El Corazón del Bolero

by Jenni Morin

José Rubén De León, musician, performer and founder of Teatro Farolito, breaths new life into bolero music with El Corazón del Bolero performed at The Classic Theatre one weekend only beginning March 20 with limited tickets remaining.

José Rubén De León, Aaron Ellington Prado and George Prado
 in concert at The Classic performing bolero music.

Billed as a tribute to male and female bolero composers from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico which offers solace, company and warmth to the heart, El Corazón del Bolero promises to touch on all aspects of amore. As Columbian writer Gabriel García Marquez has remarked, it is difficult to put all that bolero expresses into words. De León says this particular collection of romantic songs touches on pledges of eternal love, bitter disappointment and unrequited love through alluring melodies, intoxicating lyrics and soulful laments.

The program, written and performed by De León, accompanied by Aaron Ellington Prado on piano and George Prado on bass, pays homage to José Pepe Sánchez, the first Cuban bolero musician who drew from Italian opera and French-Haitian music. He is regarded as the Father of the Cuban bolero, originating the genre in Santiago do Cuba with “Tristezas” in the late 19th century. Next, bolero travels through the Caribbean and Latin America. In the late 1920s, Nilo Menéndez and Adolofo Utrera compose “Aquellos ojos verdes” and bring bolero to an international audience with Spanish and English versions hitting the charts. As North American jazz and musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong became popular, arrangers and guitar accompanists were instrumental in the Cuban movement to focus bolero on feeling the music. Bolero today still remains a true expression of love and passion with lulling ballads infused with energetic rhythms.

This journey through the origins and evolution of bolero features an incredibly talented musician and composer in his own right. José Rubén De León will transport audiences to Cuba and back again through beautiful melodies and amorous lyrics.


El Corazón del Bolero plays at The Classic Theatre Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit classictheatre.org.

LORCA: An Intense Look at His Life & Works

by Jenni Morin

There is one more chance to catch Teatro Faralito artist José Rubén De León perform the English version of his one-man show, LORCA, presented by Matari Café Teatro at their Starcrest studio at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 17.  The Spanish version of the performance will run Saturdays at 8 p.m. June 21 through July 12.

Written and performed by De León, LORCA covers the life and works of one of the most significant writers of the 20th century, Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca. The Spanish Civil War serves as a political background for the play, which introduces audiences to García Lorca’s prose, poetry, theater, and songs, as well as people who played significant roles at different stages of his life. LORCA is set on a definitive moment in the writer's life, the day of his arrest prior to his assassination on August 19, 1936 by anti-Republican rebels. His books were destroyed and works banned for almost twenty years.

"One of the reasons he became a target is because the Catholic priests disliked his plays," says De León. "They considered them immoral and an attack on traditional values. The priests claimed his work was dangerously subversive."

As one of San Antonio's most talented artists and performers, De León presents this work with a signature intensity worthy of its namesake. "The play ends with Lorca on his knees trying desperately to remember a simple prayer his mother taught him when he was a child," De Leon explains. "But his time is up, Franco's soldiers are coming up the stairs to arrest him. He will be taken to an olive grove and shot three times in the ass because he was a homosexual."

"Lorca's life was as remarkable as his work," says De León. "He was not only a poet and playwright, but also a pianist, artist, actor, and lecturer."

De León's works are a source of beauty and tragedy, celebration and mourning as audiences discover the depths of the characters he portrays.


LORCA plays Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m. in English and Saturdays at 8 p.m. June 21 through July 12 in Spanish at 11950 Starcrest Dr., Suite 210. Call 410-499-0922 for reservations and more information. There is a suggested donation of $10 for the performance.