“Adiós Mamá Carlota”

Alison F. Rich and Will Springhorn, Jr.

Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino partner with The Stage to premiere a play about a short, little known period of Mexican history when the younger brother, Maximilian I, of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph was named in 1864 by Napoleon III to be Emperor of Mexico, a country France had earlier invaded (along with Spain and the UK).  Adiós Mamá Carlota tells this rather bizarre and ultimately tragic story – for both Mexico and Maximilian – from the perspective of the new Emperor’s wife, Carlota, who ruled with him for two years as Empress before escaping back to Europe where she remained apparently insane and largely in isolation for the next sixty years.  Luis Valdez gives voice in Adiós Mamá Carlota to the ghosts of Carlota’s memories as they come back to haunt her and retell their versions of her and her executed husband’s coronation, reign, and demise.

Please continue to Talkin’ Broadway for my complete review: https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj161.html.