Becoming Chavela

Written and performed by Stephanie Trudeau, the piece is more than just a musical concert of the songs of legendary Mexican singer Chavela Vargas. It is also a documentary theater project that traces the famed ranchera singer’s artistic evolution and her relationships with her musical mentor Jose Alfredo Jimenez (the world’s greatest composer of ranchera songs), the painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, the great Cuban courtesan Macorina, and film director Pedro Almodóvar, who enabled Chavela’s comeback at age 72.  Trudeau is accompanied by Argentine guitarist Diego Cebollero.