La Colmenita the Cuban Children´s Theater Company: On Top of Its Game
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- 05 / 13 / 2009
The spectacular, based on a popular story, has been ongoing on weekends at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana.
Carlos Alberto (Tim) Cremata has put together an imaginative version of the children’s story with the participation of such artists as Omara Portuondo, Adalberto Álvarez, Los Papines, Mario Rivera (Mayito), Silvio Rodríguez, Buena Fe, Raúl Paz, Sampling, Roberto Fonseca y Temperamento, David Torrens and Osvaldo Doimeadiós.
Humorist Carlos Gonzalvo (Mentepollo) said that this was one of the highlights of his career as an artist. “I was very nervous, I admit it. It was a great experience for me as an actor since I could see how these young children behave at each show and rehearsal.”
Singer Mayito Rivera of Los Van Van said he was so dazzled with the potpourri of Juan Formell songs performed by La Colmenita that he not only participated in the main show but in all the performances.
“I was very moved to see the way these children perform, sing and play before a live audience. They would take my hand and run. I had to sing at the same level I do with Los Van Van. I felt honored for being able to work with them.”
La Colmenita celebrated Van Van’s 40th anniversary by singing a few of their most popular songs including El guararey de Pastora.
The audience was blown away by the performance of these youngsters, including Juan Formell who was in the audience. Formell got up from his seat and finished leading the La Colmenita orchestra. Formell was so pleased after the performance that he said he was going to compose some songs especially for the theater company.
The tireless Carlos Alberto Cremata returned from Austria to make the final preparations for El concertazzo de la Cucarachita. “I was attending the Annual Meeting of the Committee for Permanent Assistance to Children and Youth of the International Theater Organization (AITA) as a rep for Latin American along with reps from Denmark, Austria, Germany and Croatia, Canada, Bangladesh, and Uganda. This meeting coincided with the 17th World Congress: Drama in Education.
“A strategic alliance between AITA and the International Drama in Education Association (IDEA) took place at this meeting. IDEA promotes art across all levels from elementary to university education with a focus on fostering artistic education worldwide. The president told me he wanted to invite the Committee along with our La Colmenita group.
“I was astonished when I heard this because I didn’t know he knew about our work. Afterwards I learnt that he had been to Cuba and had had the chance to see one of our performances. So La Colemenita company has been officially invited to a conference to take place in 2010 as part of the World Social Forum in Brazil.
“When the announcement was made I felt as if I had been knocked over; but I stood up and spoke about La Colmenita. I said it was not an isolated case in Cuba but a result of the political will of a government that fosters spirituality in children. I spoke about how La Colmenita is almost insignificant compared to other educational programs in Cuba such as the art instructors.”
After receiving this news, I spent the whole night in a trance like Mozart did when writing Requiem, and I worked on the new show that will include Silvio Rodriguez’s music.
“My idea is not to use the songs Silvio composed for children such as Reparador de sueños, Pioneros, La primera mentira, but instead try to do the same as I did with The Beatles, and dive deeper inside his poetry as much as I can.”
“My priority with this show is that if I were a spectator and took my four-year-old girl, María Karla, and she asked me: Daddy why does La Colmenita sing “the thing is, sir, to always sow love,” that I could explain to her the important things in life.”
“My dream is to accomplish, along with Silvio, the same that Marti accomplished with his children’s novel La Edad de Oro. Because as Fina García Marruz says, who knows what a child could or not know? “
Cremata said the play featuring the music of Silvio Rodriguez will be called Y sin embargo se mueve by a Russian playwright. “I put it on with La Colmena in 1992. One of its first characters was Susy, my cousin who died. I am devoting this play to her and my father who, as I say, leads La Colmenita from wherever he is. It is an important text to be shared with children, with the message that education should focus on human values.”
(Juventud Rebelde)
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