América Tropical tells the universal story of a family fighting to stay together against forces intent on tearing them apart. Rita Rey, a young Mexican American, must save her family against Repatriation, the Depression-era policy where US citizens of Mexican ancestry were deported. Based on real people and events, our heroine uses her wits to outsmart a corrupt cop to get her family back. The show’s title comes from a controversial mural created by Rita’s love interest, David Siqueiros, the famous Mexican artist and communist revolutionary. América Tropical, the mural, is whitewashed but decades later manages to re-emerge, a metaphor for the resilience of Mexican Americans. In the end Rita understands the truths revealed in Siqueiros’ mural cannot be whitewashed or covered up, and América Tropical still speaks powerfully of acceptance and equality. The writers are mindful that audiences, particularly in a post-pandemic world, want to be entertained not lectured to. While the underlying themes in América Tropical are vital, the overarching tone is upbeat and lively—similar to Cabaret and Chicago.
Olvera Street, a forgotten alley that’s transformed into a colorful, music-filled destination, radically changing the lives of its Mexican American inhabitants.On the ‘reborn’ Olvera Street costumed performers and colorful stalls filled with artisan crafts create the illusion of an ‘authentic’ Mexican village in the heart of Los Angeles.Renowned Mexican muralist David Siqueiros is hired to create a romantic mural on Olvera but secretly creates a disturbing vision of prejudice and suffering— América Tropical. His infatuation with Rita, our heroine, has unintended consequences.Guy McAfee, Commander of the LAPD Vice Squad, owns prostitution rings and gambling houses across LA. He is determined to take over Rita’s speakeasy and drive Tony the Hat, who supplies her booze, out of business.The mural América Tropical (1932) flaunts the communist ideals of artist David Siqueiros. City powerbrokers have it whitewashed and presumably destroyed.Olvera Street and América Tropical lie directly in the sightline of Los Angeles City Hall. This hastens the destruction of the controversial mural.REPATRIATION— the Depression-era policy of deporting Mexican American citizens to create jobs for “real Americans”, which tears apart over a half million American families.Mrs. Christine Sterling— a socialite determined to save Olvera’s historic buildings by turning the alley into a tourist destination. To celebrate its success Sterling commissions David Siqueiros to paint a “romantic” mural for the street.Tony the Hat (Anthony Cornero)— gangster and bootlegger who supplies illegal booze to Rita’s speakeasy on Olvera Street. When corrupt cop McAfee aims to take over their businesses they join forces to fight back.Harry Chandler, the likable curmudgeon and owner of the LA Times, funds Christine Sterling’s vision for Olvera Street and promotes it as a tourist destination.Decades after it was whitewashed América Tropical astonishingly re-emerges. The City of Los Angeles embraces it as a long-lost treasure and together with the Getty Conservation Institute they fund to restore and protect it. América Tropical shares a unique resilience with Mexican Americans, refusing to be banished and forgotten.
7. NOT-AMERICAN-ENOUGH-FOR-YOU BLUES,
(Rita, Cha Cha, Gert)
Angered and saddened by the LAPD raid on her neighborhood and deportation of her father, Rita takes to the small stage inside the speakeasy to voice her discontent through song. She is joined by the Hot Tamale Dancers, Cha Cha and Gert.
Olvera is the show’s mariachi-styled opener. It takes place in 1932 on a forgotten alley near downtown Los Angeles. Mrs. Christine Sterling, a socialite and do-gooder, must convince Mexican Americans living and working on the alley (Olvera Street) to embrace her plan to turn the street into a replica of a quaint Mexican village. Her plan is to create a tourist destination where some of the revenue will be used restore the dilapidated adobes on the street—the last historic structures from the City’s beginnings. Sterling must also convince owner of the LA Times, Harry Chandler, for funds to help her realize this vision. Eventually everybody gets on board except Rita (lead), who’s uncomfortable with pretending to be something she isn’t—a Mexican peasant when she’s actually a modern American woman.
8. A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE (McAfee)
After deporting Rita’s father to Mexico and having her brother beat up, McAfee returns to the speakeasy to give Rita an ultimatum— give him control of her speakeasy business or he’ll shut it down.
9. FOREVER AND A DAY, (Isabel, Rita, Jerónimo, Ensemble)
Rita’s mother Isabel has decided to go to Mexico in search of her ailing husband Diego, who’s been deported. Before she boards her train at Union Station she says goodbye to her children, Rita and Jerònimo, knowing she may not be able to return or ever see them again.
10. OUT WITH THE OLD REPRISE (Jerónimo, Art Students)
Jerónimo, Rita’s brother, meets clandestinely with a couple of fellow art students afterhours in the darkened speakeasy. They’ve been swayed by Siqueiro’s radical ideology, and are planning to hand out flyers on behalf of the American Communist Party at a protest rally for people unable to find work. Their meeting is cut short when Rita unexpectedly enters and discovers what they’re up to.
11. DEVIL WIND, (Rita, Ensemble)
The LAPD raid the speakeasy arresting Rita and Jerònimo as subversives for the Communist Party. Rita is innocent of any involvement in the matter, but because she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Siqueiros bails out both. Outside the jail Jerònimo tells Rita he’s on his way to Mexico to find their parents and declares he will not be coming back to the US. Rita begs him to stay. If he leaves, he will be a fugitive. Jerònimo, unconvinced, leaves for Mexico. Rita, deserted by her only remaining family member, hits bottom.
12. MARRIED GUYS (Cha Cha, Gert)
Tony the Hat waits for Rita at the speakeasy. Cha Cha enters to let Tony know Rita’s running late. Tony, who has a crush on Cha Cha, gives her a dazzling diamond bracelet. Gert enters as Cha Cha gives the bracelet back to Tony, explaining she can’t accept it because he’s married. Cha Cha and Gert share a laugh about it, which baffles Tony. They explain they used to perform a number at another club called Married Guys, and they launch into the vaudeville-style comedy song.
13. IT’S JUST BUSINESS (McAfee, Goons, Rita)
Rita leads McAfee and his Goons to a tunnel where Tony has stashed a shipment of illegal booze. McAfee believes she’s leading him there to steal Tony’s booze, but she has schemed with Tony to double-cross McAfee, blackmail him, and shut down his plans to take over her speakeasy.
14. IT’S JUST BUSINESS REPRISE (Rita, Tony the Hat)
After capturing an incriminating photo of McAfee guzzling booze, Rita and Tony celebrate their scheme, mocking McAfee who’s been forced to desert his plans of taking over Rita’s speakeasy and squeezing Tony out of being her booze supplier.
15. FOREVER AND A DAY REPRISE (Rita)
After the controversial mural América Tropical is unveiled, it’s declared indecent by the City of LA and is ordered to be destroyed— whitewashed over. As workers begin to cover it up, Rita asks them to give her a moment to take it in— the mural is what she holds dearest in her heart that Jerónimo was a part of. She watches as América Tropical disappears under the whitewash.
16. AMÉRICA TROPICAL, (Rita, entire cast)
América Tropical is the show’s finale. It is 2012 (timewise this is a bookend with the very beginning of the show). Rita is now an old woman who has been instrumental in fighting to get David Siqueiros’ mural, América Tropical, restored and protected. Her brother Jerònimo, decades after of being out of the country, finally returns to surprise her at the restored mural’s unveiling ceremony. They are happily reunited, and América Tropical with its passionate message for social justice has returned for good.
6. YOU’VE CHANGED (Rita, Miguel)
When Rita spurns McAfee’s (LAPD Vice Squad Commander) attempts to take over her speakeasy, he orders a sweep of her family’s neighborhood to capture Mexicans, including American citizens, for Repatriation (deportation to Mexico). Diego is captured for deportation. Rita feels betrayed by a former high school classmate, Michael, who is a LAPD rookie and part of the raid.
5. OUT WITH THE OLD (Siqueiros, Jerónimo, Art Students)
On a rooftop above Olvera Street, the site of the proposed mural, Siqueiros (the revolutionary and celebrated Mexican muralist), has gathered the art students he’s selected to help him create it. Among the students is Rita’s younger and impressionable brother, Jerònimo. Siqueiros has just told the students the mural they’re making won’t be the phony idealized notion of tropical America (Latin America) that Mrs. Sterling has commissioned. In Out With the Old he ignites a passion in the students to help him create something important; a mural that will reveal an ugly truth that society must face.
4. HOT TAMALES TONIGHT (Rita, Cha-Cha, Gert)
The Great Depression has brought with it hard times, and Prohibition is in full swing— alcohol is illegal. To bring in extra money Rita has opened a speakeasy, a secret bar behind her family’s tamale stand. Hot Tamales Tonight is a diegetic song, cabaret-style, and designed to entertain the speakeasy’s patrons while encouraging them to enjoy themselves and to drink her booze.
3. SOUTH OF MY BORDER (Rita, Siqueiros)
When Olvera Street is named as the City’s number 1 destination by the LA Times, Mrs. Sterling commissions David Siqueiros, a famous Mexican muralist, to paint a romantic mural celebrating the street’s success. When Siqueiros meets Rita sparks fly. Their attraction plays out in the tango, South of My Border. Although from the beginning Rita can see him for what he is—a womanizer, she’s annoyed that she’s attracted to him anyway.
2. BEND DON’T BREAK (Diego, Rita)
Rita is upset by Mrs. Sterling’s demands of how her and her family’s lives must change to be a part of the new tourist attraction— Olvera Street. Bend Don’t Break is a father/daughter duet where Diego advises Rita that her life would be a lot easier if she’d bend a little to get along with others.
