Corrido Calavera: Come see «one of the funniest plays to hit Portland» (REVIEW)

Corrido Calavera: Come see «one of the funniest plays to hit Portland» (REVIEW)

If you still have not seen our raucous Dia de Muertos original production, check out what the critics are saying, and get your tickets today! There are only two weekends left; don’t forget about the Sunday matinees!

«As the 18th installment in Milagro Theatre’s annual Day of the Dead series, the original production Corrido Calavera must live up to a long history of outrageous and poignant theater. Chilling, though, this isn’t. As the lights fade in, four skeletons whispering and pushing around two coffins is about as scary as Corrido Calavera gets. The coffins open, bearing a confused Manuel (Enrique E. Andrade) and Amanda (Tricia Castañeda-Gonzales), who demand answers. “The two of you have passed on to the other side,” the leader of the skeletons explains to the couple, but Amanda is in disbelief. “You mean we’re in Mexico?”

It’s the first of many near-perfect one-liners, which, though much denser in act one, ensure that  Corrido Calavera is one of the funniest plays to hit Portland this season. If the laughs tend to be early in the performance, the message hits home in the finale. Manuel and Amanda, who struggled in their marriage while still alive, must battle the ominous and omnipresent D. Inc.—and its CEO/mascot, Muerte Mouse, dressed and acting like an Adbusters  parody of Mickey.

The ending is wholesome and happy—isn’t it always in D. films?—but the skeletons, especially the Southern drawling Mariel Sierra and the bombastic Nelda Reyes, make you laugh till you’re dead.»

– Mitch Lillie, Willamette Week