Ross Zentner
Kelly Guerra (center) and Kanopy Dance Company members in Madison Opera's production of "María de Buenos Aires."
Kelly Guerra (center) and Kanopy Dance Company members (from left) Carolyn Fitzgibbons, Miye Bishop, Nathan Castro Llanos, Hannah King and Madeleine Lindbeck in Madison Opera's production of "María de Buenos Aires."
Madison Opera’s María de Buenos Aires isn’t quite an opera, and it’s not exactly a dance piece. It exists in a space between — a surrealist tango operita that unfolds like a dream, dripping with poetry and seduction. This operita is more than just a fusion of forms: María is a hypnotic blend of opera, tango, spoken poetry, and surrealist theater all at once. With Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango score thrumming beneath it, the production — staged Friday night to a sold-out Capitol Theater — leans into the work’s strange, intoxicating energy. The audience surrenders to its rhythm rather than searching for a traditional narrative thread.
Composed in 1968, María de Buenos Aires was a radical departure from traditional tango. It blended jazz, classical music, and the haunting poetry of Horacio Ferrer. Piazzolla’s nuevo tango was controversial at the time, dismissed by purists as sacrilege. But today, it’s revered as a turning point for the genre.
Under the baton of Kamna Gupta, the Madison Opera orchestra shimmers, the score pulses and breathes — urgent one moment, languid the next — never losing its drive.
Both leads, mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra and baritone Laureano Quant, make their Madison Opera debuts. Guerra’s voice is rich and sultry, radiating warmth and power, with a smoky timbre that feels tailor-made for María’s doomed, sensual story arc. She rides the music like a roller coaster on the edge of chaos — just when you think it might fly off the rails, she pulls it back, controlled yet thrilling.
Opposite her, Colombian baritone Laureano Quant brings depth and gravitas as El Payador. His voice is big, deep, and strikingly beautiful — qualities that don’t always blend seamlessly, but here, they do. He grounds the poetry, giving the piece an emotional center.
Kirstin Chávez, as El Duende, never sings, but she doesn’t need to. Her spoken narration is rhythmic, hypnotic, wrapping Ferrer’s poetry in a cadence so musical it feels sung. She embodies the production’s mystical undertones, making you believe, for just a moment, that you understand Spanish, even if you don’t.
That dreamlike quality extends to the production itself. Stage director Frances Rabalais, returning to Madison Opera after last season’s Tosca, crafts a visually stunning world where movement is fluid, tableaux feel painterly, and nothing feels forced. Lisa Thurrell’s choreography is beautifully realized. The integration of dance into the staging feels inevitable, as if the dancers aren’t performing but simply being carried by the music.
Elegance carries through in the costumes by Karen Brown-Larimore, which stretch from Chávez’s Mad Men-era structured dress to María’s smoldering deep-red gown. The ensemble, in pastel-colored Sunday best, adds some visual contradiction. The opera itself feels unstuck in time, and Brown-Larimore’s designs reinforce that, creating a world that feels both familiar and fantastical.
The set, designed by Katy Fetrow, is evocative in some moments, utilitarian in others. A glowing motel sign hovers over the stage, a striking visual metaphor for the underworld María inhabits. Elsewhere, though, the aesthetic leans toward the practical, sometimes to its detriment. The greige lattice structure in the opening sequence feels workmanlike. But when the production finds its visual stride, like when a Coca-Cola vending machine transforms into a stark, white-padded coffin, it’s electric. That moment is María at its best: capitalism turned coffin, dream logic made real. The production excels in these eerie, evocative scenic images.
None of these elements — music, movement, visuals — stand alone. It’s not an opera that offers a clear-cut story or an easy resolution. It doesn’t need to. Skip the supertitles. You’ll understand much more by watching the acting onstage. This piece invites the audience to let the music and movement wash over them, to embrace sensation over structure.
With Guerra’s haunting María, Chavez’s mesmerizing narration, and Quant’s commanding presence, Madison Opera has delivered a production that doesn’t just honor Piazzolla’s vision—it embodies it.
Madison Opera’s María de Buenos Aires will be performed again Feb. 2 at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater.