Song Demos & Instrumentation

SONG SET-UPS

1.OLVERA (Mrs. Sterling, Rita, Worker 1, Worker 2, Ensemble). Olvera is the show’s mariachi-styled opener. It’s 1932 Mrs. Christine Sterling, a socialite and do-gooder, has transformed Olvera Street, a replica of a quaint Mexican village, into what the Los Angeles Times has declared as the city’s number one tourist attraction. To celebrate, she announces to the street’s community that she’s commissioned David Siqueiros, the famous Mexican muralist (and revolutionary), to paint a mural idealizing Olvera Street’s romantic lure.

2. SOUTH OF MY BORDER (Rita, Siqueiros). When David Siqueiros meets Rita (lead) sparks fly. Their attraction plays out in the tango, South of My Border. From the beginning Rita can see him for what he is— a womanizer, but she’s annoyingly attracted to him anyway. 

3. BEND DON’T BREAK (Diego, Rita). Rita is upset by Mrs. Sterling’s demands of how she and her family must change to be a part of the 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.

4. EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY (Rita, Cha-Cha, Gert). The country is in the depths of the Great Depression and Prohibition is still in effect—alcohol is illegal. To bring in extra money during these hard times Rita has opened a speakeasy, a secret bar behind her family’s tamale stand. Eat, Drink and Be Merry is a diegetic song, cabaret-style, and designed to entertain the speakeasy’s patrons while encouraging them to enjoy themselves and drink.

5. A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE (McAfee). McAfee, the corrupt LAPD Vice Squad, visits Rita speakeasy to inform her he intends to become a partner in her business. When she dismisses his offer, he gives her a warning of what can happen if she does not comply.

6. OUT WITH THE OLD (Siqueiros, Jerónimo, Art Students). On a rooftop above Olvera Street, the site of the proposed mural celebrating the street’s success, David Siqueiros (celebrated Mexican muralist and a communist), has gathered a handful of art students that he’s selected to help him create it. Among the students is Rita’s impressionable younger brother, Jerònimo. Siqueiros has just told the students the mural they are making will not be the phony romanticized notion that their patron Mrs. Christine Sterling has commissioned. In the song, Out With the Old, Siqueiros ignites a passion in the students to help him create something important; a mural that will reveal an ugly truth that society must face.

7. MARRIED GUYS (Cha Cha, Gert). Siqueiros (celebrated Mexican muralist) enters the speakeasy where Rita, Cha Cha, and Gert are getting ready for the evening crowd. He invites Rita to attend a posh party with him that is being thrown in his honor. Rita tells him he should ask his wife to go with him, but Siqueiros informs her his wife has returned to Mexico after they had a fight, and she is demanding a divorce. Cha Cha asserts that Rita is busy with prior plans with her and Gert. As Siqueiros exits, he tells Rita if her plans change, she is welcome to join him. Cha Cha and Gert remind Rita that although Siqueiros is handsome and charismatic, he is still a married man.

8. YOU’VE CHANGED (Rita, Miguel). The LAPD raids Rita’s neighborhood capturing Mexicans American (including citizens) for Repatriation to Mexico. Rita’s father, Diego, is captured for deportation. Rita confronts her former high school classmate, Michael, (an LAPD rookie) who took part in the raid.

9. REPATRIATION (entire cast). Propelled by the LAPD raid on the Rey’s home in Chavez Ravine (where father/American citizen Diego was Repatriated to Mexico), Isabel, (mother to Rita and Jerónimo) escapes to Olvera Street terrified that she will be deported too. Repatriation (song) sums up each character’s situation/motivations, and functions as a ‘cliff-hanger’ leading into the Act break; similar to how ‘One More Day’ works in Les Misérables.  

10. 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 under President Hoover’s mass deportation of American citizens known as Repatriation (a misguided program to give Depression Era jobs to ‘real Americans’). Before she boards her train at LA’s Union Station she says goodbye to her grown children, Rita and Jerònimo, knowing she may not be able to return or ever see them again.

11. 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.

12. A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE REPRISE (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.

13. OUT WITH THE OLD REPRISE (Jerónimo, Art Students). Jerónimo, Rita’s brother, meets clandestinely with fellow art students afterhours in the darkened speakeasy. They’ve been swayed by Siqueiros’ 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.

14. TIGER IN A CAGE (Jerónimo). Act 2: Jerónimo, Rita’s brother has been arrested for distributing American Communist Party propaganda. Artist and revolutionary David Siqueiros bailed Jerónimo out of jail, and he’s just informed Rita he’s going to Mexico to find their parents who’ve been deported because of Repatriation. His decision to leave the country is fraught with consequences— he may not ever be able to return, and if he does, he’ll be a fugitive from justice.

15. DEVIL WIND, (Rita, Ensemble). LAPD raids the speakeasy arresting Rita and Jerònimo as subversives of the Communist Party. Rita is innocent of any involvement in the matter, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Siqueiros bails them both out. After being released 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.   

16. 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. 

17. 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.

18. EPILOGUE UNDERSCORE

19. AMÉRICA TROPICAL, (Rita, entire cast). América Tropical’s story takes place in 1932, but the show is bookended with an open and close that takes place in 2012. At the show’s close, Rita, now an old woman, has been instrumental in fighting to get David Siqueiros’ 1932 mural, known as América Tropical, restored (after it had been whitewashed and destroyed) and protected for future generations. At the restored mural’s unveiling ceremony, Young Rita (from 1932) joins her older self, Old Rita, and launches into the finale, América Tropical, with its passionate, unflinching message for social justice and a society that embraces inclusion.