Antonio Banderas brings Broadway to Malaga with his premiere of Gypsy

The premiere is just a week away. It is, admits Antonio Banderas, the "hardest part" of a musical production. "Everyone is exhausted. We don't sleep, there are nerves...", he explains on the stage of the Soho Caixabank Theatre, surrounded by the whole cast. But everyone is looking happy and smiling; actors putting on brave faces.

Banderas presents Gypsy, the Soho theatre's fifth musical production, the fourth under his direction and the most Broadway-style of them all. Five years after starting his theatrical adventure in Malaga, the actor and director has taken on one of the classics of American theatre ("Gypsy is America", said the lyricist Stephen Sondheim).

There will be matinee performances on Saturdays and Sundays (at 2pm, with brunch beforehand for those who wish) and then at 7pm on weekdays. For the cast, Banderas relies on the experience of veterans of the genre, such as Marta Ribera, Marta Valverde, Carmen Conesa and Paco Morales, together with the freshness of a new generation of artists.

In terms of aesthetics, it is committed to the conceptual, but with the sparkle, spectacularity and surprise factor that define the world's most famous theatre strip. The result will be unveiled on 17 October, and will remain in Malaga - at least - until mid-January.

With lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Jule Styne, the play transports the audience to the America of the 1920s and 30s, where Rose, a "courageous and implacable mother", seeks to turn her daughter Gypsy into a vaudeville star at any cost. It is, Banderas said, a reflection on "the pathology of success, that feeling that you always have to succeed no matter what". An obsession with success that is very much associated with the north American world, but which now "is spread worldwide in a different way through social media where we all have our private channel of communication, our avatars".

Banderas' adaptation, which is necessary to make "very American situations understandable", brings "fresh air" into a play that dates back to 1959. It does so with a more conceptual approach than it originally was, abstracting to a certain extent from the period in which the action theoretically takes place.

"We go back to the 1930s but we give ourselves permission to nod to the present day", he explains. For example, with the character of June played by Laia Prats, with a striking blue wig and a rebellious attitude more reminiscent of a pop star than a burlesque performer from the last century. "We tried to find something personal and unique in this production, something that has that touch," he says.

It also happens with the staging: with few elements, he achieves magic. As in his previous productions, Banderas avoids the obvious without taking away the wow factor. The key elements are large, shiny curtains that open and close "discovering the different worlds". Graphic information and videos are projected on them, contextualising the scene. And for this, Banderas has also relied on local talent, with the art of the creator José Luis Puche, who digitally 'paints' some of these curtains.

Banderas also makes a difference with the casting: here there are different bodies and different ages. Young (and solvent) artists such as Lydia Fairén (Gypsy) and Prats, share the stage with veterans of the genre who show themselves without complexes. There is Carmen Conesa, at 64 years of age, marvellous in a 'mini' burlesque artist's model, "happy" to be part of this project and grateful for the "great gift of being able to show the 'bodysuits' however they are".

Next to her, with the same look, Marta Valverde, with almost 50 years of stage experience. "I met Antonio at the casting and he said to me 'what a CV you have'. I replied: 'The cherry on top of my CV is Gypsy. And he gave me this gift". The list of veterans continues with Paco Morales, Chemari Bello, Carlos Seguí and at the top of the list: Marta Ribera.

In fact, as Banderas said, the impulse to make Gypsy was born from working with her in Company, "from knowing that there was a person very close to me who had all the colours that a character as complex as Rose's was going to need".

"I try to avoid thinking that I have so much responsibility, otherwise I wouldn't continue. I try to let myself be guided by everything that maestro Antonio, maestro Arturo Díez Boscovich and maestro Borja Rueda tell me", said Marta Ribera, who plays the implacable mother of the artist in this musical. "And I haven't made a single mistake", said Banderas, to which Ribera responded with a kiss on the cheek.

It was one of the many gestures of complicity seen among the team, with a good number of "repeaters" of previous Soho Theatre musicals. It was a family atmosphere that Banderas encouraged from the moment of selection. "Not only did we need to find people who knew how to do their job, who act, sing and dance at a high level, we also needed to find people with a human level who were willing to submit themselves to the sacrifice of hard rehearsals and a healthy coexistence", he pointed out. And so it has been: "It's a family, I come to work as if I were at my aunt's house. We take good care of each other," Prats added.

To begin with, in the schedules. Antonio Banderas applies the regulations that oblige actors to take a 48-hour break and introduces matinee sessions at weekends. Thus, the last performance on Sunday will be at 2pm and the cast will not return to the theatre until Tuesday for the 7pm session. This change allows Antonio Banderas to attract a different audience, "who travel from places around" Malaga and can consider seeing a musical at midday and "return home at a normal time".

In fact, the Soho website offers a free bus service for certain dates from Marbella, Benalmádena and Vélez-Málaga. And there is the option of completing the ticket with a brunch at the Tercer Acto restaurant, of which Banderas is a member. "People go to play football at twelve, two, four, six, eight and ten o'clock. And nobody protests about that", the actor reflected. He assumed that it is a gamble and also "a risk". "The answer as to whether it works I'll give you in a couple of weeks", he added.