Three high schools came together to put on a musical here in San Antonio. It's called Cenicienta: A Quinceañera With a Taste of Cinderella. Composer Federico Chavez-Blanco says the production's origins are rooted in this part of our culture being overlooked.
"There's no musical place for Latino/Hispanic kids."
Popular culture just isn't geared toward them. But in Hispanic cultures, Chavez-Blanco says one cultural tradition stands tall.
"The quinceañera--it's the party that brings all the family together. And it's present in every single country the Spaniards conquered."
The quinceañera is a kind of coming out party for 15-year-old girls. A rite of passage for those girls, and their families. And combining it with Cinderella and Mariachi music makes for a great cross-cultural stage event, which is what Chavez-Blanco is producing. And Cenicienta is a big production.
"Seventy-five kids. Cast, crew, musicians, technicians, music directors."
Chavez-Blanco says modern-day Hispanic kids are truly bi-cultural.
"They develop their social life, their schools, their everything, in English. But they communicate at their house in Spanish, listening to mariachi music."
And so mariachi becomes a great identifying medium for young Hispanics. The 90 percent English production is a collaboration between Brackenridge, Edison and Lanier High Schools. Here's when and where the production happens.
"The production starts this Friday at Lanier High School. Saturday it will take place at Edison High School. And we have a Sunday show at Edison High School at 3 o'clock."
Want to learn more? Here's a behind-the-scenes video from 2014, when the musical was presented by Thirteen O'Clock Theatre:
