Review of ‘House on Mango Street’
Ivividly recall reading Sandra Cisneros’ wonderful novel “The House on Mango Street” when I was an undergraduate English major taking a course on multiethnic American literature. The novel consists of vignettes, composed in a rich but simple poetic language that captures the life of a Latina girl growing up in Chicago. It’s a touching and often funny coming-of-age story that anyone who has ever been an adolescent can relate to. In other words, it’s a novel for everyone.
“The House on Mango Street” has been adapted for the stage by Amy Ludwig and is now playing at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in a co-production with the Vortex Theatre. Director Leigh-Ann Santillanes-Delgado has assembled a cast of 8 actors, most of whom play multiple characters.
In Ludwig’s adaptation, the story is narrated by two actors: Alicia Lueras Maldonado plays an older Esperanza looking back on her life, and Liana Padilla plays the adolescent Esperanza as she navigates life’s challenges on Mango Street. Maldonado is excellent as the older Esperanza, the living embodiment of “hope,” the meaning of her name in Spanish.
The supporting cast members are quite good; all of them switch from one character to another as the story demands. Especially wonderful is Ninette Mordaunt, who although an elderly woman herself is spry and agile and completely believable when she takes on the role of Nenny, Esperanza’s younger sister. Mordaunt is brilliant in all the roles she inhabits, not least Elenita the “witch woman,” whom Esperanza visits to have her fortune told. In perhaps the most heartbreaking scene in the play, Aunt Lupe, the victim of a long and lingering disease, is made fun of by the children, who are told one day that she is dead. Mordaunt is mesmerizing as the dying woman.
The show has some problems with pacing. Especially problematic are poignant moments that are rushed through; other moments are plagued by long pauses that should not be there, more than likely because an actor failed to pick up his or her cue. But the biggest problem with the show is the inability of Padilla to project the pain — which sometimes amounts to a wish to die — as well as the joy, of the young Esperanza.
The picture frame stage of the Wells Fargo Auditorium at the National Hispanic Cultural Center is just right to tell this story, and director San till an esDelgado uses the space within the frame and outside the frame very well. Set designer Thane Kenny’s two house facades provide the appropriate background for the story to unfold. The lighting design by Joseph Wasson is generally good, but sometimes the focal point of a scene in not adequately lighted. Leslee Richards’ costumes and Matt Worley’s sound design round out a generally solid design concept.
“The House on Mango Street” is playing through April 15 at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 Fourth SW. For reservations, go to nhccnm.org or call 724-4771.