BY IVA YATESSpecial to the Daily Sunartsandliving@prdailysun.net

When the lights go down andthe actors take the stage,the spectator does not ex-

pect to be assaulted by the constantstream of emotions that the cast of thePuerto Rican production of “August:Osage County” elicits.

The play, which opened to a stand-ing ovation on Friday in the small andintimate René Marqués Hall at the LuisA. Ferré Performing Arts Center inSanturce, is a three-act tour de forceset to take you through a roller coasterof emotions during its over three hourrun. Amidst Oaklahoma’s summer heat,

we meet Beverly Weston (Axel Ander-son), the patriarch of the Weston fam-ily. He is conversing with JohnnaMonevata (Cristina Sesto), the girl hehas just hired to care for his wife, Vio-let Weston (Gladys Rodríguez). Violetstumbles onto the scene, visibly af-

fected by the drugs she has taken. Weare not surprised for Beverly has al-ready prepared us for this. “My wifetakes pills and I drink. That’s the bar-gain we’ve struck,” he says. The effectis both comic and sad. During the first act, Beverly has

mysteriously disappeared. The entireextended family is activated into ac-tion and slowly filters into the Westonasphyxiating household. Mattie Fae(Marilyn Pupo), Violet’s sister, herhusband Charles (Walter Rodríguez),and Ivy (Yamaris Latorre), Violet’smiddle daughter are there to providemoral support for a woman who is un-kind, particularly to her family mem-bers. By the second act, the entire family

is congregated around the dinner tableafter coming back from Beverly’s fu-neral. Family dynamics are masterlyportrayed as raucous conversationstake place between all who are gath-ered there: Barbara (Cristina Soler),Violet’s eldest daughter; her husbandBill (René Monclova); their daughterJean (Lara González Soler); Charles’and Mattie Fae’s son, Little Charles(Jimmy Navarro); Violet’s younger

daughter Karen (Sara Jarque) and herboyfriend Steve Heidebrecht (JuniorÁlvarez). There are plenty of issues to choose

from, ranging from drug abuse toracism. The windows, which havebeen covered with paper so that thereis no way of knowing whether it is dayor night since the first act, are uncov-ered by the third; a metaphor for therevealing secrets that this family haskept throughout the years. The careful balance between drama

and comedy is maintained throughoutall three, heart-wrenching acts. Slowly,the dysfunctional world of the West-ons unravels before our very eyes andwe cannot extricate them off the stageuntil the very painful end. Eventhough you leave the theater feelingexhausted, you can’t help but yearn formore because it makes you feel morealive than ever before. Written by Tracy Letts and originallystaged in Chicago in 2007 by the Step-penwolf Theater Company, it thenmoved on to be successfully staged onBroadway. It won the Pulitzer Prize forDrama and the Tony Award for BestPlay in 2008.

A dream come true

BY OMAR MARREROThe Associated Press

The return of some salsa singers to interpret the so-called ‘salsa romántica’ shouldn’t be a reason forpurists to feel threatened, opined seasoned Puerto

Rican singer José “Cheo” Feliciano on Tuesday.“Salsa romántica” or “monga” burst into the international

scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s at a time when “tra-ditional salsa” lost ground among followers of this genre.Its lyrics mostly focused on romantic topics, some of

them sexually explicit to use words or expressions thatwere considered taboo in popular music. And its arrange-ments left out the memorable solos and “descargas,” orjamming sessions, that were loved by many in the 1970s,in addition to the soloists who turned into commercial fig-ures.With this offshoot of salsa, many young vocalists made

it in the big leagues, including Luis Enrique, Eddie Santiagoand Domingo Quiñones.“I’ve had the privilege of being part of a very special and

prolific generation of this genre that we call salsa, but forme all music is beautiful, all genres are valid,” said Feliciano.“Maestro Don Tite Curet Alonso used to say that each

generation brings its own style. As far as ‘salsa romántica’or ‘monga’ or whatever you want to call it, is concerned, Ihave nothing bad to say about it,” he added.In recent years, several “salsa romántica” performers like

Luis Enrique and Domingo have made a comeback, andrecorded new material.According to the veteran singer, “salsa romántica” is

nothing else than an expression of the evolution of thegenre, as it has happened with the burst of reggaetón.“But if you have noticed, many local musicians today are

blending reggaetón with salsa, even the singers who startedin ‘salsa romántica’ are creating fusions and we have to ac-cept them because they are part of our evolution. I havenever done it before, but there’s still a chance that I will doit,” said the 73-year-old vocalist and former Fania All-Starslegend.“There’s nothing different nor scornful, all types of salsa

are beautiful and their main ingredient is salsa. All of themalways return to salsa’s roots,” he addedHowever, for arranger and bandleader Luis García, the

emergence of various traditional salsa groups offers hopefor the genre’s future.García mentioned bands like Sammy García, Julito Al-

varado and his Del Sur al Norte band and NG-2.“We’re living a moment when traditional salsa is making

a comeback after a five-year slump, and with these newgroups I think we have salsa for a long time to come,” saidGarcía, to whom it was dedicated on Sunday the 26th edi-tion of National Salsa Day.

Feliciano: ‘All salsa offshoots are beautiful’

Daily Sun/Humberto Trías

The cast of the Puerto Rican production of “August: OsageCounty,” starring Gladys Rodríguez and Axel Anderson.

Courtesy

José “Cheo” Feliciano

‘August: Osage County’a theatrical

tour de force

THEATER REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009 P19Puerto rico Daily Sun

artsandliving@prdailysun.net@

Daily Sun/César Silva

Puerto Rican pianist and entrepreneur StevanMicheo donated over $3,000 in musical instru-ments to a group of low-income children witha passion for music on Tuesday during anevent held in San Juan. He said one of hisaims as an artist is to open the doors for thenew generation of young aspiring musiciansin Puerto Rico.

BY THE DAILY SUN STAFF

Everything’s set for this weekend’s culinary feast. Over40 local and international chefs will unite for the sec-ond consecutive year at “Saborea Puerto Rico: A

Culinary Extravanganza,” to be held Saturday and Sundayat “Punta del Escambrón” in Old San Juan. Throughout the two-day event, over 60 exclusive restau-

rants will offer food lovers a varied sampling of some ofthe best dishes that Puerto Rico has to offer as the culinarycapital of the Caribbean.“A who’s who list of local and international chefs will

present the culinary trends that make Puerto Rico shinebefore the world. Each cooking show will present the mostcreative, diverse and explosive cooking tips used by ourchefs in preparing typical Puerto Rican food,” said theevent’s executive director Bárbara Pennock on Tuesday,adding she expects more than 2,500 people to attend theevent each day.Among them are renowned chocolatier Jacques Torres

of Mr. Chocolate in New York, Efraín Cruz of Gran Meliá,Iron Chef Cat Cora of the Food Network Channel, RobertTreviño of Budatai and Michael Psilakis, owner of Anthosin New York and recently honored as chef of the year 2008by Bon Appetit Magazine.Others include Mario Pagán of Lemon Grass and Chay-

ote, Augusto Schreiner of Augusto’s, Javier Nassar ofBanker’s Club, Jonathan Torres of Morton’s and MarisolHernández, to cite a few.“For the Puerto Rico Hotels and Tourism Association it’s

an honor that so many international figures want to cometo the island to take part in this event and be spokesper-sons of our resources and our culinary talent because itprovides us with a great international exposure and ityanks our local dishes into the spotlight,” said ClarisaJiménez, PRHTA president. Also to be present in the ac-

tivity will be Spanish chef Santiago Botas, an olive oil ex-pert and consultant for Betis and many other internationalcompanies with offices in Turkey, Morocco and Japan. Asan olive oil guru, Botas has traveled the globe for tastingsin every continent. He’ll be on hand on Sunday along withMario Ferro, executive chef of the Caribe Hilton Hotel.For her part, Mexican chef Rosita Sánchez, a well-known

figure in international culinary circles, will present her newbook “Conversación en la cocina” and she’ll join CielitoRosado and Schreiner for the closing of the activity.Other notable figures include Bradford Thompson of

Lever House Restaurant in New York, pastry chef KeeganGerhard and Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit.“The importance of this event of international exposure

for Puerto Rico as a culinary tourist destination wasshown recently in the South Beach Food and Wine Festin Miami. Since then, we’ve gotten a dramatic increase not

only in the number of daily hits of our web page gotop-uertorico.com but also in the number of applications re-questing for information on the island and its culinaryoffers, generating a lot of interest in the Hispanic and U.S.media outlets,” said Jaime López, the Puerto Rico Tourismdirector.“The Tourism Company’s goal is to promote Puerto

Rico as a culinary center destination throughout theCaribbean and the United States. We have a culinary teamthat has won several international awards, and that’ssomething that we should all be proud of. I think the is-land is ready to be positioned among the greatest culinarydestinations of the world,” he added.

For more information about the culinary event “SaboreaPuerto Rico” go to www.saboreapuertorico.com orwww.tcpr.com

Countdown is on for ‘Saborea 2009’

Daily Sun/Miguel Ríos

A handful of the group of chefs who’ll take part in the second edition of “Saborea Puerto Rico: A Culi-nary Extravaganza” this weekend at Punta El Escambrón are shown during a press conference heldon Tuesday in San Juan.

Courtesy

Luis García, president of Hera Printing Corp., center, recently gave a tour of the company’s facil-ities to graphic arts students from the University of Puerto Rico (Carolina campus) and answeredtheir questions about the evolution of the printing industry from the analog to the digital era.

UPR graphic arts students visit Hera Printing Corp.

Puerto rico Daily Sun

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 200920 @artsandliving@prdailysun.net