expect top quality from Everyman Theatre. They are a repertory theatre company, but also open to other actors. The actors who performed "Los Otros" were not of the company.

The story is that of two people, a woman and a man. They trade off through song between each another the story of their lives. It isn't until the final arias that you realize how they are connected.

One is a white woman who marries a man and they have two daughters together. They divorce and she is left to raise them, but he is still there to help her. Her life finds some triumphs and some tough-times...

The other is man born in Mexico. He survives a hurricane as a child and is christened by the blessing of his namesake saint. He travels to the United States with his family to find their future as migrant laborers and discovers he's gay. He survives his childhood to become a successful CPA and takes up with a generous lover...

This man, who is also the ex-husband of the woman, dies in an accident. The event draws the two into a partnership/living arrangement with each other--it's the way the musical ends.

Avant garde in its structure. Simple and elegant in its staging and costumes. Melodic and operatic in its score and music. And utterly compelling in the hands and talents of these two actors--I am only sorry that we saw it on it's next to last performance on its closing day. Because otherwise, I would have told everyone to GO and SEE IT, too.

Philip Hernández as Carlos was innocent, honest, masculine and tender. Judy McLane played Lillian as sincere, vulnerable, sensuous and kind. These were both Broadway worthy performances.