Ensemble
Veronica Vazquez as Selena
"A New Show's About to Begin"
Margo Reymundo as Marcella
"Living On A Bus"
Veronica Vazquez and Daniel Valdez as Selena and Abraham
"If Tomorrow"
Veronica Vazquez as Selena
"I Will Survive"
David Cassanova and Veronica Vazquez as Chris and Selena
"I Want To Grow Old With You"
(Tomorrow and Forever)
Denise Stefanie Gonzalez and Mike Gomez as Young Selena and Abraham
"Blue Moon"
Veronica Vazquez as Selena
"Missing My Baby"
Cecilia Faith Leming and Veronica Vazquez
Photos by Annette Cruz
Courtesy of Abel. M. Hernandez at LaOnda Network
Margo Reymundo and Daniel Valdez as Marcella and Abraham
"Abraham's Dream"
Lorissa Chappa as Young Selena
"Simply Me"
The Houston Astrodome Concert
Veronica Vazquez and Ensemble
"A New Show's About to Begin"
"Dame Un Beso"
"Baila Esta Cumbia"
Veronica Vazquez as Selena
"Amor Prohibido"
Reviews
'Selena Forever' tells star's story with energy, flair
Enthusiastic audience turned musical's local premiere into a sing-along, dance-along fun time
Ricardo Baca - Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Thursday, April 6, 2000
Doses of realism enhance musical about like of Selena
Deborah Martin - San Antonio Express
New Songs Bolster Selena
Ramiro Burr - San Antonio Express
'Selena' in good stage company
Lead actress Veronica Vazquez gives Selena her all, belting out her hit tunes with all the energy the slain Tejano star poured into her music. She plays Selena as more than just a star - she plays her as a flesh-and-blood woman, making the sense of loss at the end of the evening that much more profound.
She's in good company on the stage.
At Thursday's premiere performance, Margo Reymundo, who plays Selena's mom Marcella, stopped the show cold with her passionate rendering of "To Him, She's a Woman," a reminder to her headstrong husband that their little girl is all grown up.
Daniel Valdez (Abraham) balances the well-known blustery aspects of his character's personality with his deep love for his family … San Antonian Liza Ybarra, who plays Suzette … is a lively presence as Selena's sister.
Maxx, who plays A.B., sets the stage on fire …
The scenes recreating Selena y Los Dinos in concert are among the most effective moments in the show. Thanks to set and lighting designer Rick Belzer's work, they play like real concerts, right down to the flashy light show sweeping over the crowd.
Fernando Rivas' music and Edward Gallardo's lyrics blend well with Selena's hits …
The show should appeal to both hard-core Selena fans and to musical theater fans looking to see something new.
Deborah Martin - San Antonio Express
Original songs power behind 'Selena'
Of the 41 tunes in 'Selena Forever' … 11 are familiar hits that marked Selena's ascendancey in the music industry. The chart hits include her fans' favorites, such as 'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom," "La Carcacha," 'Como La Flor," "Amor Prohibido" and "Dreaming of You."
But the original songs by composer Fernando Rivas and playwright Edward Gallardo, and a standard, deliver the hardest punches. Most of Selena's songs are played either in snippets or medleys, but the reasons the original songs prove compelling go beyond that.
Denise Stefanie Gonzalez, as young Selena, delivers powerful emotion and longing on "Over the Rainbow," the childlike wish for things to be all right from "The Wizard of Oz." Mixed emotions come to the surface in "Abraham's Dream" when Selena's father, played by Daniel Valdez, wonders why "Mexican-Americans are foreigners in two worlds." Margo Reymundo as Selena's mother, Marcella Quintanilla, hits several high notes in the lengthy "Living on a Bus," which details the rough and tumble world of a novice family band on the road … The emotional roller coaster gets leavened when Selena sings "I've Grown Up, Daddy," arguing that she can't compete with Madonna or Janet Jackson by being Abraham's daughter. Raucous laughs come when Selena's brother sings the R&B/funk styled "You're going to Die Today, Brother" to Chris Perez after Abraham learns Perez and Selena have been seeing each other. After laughter comes heartbreak, with "I Want to Grow Old With You," the ballad between Chris and Selena, each expressing the longing for a life together. It never came to be.
The best in-concert Selena song performances come in "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" and "Dreaming of You" because of their full instrumentation and magnetic power.
Clarity comes to the melodic "If Tomorrow," when Abraham sings to Selena that he would still love her if she had never become a star, because she was his daughter. The moving number seems to be the demanding and driven Abraham's way of finding peace with Selena.
Ramiro Burr - Billboard
'Selena Forever'
Recommended
In a theater season that has brought us a bloated Disney spectacle straight out of "Beverly Hills 90210," "Selena Forever" serves as a tonic for the artificiality that passes as stagecraft these days.
Make no mistake, however, this new musical bears the stamp of the Great White Way. … But in adapting the saga of the slain Tejano star for the stage, creators Edward Gallardo (book and lyrics), Fernando Rivas (original music) and William Alejandro Virchis (direction) have hit upon a fresh variation of the usual Broadway formula.
By rearranging the details of Selena's legacy - her hits, her life experience, even her persona - the musical's creative team has turned her into a universal figure. Representing the American dream, Selena serves as every immigrant's story. No matter what nationality, anyone can identify with her triumph and ultimate tragedy …
As Selena, Veronica Vazquez nails the part completely. (The role is so taxing that another actress, Rebecca Valadez, takes the matinee performances). Of course, it helps that Vazquez eerily looks like the real Selena, right down to her broad hips. But also she's a born performer, who happens to have been schooled as an R&B singer. That training shines through her renditions of Selena's hits, "Amor Prohibido" and "Baila Esta Cumbia."
"Selena Forever" gives voice to the Latino experience; you have to go back to "Zoot Suit" (from the 70's) to recall anything close. That fact alone makes it worth seeing.
Linda Emerick - Chicago Sun-Times
Dozens of books, a movie and even a doll were produced after Selena's death. A stage musical was inevitable.
Margo Reymundo is outstanding as Selena's mother (particularly in the number "Living on a Bus"). So are Denise Stefanie Gonzalez as the younger Selena, and the ensemble fo singers and dancers that perform "The Ballad of Selena" under the name Los Sueños del Pueblo ("A People's Dream"). Vazquez, for her part, has captured Selena's Texan inflection and soulful singing to a T.
Alejandro Riera - Chicago Tribune
Fans flock to 'Selena Forever'
Hector Saldaña - San Antonio Express News
An Eternal Star Shines 'Forever'
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez - Los Angeles Times
For more information please contact:
Gabriel Reyes, Publicist
Latina Publications, LLC
6399 Wilshire Blvd - Suite 307
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel. 323-852-1525
Fax: 323-852-1512
E-Mail: ReyesEnt@aol.com
LINK TO: CORPUS CHRISTI AND SAN ANTONIO
LINK TO: SELENA MEMORIAL - CORPUS CHRISTI
LINK TO: PRELIMINARY AUDITIONS IN LOS ANGELES
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