In his world-premiere comedy “Sweet 15 (Quinceanera),” playwright Rick Najera draws on Mexican theatrical traditions and at the same time sends up another tradition, that of the Quinceanera, which he explains comes down from the Aztecs, who feted the virgin before tossing her off a cliff.
Looking like the Chicano Sydney Greenstreet, Najera takes part in his own comedy, which is, in fact, a series of sketches similar to pantos that are zany and topical; for instance, the getaway car is lost somewhere in the avocado section of the Horton Plaza parking garage, which occasions a heated debate whether that would be in the fruit or vegetable stack.
Missing and presumed dead, Eddy Valderama (Najera) disappeared on the eve of his daughter’s Quinceanera, which he could not afford. Rumor has it that he was involved in organized crime, something his now 25-year-old daughter Sonora (darling Nina Brissey) denies by saying, “There was nothing organized about my dad.”
Anything but virginal, Sonora lives with her nerdy, botany-inspired boyfriend (Fernando Vega) and aspires to, but can’t afford, to accept a law scholarship to Stanford. Sonora’s mother (gorgeous Yvonne DeLaRosa) and her boozy, round-at-heels grandmother (Alma Martinez) add comic Latina attitude, determination and color, and their clothes, designed by Paloma H Young, are a hoot.
Possessed of a lovely tenor voice with a traditional, steely edge, Vega steals the show,
morphing from the nerdy beau to the oily Latin entertainer, Fernando Cahuenga, who’s hired to entertain at the Quinceanera, gold lamé trousers, padded crotch and all.
The party planner (Carlo D’Amore) gambles away all the cash given to him by Eddy, and as a result the lavish affair is a fiasco that includes a god-awful dress for Sonora, shoes suitable for a Tijuana whore, a surrendered doll and a drunken, man-groping granny.
The piece is glib, facile and rife with one-liners and shtick, but these marvelous performers reveal the heart and love at its core, largely due to the palpable longing of the reluctant and angry Sonora for the daddy she loved. And what an appealing daddy Najera is.
Other virtues: a glitzy utilitarian set by Ron Ranson; excellent sound by Tom Jones; and appropriately overstated choreography by Cynthia Morales. Sam Woodhouse stages the chaos with understanding and wacky intelligence.
“Sweet 15 (Quinceanera)” plays through Sunday, Dec. 16 at San Diego Repertory Lyceum Theatre, Horton Plaza, 79 Horton Plaza. For tickets and information, visit www.sandiegorep.com or call (619) 544-1000.
