Audiences attending The Passion of Frida Kahlo at New York's ArcLight Theatre can see a number of the painter's works projected on a screen during the show. Striking as the images are, it's not the same as seeing the actual paintings, so now the producers of Kahlo have struck a deal with several of the major museums in New York, allowing playgoers to also become museum browsers.
Throughout November and December, anyone purchasing a full-price ticket to The Passion of Frida Kahlo can mail the ticket stub in for a free entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum or the Museum of Contemporary Art. Just specify which museum you choose and include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
The address:
The Passion of Frida Kahlo
c/o 911 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1B
New York, NY 10019.
Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez (A Chorus Line) stars as Kahlo in the piece, which was titled Goodbye My Friduchita when it played at the Directors Company in mid-summer. Dolores C. Sendler's play re-opened Nov. 4 at the ArcLight, after starting previews there Oct. 25. Michael John Garces (Dreaming In Cuban) again directs.
Passion blends dance, music, projections and drama into the life story of painter Kahlo. Kahlo, who married fellow artist, the muralist Diego Rivera, carried on affairs with men and women, favored communism and suffered with her own demons. A streetcar accident left her in terrible pain for great sections of her life, and she spent her last several years bedridden with illness. Goodbye My Friduchita played seven months at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1997-98. Sendler's other works include The Day the Pope Came to Town and a musical adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
Lopez, who first became prominent in her OBIE-winning role of Morales in A Chorus Line, won the Tony for Best Featured Actress as Gino in 1980s musical Marx Brothers takeoff, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine. Other Broadway credits include The Sisters Rosensweig, Nine, Pippin and Company.
Passion, like Friduchita, co-stars Mexican actress Anilu Pardo, Claudia J. Arenas, David Anzuelo and Bill Torres. Vera Huff choreographs.
According to a spokesperson at the Jeffrey Richards press office, the same design team returned for the commercial production of Kahlo: Troy Hourie (sets), Mimi O'Donnell (costumes), Robert Williams (lighting), William Padilla (sound) and Elaine McCarthy (projections). Producing the new version are Julian Schlossberg and Michael Parva in association with Ted Tulchin and Dolores Quinton.
Tickets ($45) to The Passion of Frida Kahlo are available by calling (212) 307-4100.
-- By David Lefkowitz & Christine Ehren
