ES / EN
- July 14, 2025 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
Home Culture

Woody Allen finally in Cuba

by
  • Marta María Ramírez
    Marta María Ramírez,
  • marta
    marta
July 15, 2014
in Culture
0

Play it again, Sam, one of the theater plays by New Yorker playwright and filmmaker Woody Allen is staged in Havana, thanks to an alliance between creators and entrepreneurs.

For a feminist, for whom it is hard to confess her love for misogyny in the pathetic alter ego of US filmmaker Woody Allen (no further comments on his intimately public life), the meeting could not go any other way: an impeccable red Ford from the 50’s and Enrique, a mechanical engineer turned into a taxi driver, in front of my gate in 1905.

We headed to the east in search of an big house abandoned for some wealthy man during the early 60’s (as Enrique’s Ford), in the outskirts of Havana –not so much in the outskirts if public transportation had not been destroyed for more than five decades of indolence.

It used to be called La Campana. On some random occasions I swam in its pool and spent evenings there partying with friends. Now it is called La Mandragora, now it offers Spanish bar snacks and other delicious food. Kike, its owner, every Thursday night undertakes the challenge of bringing Woody Allen to Havana.

Obviously the irreverent New Yorker didn’t actually came to Cuba; but his alter ego, Allan, is masterly interpreted by actor Alexis Díaz de Villegas in a theater play he directs as well: Play it again, Sam. Allen premiered this piece in Broadway and then it was taken to the cinema by Herbert Ross (1972).

Allan is a movie critic, who is neurotic and was tore apart by a recent divorce. He pictures his cinematographic idol Humphrey Bogart advising him how to become a seductive man in the style of the main character of the film Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942).

Related Posts

Camila Rodhe. Photo: Taken from her Instagram profile.

Camila Rodhe: “My art has saved me many times”

July 3, 2025
Cuban saxophonist and composer César López. Photo: Taken from his Instagram profile.

A sanctuary for jazz in Cuba: César López’s dream

July 2, 2025
Issac Delgado. Photo: Lied Lorain.

Issac Delgado: “Music only betrays you when you don’t believe in what you’re doing.”

June 17, 2025
Silvio Rodríguez in Concert

Silvio Rodríguez: “Some people get confused and think that if I criticize, I’m giving in.”

June 1, 2025

The eventful journey of this Allan in the search for a woman to love, a love triangle, jealousy, violence, loneliness, abandonment and love frustration are wonderfully interpreted by a group of five actors from the theater company El Publico.

It is a chauvinistic text. I recall a test by Alison Bechdel to analyze it in the middle of the night: definitely chauvinistic! So much stereotypes is fit for questioning those hegemonic masculine roles constantly repeated in the cinema and the arts, in which Bogart maintains a special place within the universal imaginary.

Every Thursday, Cuban VirgilioPiñera and other characters from our recent history will take us by surprise thank to YanierPalmero’sand Carlos Enrique Riverón’s performances.

Staging Woody Allen for the first time in the Cuban scene is interesting; however, the excellent performances by Palmero (Bogart), Riverón (Dick), YaraLópez (Nancy) and Linda Sorianoare just as interesting.

  • Marta María Ramírez
    Marta María Ramírez,
  • marta
    marta
Tags: theater company El PublicoUS filmmakerWoody Allen
Previous Post

Cespedes wins Home run Derby, again!

Next Post

Havana hosts congress of experts by the Napoleonic Society

Marta María Ramírez

Marta María Ramírez

Soy un montón de canciones heredadas de mi amor-trovador Jorge García; un intento de Comunicadora para el Desarrollo, de periodista de género y cultural. Soy, definitivamente, friki, feminista radical, activista social y Aries, a lo Scarlett O´Hara. Hoy, soy una isla, “mañana será otro día”.

marta

marta

Next Post
Museo Napoléonico de La Habana

Havana hosts congress of experts by the Napoleonic Society

Industria de Envases y Embalajes

Producing, packaging and packing

Tony Romero

Tony Romero: “ours is an urgent cinema”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Read

  • OFAC.S. Department of the Treasury. Photo: Marita Pérez Díaz.

    OFAC fines U.S. company over $600,000 for shipping to Cuba

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Los Palacios, land of Cuban rice harvested by Vietnamese

    17 shares
    Share 7 Tweet 4
  • Trump reinstates hard-line Cuba embargo as Havana condemns US measure as “criminal”

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Life on the razor’s edge: the case of Willliam and Viviana

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Lester Lescay: “I left Cuba because I didn’t want to spend my youth there.”

    22 shares
    Share 9 Tweet 6

Most Commented

  • Photo: Kaloian.

    Private sector and tourism in Cuba. Why not?

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}