Friday, July 10, 2015
Weekend Discussion: Novela Stars in English!
Before we knew them as novela characters -- stereotyped or otherwise -- some were in English-language movies and TV. Just to mention two here:
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Saturday, April 11, 2015
Weekend Discussion Your Favorite Actors' Best Performances
This was suggested two weeks ago. Pick your favorite actor and his best performance. All character types are fair game; you can choose one of each. I'll start. I might add photos later from your entries in between catching up on the two big dramas currently airing.
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Labels: no-podia, stars, weekend
Friday, February 14, 2014
Weekend Discussion: Alpha Males
However, after long observation, I have determined that there is an ideal male facial type that is very prominent among the alpha male types we encounter in entertainment. It consists of some combination of the following traits:
Labels: stars, telenovelas, weekend
Friday, March 29, 2013
Weekend Discussion: Novela Stars in Passion Plays
Since today is Good Friday, I thought this photo gallery would be appropriate. This features Passion Plays by novela stars. The first set -- from Paixão de Cristo -- is Brazilian, the second -- from Triunfo del Amor -- is Mexican. Most CarayAmigos will recognize the actors in the Mexican photos:
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Labels: stars, telenovelas, weekend
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Weekend Discussion: Las Primeres Actrizes; Grandes Damas de Televisa
As I did a few weeks ago with the mature gentlemen who populate our favorite tales about love, hate, and the seven deadly sins, here I will present the great ladies of same. Since this will be a handful of them presented in the same manner, I will do the same as before starting with the youngest of these fine actresses and age them in reverse:
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Labels: enemiga, eva, Manda, stars, stud, telenovelas, weekend
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Weekend Discussion: Primer Actor; Our Senior Caballeros
A comment made the other day prompted me to wonder at the past roles of some of the splendid senior actors Televisa has given us over the years. This photo gallery is only a tease; it would involve more time than any of us have to do proper justice to this topic. However, it will be fun to see how some of these more senior actors looked in their younger days. We'll start with the youngest one first and age them in reverse.
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Labels: Amores, Fuego, manana, por-ella, QBA, stars, triunfo, weekend
Friday, October 12, 2012
Weekend Discussion: Look-Alikes Part II
Here's an update on a popular weekend gallery including suggestions from our readers and bloggers:
Arturo Carmona / Christopher Reeve:
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Arturo Carmona / Christopher Reeve:
Friday, September 28, 2012
Weekend Discussion: Photo Essay; Separated at Birth (or just close relatives)?
When watching telenovelas or describing them to non-viewing friends, do you ever end up saying anything like "He would remind you of Brad Pitt!" (or whoever)? The more I watch, the more I see this happening.
It never stops amazing me how modern communications makes for a homogenization of standards, especially with regard to looks and the decisions that can lead to as to who gets famous. Movies and television are now so international that most of the following pairs don't seem accidental to me:
William Levy and James Dean:
Sebastian Rulli and Brad Pitt:
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It never stops amazing me how modern communications makes for a homogenization of standards, especially with regard to looks and the decisions that can lead to as to who gets famous. Movies and television are now so international that most of the following pairs don't seem accidental to me:
William Levy and James Dean:
Sebastian Rulli and Brad Pitt:
Read more »
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Weekend Discussion: Men In Uniform
I'm going to ask for some help here as there aren't a lot of novelas whose heroes (or villains) are military officers, cops, or other men who wear uniforms. If anyone can think of any beyond this list, please assist with a link! This entry will be considerably shorter than last week's, so there will be multiple photos of those gentleman who wear uniforms well. Starting with.....
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Labels: duelo, Pasion, stars, telenovelas, weekend, Zorro
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
William Levy in Dancing with the Stars
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Did you know: William Levy is in this season's "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC! Starts Monday 8-10 pm!
They're calling themselves "Team Fuego" (Team Fire). Click the picture to see video of an interview with Cheryl Burke and William Levy (and hear William Levy speak English!)HELP! Is anybody going to be recording Levy's portions? If so please contact me at caray@mappamundi.com - thanks...
Labels: entertainment-news, stars
Monday, December 05, 2011
Manos Quietas
Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that my husband and I went to LA from Phoenix over the weekend to see Manos Quietas with Fernando Colunga (aka TBLMOE)! The play was the whole motivation for the trip and my husband was a good sport for endulging me.
The play was at Teatro Los Pinos in South Gate and we went to the Friday night show at 9:30. We had 8th row center seats. I bought them online and they were the closest I could get at the time. I would have LOVED to be in the 1st or 2nd row. The minute Fernando Colunga came out on the stage the women started screaming so loud that you would have thought it was a Justin Beiber concert! I have to admit that I was one of them! He is simply the most beautiful man on the face of the earth. So handsome, such a presence - oooooozing with charisma and masculinity! All I could think of was there's Manuel Fuentes Guerra (Amor Real), Luis Manrique (Alborada), El Antillano (Pasion) and Franco Santoro (MEPS)!!!! Luis Manrique being my personal favorite!!!!!
The play itself was really good - lots of comedy. The other actor was Johnny Lozado of Menudo fame who is now one of the hosts of Sal y Pimienta. Lorena Rojas plays FC's wife, Aylin Mujica and Giselle Blondet are the two other actresses. I think the play was just short of 2 hours long. The "highlight" was FC being tied up and having his pants pulled down by the ladies in the play as part of their "argument" about the battle of the sexes. I thought the women in the audience screaming when his pants came down was going to blow the roof off the theater! LOL
Anyway, just wanted to report back in to the Caray Caray family about my experience. If any of you have the chance to see the play you should definitely go - it's worth it.
Melissa (former Fuego en La Sangre and Manana es Para Siempre re-capper)
Labels: entertainment-news, stars
Saturday, November 05, 2011
11/5/11 - ¡Manos Quietas!: Fernando Colunga Tied Up and Woman-handled in Public!
We have a special treat provided to us by commenter Audrey. She was fortunate (and smart) enough to see Fernando Colunga LIVE in the play ¡Manos Quietas! She has generously provided a recap of the play for our enjoyment. Take it away Audrey...
Recap by Audrey
¡Manos Quietas! is a play written by Catalán author Piti Español which premiered in Madrid in 2010. Fernando Colunga liked the script and the Mexican production team adapted it to Mexican slang and recent pop TN culture. Currently on tour in the US, I saw it in McAllen on 11/4.
This one act play is set in a classroom at the end of the school year, where Manuel and his (almost ex-)wife have an interview with the (female) principal about their son’s progress.
* Fernando Colunga plays Manuel, an almost divorced husband and father, down on his luck. He thinks he is just in a trial separation with his wife.
* Giselle Blondet plays Esme, the principal, into politically correct inclusive language regarding gender and totally against corporal punishment.
* Lorena Rojas plays Aurora, Manuel’s about-to-be-ex wife, a real bully of a man-eater who is dumping Manuel because she is involved with another parent.
* Aylin Mujica plays Sra. Sonia Cortejo - the hysterical mother of a kid hit by a parent at the recent school picnic.
* Johnny Lozada plays Cristóbal - the school’s “pre-tech” teacher.
The main themes of the play are: political correctness; gossip; hypocrisy; and, um, maybe taking some things to extreme? I’d say another theme unique to this Mexican version is watching FC in a most unusual situation!
The play was really a hoot. Even if you are dependent on captions for watching Spanish TNs, you will still get a lot of it, especially if you read the recap ahead of time. The play is very physical with lots of exaggerated acting at times, so you’ll get tons of cues. And plenty of eye candy for both sexes and a few TN-related inside jokes.
The scenes are somewhat combined for brevity to cover the main plot and highlights. Some things are likely out of order anyway - after all, this is from memory, and I didn’t think of recapping it until afterwards.
____________________________________________________________
Cristóbal, a teacher, sweeps through the classroom straightening tables, and setting the room right. Esme, the school principal, comes in. They gossip about the shocking happenings at the recent school spring picnic where they had a big game between the Amarillos and Azules - those parents just love the colored shirts! But it seems one of the parents was seen making out with another (not her husband) - shocking! And even more shocking, one of the parents hit another parent’s kid! Unfortunately the kid’s hysterical mother is on the warpath and wants to sue/report the school! They both leave the room.
In marches Manuel (FC) [to massive applause, of course] dressed in a suit with briefcase and here for the interview with the principal about his son. He practices his speech to convince the principal to buy these new computers specialized for kids education. He’s under the gun financially - he recently lost his job at the car dealership.
[At this point you know who the main characters are and a bit of their background and prejudices, the premise, the gossip from the spring (picnic) party with yellow and blue teams and that Manuel and Aurora are recently separated at Aurora’s instigation. So this would be a place to stop if you are pretty fluent in Spanish and you wanted to see the play before reading the rest of the recap. If your Spanish is not so solid, reading ahead will help you follow the main plot, and there is still plenty of peripheral action that I did not cover.]
The principal, Esme, returns. Manuel is early! His wife knew the appointment was for half an hour later. Manuel pulls a blue t-shirt out of his briefcase and asks if he is supposed to return the shirt from the school picnic. They talk about his children. The principal has this pet peeve about gender prejudice in the Spanish language, and insists that all plural nouns be inclusive of both genders. For example, Manuel doesn’t have “dos niños”, he has “un niño y una niña”. Manuel, in salesman mode, gets with the equality-in-noun-gender program and works hard to convince Esme that her school should buy these great (iPad like) computers! But unfortunately, the batteries are dead so his demo bombs.
The subject changes to hitting children. Esme has heard rumors that Manuel was the parent who hit Sra. Cortejo’s kid at the spring picnic. Oh no! He might have rubbed the kid’s head a bit rough in play, but no hitting! Unfortunately for Manuel, Esme gets him to reveal that he doesn’t believe in no corporal punishment under any circumstances and might have spanked his kids once or twice. Manuel is subjected to a huge lecture.
Aurora, his (almost ex-)wife sails in. She lambasts Manuel for all sorts of injustices. Esme adds her disapproval that Manuel still believes in corporal punishment. And she has reason to believe that he hit another parent’s kid at the spring picnic! Horrors! Manuel denies anything more than maybe roughhousing with the kid a bit. Aurora takes advantage as she plans to fight for custody of the kids.
In sails the hysterical mother, Sonia (Aylin Mujica in new-age gypsy hippie garb), going on and on about her poor traumatized kid. Her kid told her Manuel was the culprit. Manuel emphatically denies it. Esme gangs up since Manuel had admitted he might have administered a spanking or two. Aurora piles on as well, claiming this shows what an unfit father he is! They go on as Manuel (yes, macho FC), cringes with the harangues, protesting and denying.
Crazy mother Sonia and principal Esme leave the room to talk to the poor traumatized kid who has been left alone in Sonia’s car (shock!!!). Manuel leaves to use the restroom. Aurora phones her new lover, Paco Menendez to tell him: “You know that kid you hit at the school picnic? Well, the hysterical mother is at the school ready to denounce everybody!” She’ll see what she can do, otherwise his PTA position might be in jeopardy!
When Manuel returns Aurora starts getting on his case again. This time, she tries to browbeat him into “confessing” even though he denies it emphatically. Finally, she cajoles him with offers to “maybe” reconsider their separation and her attempts to take away the children. Just go ahead and take the blame, and then the school won’t get sued, and everything will be hunky-dory.
Sonia and Esme return. After another round of escalating haranguing and denials from Manuel with Aurora claiming otherwise, Manuel decides to just go ahead and say he did it and apologize.
But poor Manuel - now he is from the frying pan into the fire! Rather than calming down, the ladies go ballistic. He apologizes and apologizes and begs forgiveness. With the apologies, Sonia is somewhat mollified and decides maybe she won’t sue anybody after all, and almost leaves. But wait! What a great idea she has (as her ideas are always brilliant!). She’s taking acting classes and Tai Chi which she mimes elaborately. She’ll publish an interview with an “admitted kid-hitter” - where Manuel admits how very wrong he was. As a lesson to everybody!
Manuel doesn’t like this - hey no fair! Manuel mimics Sonia’s taking “acting classes” and “tai chi” which has FC doing an elaborate tai chi parody that has the audience screaming with laughter. This totally sets Sonia off, she’s going to sue Manuel and the school!!! Oops!
Manuel backs down. The ladies decide that if just, for once, he agrees to see what it is like to be a woman, they might let him off the hooks. OK, he’ll try to understand and cooperate!
Sonia finds some cord and ties Manuel’s hands behind his back. Oh, no, Manuel doesn’t like that! The ladies complain about men who are always checking out their bust and behind. One of them unbuttons part of Manuel’s shirt and two ladies rummage about inside complaining about how men always just want to grab their breasts. Another complains about having to wear heels all her life and grabs his necktie pulling up to make him tip-toe around as if he were wearing heels. Finally, one of them unbuckles his pants and pulls them down around his ankles!!! [The audience is just screaming at this point]. He’s wearing fairly modest knit black undies and almost knee-length black socks. Nice legs FC!
Poor FC is hopping around the stage for quite a while with his pants around his ankles, pinched and poked and thoroughly woman-handled with threats of more. They very much tease the audience with what these out-of-control ladies might do next!
And imagine what it would be like, they admonish him, to be caught, terrified, on a dark street with three nasty guys, stronger than you are, harassing you. They call him !puta! and ¡zorra! and act like men demeaning a helpless woman they have cornered.
Aurora claims that now that he is an admitted kid-hitter, no way is she going to let him have custody of the children.
Finally Cristóbal comes in, shocked at this outrageous scene. He quickly unties Manuel and scolds the ladies. Manuel is able to put himself back together. “¡Pinches Viejas!” yells Manuel, and the crowd roars.
The ladies explain to Cristóbal that they were just giving Manuel a bit of “education” about how women are subjugated to all sorts of harassment. Manuel tries to get Cristobal to sympathize with him, but unfortunately gets too macho about it. This sets Cristobal off who, now revealed as a gay person, feels that he of everyone is by far the most harassed and handicapped. He scolds everyone using every possible gay cliché and physical parody, of course.
A distant car alarm goes off. Oh, no! Sonia freaks! It must be her kid who still locked in the car!!!! Off she runs again.
Manuel has had enough, and talks about his poor beleaguered life. How he has had to work hard and provide for everyone, and he thought he had accomplished his dream in marrying Aurora and having children, and now Aurora doesn’t want him anymore. And he’s been fired from his job, and kicked out of the house, and his wife is trying to take the kids away from him! He goes on and on about the trials of a man in today’s society. He even calls himself a poor a**hole! He gets a huge applause for his elaborate woe-is-me speech. Aurora taunts him. “Yeah, bravo! Great theatrical performance! What do you think - that there is a big audience out there listening to you?” [nudge-nudge, wink-wink, LOL!]
Sonia returns. Oh - her kid is so traumatized, he can’t even stand the color yellow anymore! Yellow? asks Manuel. Wait a minute - he was on the blue team! But Sonia says her kid knows that man who hit him was Aurora’s husband, because he was kissing Aurora under the stairs right beforehand! OOoooops! Manuel pulls out his blue team t-shirt and declares that furthermore, he was never under the stairs! Aurora is outed! Now Sonia is livid all over again. She’s going to sue Paco Menendez and it’s all going to come out and he won’t be re-elected to the PTA! Manuel suggests that Sonia, with all her theatrical and tai-chi training maybe should do that brilliant idea interview with Paco Menendez now, since he is the established kid-hitter. Sonia runs off all energized, and Aurora after her, trying to do damage control.
Manuel asks “What about the interview about my kid?” “Well,” Esme points out, “it’s gotten pretty late now, we had better do that another time.” With all they have put him through, asks Manuel, couldn’t Esme consider buying several of these great specialized computers for children? Manuel thinks the school should buy one for every student! Esme is not so sure. Manuel suggests they go out for dinner, and discuss this in an environment more conducive to um, discussion. Oh, now Esme is interested! She sidles over to Manuel, fishing for compliments. They embrace as Manuel assures her that, with her, no man could keep his manos quietas (hands still). CURTAIN!
Bows. And the audience rushes the stage with their camera phones going crazy - LOL!
___________________________________________________
Throughout the play they had fun with different phone ringtones for different characters, always some well known theme. A fun example near the end, (after she was established as the guilty party), Aurora’s phone plays the “Esa Hembra es Mala” theme from Teresa before she finally picks it up.
Plenty of just slightly off-color Mexican slang also - things that never seem that bad to me (like references to big goats and eggs (LOL!)) but always seem to get a Mexican audience roaring.
Of course the biggest joke of all enjoyed by the audience is seeing Fernando Colunga in a role completely opposite of his normal ultra-galán role. Tied up and touched all over by three rabid women? - surely some of the ladies in the audience wished they could join in the fun. Obviously FC chose this role for the irony and maybe a refreshing break from the usual? We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
US Tour Dates (posted by Variopinta a week ago - this is the most complete list I could find on the internet)
Brownsville TX 11/3, McAllen Tx 11/4
Chicago 11/6,
Miami (Coral Gables) 11/11,12,13,19,20,21
Laredo Tx 11/22, Eagle Pass Tx 11/23
L.A. 12/2,3,4,9,10,11
I get the impression from various interviews and articles that this US tour is actually the initial run for the play, trying it out before committing to a more extensive tour. I hope you get to go see it!
Recap by Audrey
¡Manos Quietas! is a play written by Catalán author Piti Español which premiered in Madrid in 2010. Fernando Colunga liked the script and the Mexican production team adapted it to Mexican slang and recent pop TN culture. Currently on tour in the US, I saw it in McAllen on 11/4.
This one act play is set in a classroom at the end of the school year, where Manuel and his (almost ex-)wife have an interview with the (female) principal about their son’s progress.
* Fernando Colunga plays Manuel, an almost divorced husband and father, down on his luck. He thinks he is just in a trial separation with his wife.
* Giselle Blondet plays Esme, the principal, into politically correct inclusive language regarding gender and totally against corporal punishment.
* Lorena Rojas plays Aurora, Manuel’s about-to-be-ex wife, a real bully of a man-eater who is dumping Manuel because she is involved with another parent.
* Aylin Mujica plays Sra. Sonia Cortejo - the hysterical mother of a kid hit by a parent at the recent school picnic.
* Johnny Lozada plays Cristóbal - the school’s “pre-tech” teacher.
The main themes of the play are: political correctness; gossip; hypocrisy; and, um, maybe taking some things to extreme? I’d say another theme unique to this Mexican version is watching FC in a most unusual situation!
The play was really a hoot. Even if you are dependent on captions for watching Spanish TNs, you will still get a lot of it, especially if you read the recap ahead of time. The play is very physical with lots of exaggerated acting at times, so you’ll get tons of cues. And plenty of eye candy for both sexes and a few TN-related inside jokes.
The scenes are somewhat combined for brevity to cover the main plot and highlights. Some things are likely out of order anyway - after all, this is from memory, and I didn’t think of recapping it until afterwards.
____________________________________________________________
Cristóbal, a teacher, sweeps through the classroom straightening tables, and setting the room right. Esme, the school principal, comes in. They gossip about the shocking happenings at the recent school spring picnic where they had a big game between the Amarillos and Azules - those parents just love the colored shirts! But it seems one of the parents was seen making out with another (not her husband) - shocking! And even more shocking, one of the parents hit another parent’s kid! Unfortunately the kid’s hysterical mother is on the warpath and wants to sue/report the school! They both leave the room.
In marches Manuel (FC) [to massive applause, of course] dressed in a suit with briefcase and here for the interview with the principal about his son. He practices his speech to convince the principal to buy these new computers specialized for kids education. He’s under the gun financially - he recently lost his job at the car dealership.
[At this point you know who the main characters are and a bit of their background and prejudices, the premise, the gossip from the spring (picnic) party with yellow and blue teams and that Manuel and Aurora are recently separated at Aurora’s instigation. So this would be a place to stop if you are pretty fluent in Spanish and you wanted to see the play before reading the rest of the recap. If your Spanish is not so solid, reading ahead will help you follow the main plot, and there is still plenty of peripheral action that I did not cover.]
The principal, Esme, returns. Manuel is early! His wife knew the appointment was for half an hour later. Manuel pulls a blue t-shirt out of his briefcase and asks if he is supposed to return the shirt from the school picnic. They talk about his children. The principal has this pet peeve about gender prejudice in the Spanish language, and insists that all plural nouns be inclusive of both genders. For example, Manuel doesn’t have “dos niños”, he has “un niño y una niña”. Manuel, in salesman mode, gets with the equality-in-noun-gender program and works hard to convince Esme that her school should buy these great (iPad like) computers! But unfortunately, the batteries are dead so his demo bombs.
The subject changes to hitting children. Esme has heard rumors that Manuel was the parent who hit Sra. Cortejo’s kid at the spring picnic. Oh no! He might have rubbed the kid’s head a bit rough in play, but no hitting! Unfortunately for Manuel, Esme gets him to reveal that he doesn’t believe in no corporal punishment under any circumstances and might have spanked his kids once or twice. Manuel is subjected to a huge lecture.
Aurora, his (almost ex-)wife sails in. She lambasts Manuel for all sorts of injustices. Esme adds her disapproval that Manuel still believes in corporal punishment. And she has reason to believe that he hit another parent’s kid at the spring picnic! Horrors! Manuel denies anything more than maybe roughhousing with the kid a bit. Aurora takes advantage as she plans to fight for custody of the kids.
In sails the hysterical mother, Sonia (Aylin Mujica in new-age gypsy hippie garb), going on and on about her poor traumatized kid. Her kid told her Manuel was the culprit. Manuel emphatically denies it. Esme gangs up since Manuel had admitted he might have administered a spanking or two. Aurora piles on as well, claiming this shows what an unfit father he is! They go on as Manuel (yes, macho FC), cringes with the harangues, protesting and denying.
Crazy mother Sonia and principal Esme leave the room to talk to the poor traumatized kid who has been left alone in Sonia’s car (shock!!!). Manuel leaves to use the restroom. Aurora phones her new lover, Paco Menendez to tell him: “You know that kid you hit at the school picnic? Well, the hysterical mother is at the school ready to denounce everybody!” She’ll see what she can do, otherwise his PTA position might be in jeopardy!
When Manuel returns Aurora starts getting on his case again. This time, she tries to browbeat him into “confessing” even though he denies it emphatically. Finally, she cajoles him with offers to “maybe” reconsider their separation and her attempts to take away the children. Just go ahead and take the blame, and then the school won’t get sued, and everything will be hunky-dory.
Sonia and Esme return. After another round of escalating haranguing and denials from Manuel with Aurora claiming otherwise, Manuel decides to just go ahead and say he did it and apologize.
But poor Manuel - now he is from the frying pan into the fire! Rather than calming down, the ladies go ballistic. He apologizes and apologizes and begs forgiveness. With the apologies, Sonia is somewhat mollified and decides maybe she won’t sue anybody after all, and almost leaves. But wait! What a great idea she has (as her ideas are always brilliant!). She’s taking acting classes and Tai Chi which she mimes elaborately. She’ll publish an interview with an “admitted kid-hitter” - where Manuel admits how very wrong he was. As a lesson to everybody!
Manuel doesn’t like this - hey no fair! Manuel mimics Sonia’s taking “acting classes” and “tai chi” which has FC doing an elaborate tai chi parody that has the audience screaming with laughter. This totally sets Sonia off, she’s going to sue Manuel and the school!!! Oops!
Manuel backs down. The ladies decide that if just, for once, he agrees to see what it is like to be a woman, they might let him off the hooks. OK, he’ll try to understand and cooperate!
Sonia finds some cord and ties Manuel’s hands behind his back. Oh, no, Manuel doesn’t like that! The ladies complain about men who are always checking out their bust and behind. One of them unbuttons part of Manuel’s shirt and two ladies rummage about inside complaining about how men always just want to grab their breasts. Another complains about having to wear heels all her life and grabs his necktie pulling up to make him tip-toe around as if he were wearing heels. Finally, one of them unbuckles his pants and pulls them down around his ankles!!! [The audience is just screaming at this point]. He’s wearing fairly modest knit black undies and almost knee-length black socks. Nice legs FC!
Poor FC is hopping around the stage for quite a while with his pants around his ankles, pinched and poked and thoroughly woman-handled with threats of more. They very much tease the audience with what these out-of-control ladies might do next!
And imagine what it would be like, they admonish him, to be caught, terrified, on a dark street with three nasty guys, stronger than you are, harassing you. They call him !puta! and ¡zorra! and act like men demeaning a helpless woman they have cornered.
Aurora claims that now that he is an admitted kid-hitter, no way is she going to let him have custody of the children.
Finally Cristóbal comes in, shocked at this outrageous scene. He quickly unties Manuel and scolds the ladies. Manuel is able to put himself back together. “¡Pinches Viejas!” yells Manuel, and the crowd roars.
The ladies explain to Cristóbal that they were just giving Manuel a bit of “education” about how women are subjugated to all sorts of harassment. Manuel tries to get Cristobal to sympathize with him, but unfortunately gets too macho about it. This sets Cristobal off who, now revealed as a gay person, feels that he of everyone is by far the most harassed and handicapped. He scolds everyone using every possible gay cliché and physical parody, of course.
A distant car alarm goes off. Oh, no! Sonia freaks! It must be her kid who still locked in the car!!!! Off she runs again.
Manuel has had enough, and talks about his poor beleaguered life. How he has had to work hard and provide for everyone, and he thought he had accomplished his dream in marrying Aurora and having children, and now Aurora doesn’t want him anymore. And he’s been fired from his job, and kicked out of the house, and his wife is trying to take the kids away from him! He goes on and on about the trials of a man in today’s society. He even calls himself a poor a**hole! He gets a huge applause for his elaborate woe-is-me speech. Aurora taunts him. “Yeah, bravo! Great theatrical performance! What do you think - that there is a big audience out there listening to you?” [nudge-nudge, wink-wink, LOL!]
Sonia returns. Oh - her kid is so traumatized, he can’t even stand the color yellow anymore! Yellow? asks Manuel. Wait a minute - he was on the blue team! But Sonia says her kid knows that man who hit him was Aurora’s husband, because he was kissing Aurora under the stairs right beforehand! OOoooops! Manuel pulls out his blue team t-shirt and declares that furthermore, he was never under the stairs! Aurora is outed! Now Sonia is livid all over again. She’s going to sue Paco Menendez and it’s all going to come out and he won’t be re-elected to the PTA! Manuel suggests that Sonia, with all her theatrical and tai-chi training maybe should do that brilliant idea interview with Paco Menendez now, since he is the established kid-hitter. Sonia runs off all energized, and Aurora after her, trying to do damage control.
Manuel asks “What about the interview about my kid?” “Well,” Esme points out, “it’s gotten pretty late now, we had better do that another time.” With all they have put him through, asks Manuel, couldn’t Esme consider buying several of these great specialized computers for children? Manuel thinks the school should buy one for every student! Esme is not so sure. Manuel suggests they go out for dinner, and discuss this in an environment more conducive to um, discussion. Oh, now Esme is interested! She sidles over to Manuel, fishing for compliments. They embrace as Manuel assures her that, with her, no man could keep his manos quietas (hands still). CURTAIN!
Bows. And the audience rushes the stage with their camera phones going crazy - LOL!
___________________________________________________
Throughout the play they had fun with different phone ringtones for different characters, always some well known theme. A fun example near the end, (after she was established as the guilty party), Aurora’s phone plays the “Esa Hembra es Mala” theme from Teresa before she finally picks it up.
Plenty of just slightly off-color Mexican slang also - things that never seem that bad to me (like references to big goats and eggs (LOL!)) but always seem to get a Mexican audience roaring.
Of course the biggest joke of all enjoyed by the audience is seeing Fernando Colunga in a role completely opposite of his normal ultra-galán role. Tied up and touched all over by three rabid women? - surely some of the ladies in the audience wished they could join in the fun. Obviously FC chose this role for the irony and maybe a refreshing break from the usual? We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
US Tour Dates (posted by Variopinta a week ago - this is the most complete list I could find on the internet)
Brownsville TX 11/3, McAllen Tx 11/4
Chicago 11/6,
Miami (Coral Gables) 11/11,12,13,19,20,21
Laredo Tx 11/22, Eagle Pass Tx 11/23
L.A. 12/2,3,4,9,10,11
I get the impression from various interviews and articles that this US tour is actually the initial run for the play, trying it out before committing to a more extensive tour. I hope you get to go see it!
Labels: entertainment-news, stars
Sunday, December 12, 2010
William Levy's sexy new calendar for 2011 is finally available...
Hi y'all, some of you have been badgering me for info about this and it's finally out, and only $14.99 for a year of sexy pictures of William Levy to put on your wall and drool over. Head on over to my William Levy page where I've translated the calendar website and put links to purchase it. Be the first on your block to have the super-sexy William Levy on your wall!
Labels: announcements, stars
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
William Levy will be starting a Hollywood movie soon!
One of the commenters on my William Levy page (see sidebar) alerted me to the delightful fact that William is beginning a movie to be shot in Los Angeles and Miami. It's called "Life in the Fast Lane," and evidently he'll be the star, Jake! Any comments or speculation on his new career (he may be lost to us here at the novelas, sob) should be added to that page, not here! I'll try to keep it updated.
Labels: entertainment-news, sortilegio, stars
Friday, October 30, 2009
A new squidoo lens for info AND GOSSIP about William Levy!
Hello friends,
You know how I don't allow gossip and speculation about actors' private lives here at Caray, Caray!? Well, I just put up a page at squidoo, about William Levy, which is just for the sort of thing I don't allow here. Want to see?
About William Levy, Univision star.
Please leave a comment in the guest book if you take a look!
UPDATE: there is a little bug at Squidoo this morning. I have approved the first two comments and I can see them when I edit but they're not appearing on the published lens. Don't let that discourage you, this has happened before and they all show up eventually!
You know how I don't allow gossip and speculation about actors' private lives here at Caray, Caray!? Well, I just put up a page at squidoo, about William Levy, which is just for the sort of thing I don't allow here. Want to see?
About William Levy, Univision star.
Please leave a comment in the guest book if you take a look!
UPDATE: there is a little bug at Squidoo this morning. I have approved the first two comments and I can see them when I edit but they're not appearing on the published lens. Don't let that discourage you, this has happened before and they all show up eventually!
Labels: announcements, sortilegio, stars
Monday, January 12, 2009
Colunga on Cristina tonight....
on now in EST/CST but at 10:00 in the west....in case you didn't see....
Labels: entertainment-news, stars
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Caray Caray!
in case you missed the latest episode of the Univision program, "La Rosa de Guadalupe", here's my photo capture of Marcelo Cordoba as the handsome hero, in modern suit and glasses. His character's name is Esteban, who is the colleague and best friend of Zaida, played by Eugenia Cauduro. -- Jody :)
Labels: Alborada, amar, enemiga, Fuego, guapos, Pasion, stars
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Happy Birthday Mario!!Feliz cumpleaños para Mario!!
Today (Sunday) is the birthday of Mario Cimarro, guapissimo star of two novelas on Telemundo that are currently featured in recaps or discussions here on Caray Caray: La Traición and Pasión de Gavilanes.
To celebrate the occasion, here are five (all that I was allowed to upload) photos of Mario. Enjoy!!!
Mario as a baby! (thanks Marie Celeste)
Hugo escapes from the mine (Nancy's request)
My Favorites from La Traición:
Hugo in disguise
Iremos juntos de este mundo como cuando nacimos...
and Mario as Juan Reyes in Pasión de Gavilanes:
Labels: gavilanes, la traicion, stars
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Mariana Karr's Restaurant Caray, Caray in Mexico City, Plaza del Carmen de San Angel
Fabulous Argentine and Italian style food at
Caray, Caray a Mexico City restaurant
founded by Mariana Karr and María Zarattini
Avenida de la Paz, #57, 2 piso.
Plaza del Carmen
San Angel, Mexico City
To Mariana Karr and all the Caray Caray Blog fans,
Here is the promised tale of my pilgrimage to find Mariana Karr's restaurant, Caray Caray, in Mexico City. I don't remember who first reported to the blog about reading of the restaurant's grand opening last September but I made myself a promise right then to search for this connection to Doña Mariana, the talented Argentine actress, whom I regard as our patron saint of this blog. Named for Mariana's famous lines often repeated in the wonderful telenovela, Alborada, "Caray Caray", both this blog and the restaurant have held a compelling lure for me since I learned about both in the late summer of 2007.
I watched the first episode of Alborada in February 2006 while attending Spanish School at Universidad Internacional in Cuernavaca, Mexico with the family I lived with. Later in the spring, Alborada started on Univision in the States and I watched avidly with friends in New Mexico for months and we eventually would look forward to counting how many times Mariana (in the character of Tia Isabel) could say Caray Caray. She was often the only person/character who had a clue about what was happening in this intricate plot. Her portrayal is of a character full of courage and clear insight in a world of deceit and intrigue in this 19th century story of Mexico produced by Carla Estrada and so ably directed by Monica Miguel. As a romping good tale of adventure with superb Mexican actors, it was my introduction to telenovelas as an entertaining medium and method for studying Spanish and even learning more about Mexican history and culture. Writer Maria Zarratini was the screenwriter for both Alborada and Pasión.
But back to this pilgrimage. After 4 weeks of Spanish studies at Uninter, I headed to Mexico City on a bus to indulge my lifelong addiction to museums, cathedrals and pyramids in the city I have loved since my student days in my first voyage of discovery out of the US in the mid 1960's. Saturday was a gift of blue skies in a city with formidable air problems while the gentle February sun energized me for the pursuit of the art treasures in the Museum of Modern Art. Armed with my new level of Spanish and hungry after my breakfast of huevos rancheros wore off, I fearlessly conquered the Metro system which is pleasantly clean, efficient and cheap. It is so easy to use I don't know why I hesitated using it the last two years. I guess the scary stories of dangers in Mexico City have worn off slowly. I think an alert, circumspect traveler is totally safe in the daytime visiting all the wonderful historical treasures and enjoying the delightful cuisine and shopping. The people are incredibly friendly. Sunday is especially congenial as a family day when the citizens want to enjoy the same beautiful sites that the tourists do.
I arrived in this prosperous neighborhood of Plaza del Carmen in southern Mexico City which hosts a Saturday market of arts and crafts and found Caray, Caray on the 2 piso (3rd floor to US folks). It is a tiny, pristine restaurant with simple yet elegant decor (well wouldn't you expect this petite, elegant woman to convey her personal style in every centimeter of the place?). The staff was warm and friendly, I took a few pictures and told the waiter about my quest to find the restaurant and a bit about the Caray, Caray Blog. Shortly after, the manager emerged who happens to be Mariana's daughter Sol. She asked more questions about the blog then she gave me the incredible news that Mariana would be at the restaurant on Sunday afternoon. If I could come back again, I could meet her. WOW! The food was delicious and so fresh. I chose the steak "Arrachera" figuring a true Argentine restaurant would know what to do with beef. Since I grew up in Wyoming I have, even in these anti-red-meat times, an occasional penchant for great beef. I have had arrachera before in Mexico and it is a great tasting thin piece of steak (the cut is flank steak in the US). But, come hungry, Caray, Caray's version is BIG, so very tender and flavorful. All I could fit in besides was a simple fresh salad of lettuce, tomato and onion. The menu tells that no preservatives are used and you can taste the truth of it's freshness.
Sunday was another blue sky day that I started the morning with a bus ride to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe enjoying the gardens, all the antique churches and the throngs of happy pilgrims and visitors on a joyful day for families to enjoy these world famous treasures. In the afternoon I made my way on the Metrobus back to Plaza del Carmen and sat down again in Caray Caray wondering if Mariana Karr would indeed come. Her daughter and assorted family and friends were already there. Everyone was so friendly like the day before and greeted me so warmly. She appeared suddenly at my table. I was so overwhelmed by the sight of her especially the light streaming from her brilliant blue eyes, I was almost unable to remember any Spanish. Fortunately, I had my laptop with me so showed her some pictures as I explained about the Caray Caray blog with all her fans. Yes, I even showed her the Willa, the blog-famous poodle pictures in her pirate scarf posing as the long lost twin to Fernando Colunga's alter ego, Ricardo in Pasión. She laughed at that, but I was unable to connect to the wireless internet at the restaurant to give her a tour of CarayCaray. I gave her the website URL, http://caraycaray.blogspot.com which I hope she will access to see this story and hear from all of you in the comments.
But back to the important details of the second meal: this time I chose from the list of "La Verdadera Empanada Argentina". The humita, with corn and cheese (elote y queso) and the carne with the most delicately spiced ground beef. The pie-like crust characteristic of empanadas was so tender and did I mention how fresh and flavorful? Every bite melts in your mouth. Oh, and the real Italian capuchino was the living end after a month of disappointing, tepid Nescafe instant coffee in too many places in Mexico.
If (when) you go, here's how to get there:
Directions using the Metro: From whatever point you enter the Metro get to Line 3 (Indios Verdes to Universidad) go south toward Universidad to the San Angel colonia to the stop Viveros or Miguel Angel de Quevedo. When you come out of the metro look for a taxi to Avenida de la Paz #57, 2 piso, Plaza del Carmen. The metro is 2 pesos and the taxi will be about 35 to 50 pesos.
Directions using the Metrobus on Avenida Insurgentes: This brings you closest to the restaurant. Put in about 12 to 20 pesos, depending on your entry point, the machine which does not give change, you get a plastic reusable card which then needs to be activated in this machine then scanned at the turnstile. Friendly guards and fellow travelers will help till you get the hang of it. Take the bus headed south toward Dr. Galvez but get off one stop early at La Bombilla. When you exit you will be on Av. Insurgentes looking south, at the first corner see Av. de la Paz., cross to your left and walk left uphill about one block to #57 on the left. The elevator or stairs will take you up to Caray Caray.
Later at night or if you don't feel confident with Spanish, taking a taxi may be best. From the Zona Rosa area this will cost at least 150 to 200 pesos each way.
The food at Caray Caray was the best I had in all of Mexico. What a fabulous, unexpected delight to meet this warm, personable lady and what a privilege to tell her about this blog and all the friends she has here. Thanks Mariana for a memorable day.
Hasta luego amigas y amigos,
CherylNewMex or
CherylMarParaNMex
and Pirate Lass Willa
aka Pirate Ricardo's lost twin
Labels: Alborada, Pasion, stars
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