80 minutes comedy/drama. No intermission
Marga Gomez's solo play is a loving and lethal tour-de force tribute to her show-biz parents and to the legendary palaces of Latino entertainment known as Téatros. She was a backstage baby born to Willy Chevalier and Margarita, rising stars of New York’s Latino community in the 60’s. Marga was more than their only child, she was their biggest fan. When Willy and Margarita were breaking records for votes received by entertainers in the El Diario newspaper readers poll, little Marga was busy stuffing the ballot box. When her parents needed a child for a routine about divorce they put Marga in the show, and she was hooked.
They were a family of three, with show biz in their blood and intimacy issues at home, living a relatively rich and famous lifestyle in the barrio of Washington Heights. Marga Gomez portrays an eclectic and star- studded cast of characters in this rich, raucous and fast-paced tale of redemption.
Following in her parent's footsteps (with a slight detour) Marga would become a nationally renowned gay comedian (B.E., before Ellen) which led to her Hollywood break during the Latin Explosion of the 90s. She points out "I was the first in my family to get a speaking role in a movie. That meant more to us than graduating from high school." But the movie was Barry Levinson's sci-fi flop Sphere which Marga explains "had some problems with the end- and with the middle." To illustrate this Marga faithfully re-enacts Queen Latifah's fatal jellyfish attack at the bottom of the sea.
Many celebrities are skewered in Los Big Names, but Marga's real life audition for Kathleen Turner inspires the most hilarious turn in the show.
Marga's Hollywood misadventures serve as a counterpoint to the aspirations and lives of her parents as the search for love edges out the quest for fame in this hilarious and poignant family saga.
