The Barcelona theater Poliorama is filled from port to starboard with a tide of applicants, a thousand in total, seeking to be chosen to star in the emblematic musical Mar i Cel, which will return to life on stage twenty years later. The musical, based on the work of Àngel Guimerà, with music by Albert Guinovart and text by Xavier Bru, produced in 1988 and in 2004, will mark the farewell of Dagoll Dagom, as a coda. It will be released for the fourth time (it was in theaters between 1988 and 1990, between 2004 and 2006 and in 2014) and will coincide with the company’s fiftieth anniversary. One last trip aboard one of the company’s most popular works where sea and sky meet.
Among the tide of performers, one of the first actresses to participate was Berta Luna, a candidate for the role of Idriss. “There were a lot of people in the room. I can’t believe she already did it.” Luna, satisfied with the result, hopes to be able to set sail on the flagship that the Barcelona theater, the Teatre Victòria, will host in September, with the long-awaited revival. “It is the Broadway of Catalonia. I would die of happiness. It is the dream of every Catalan actor who wants to dedicate himself to theater.”
Javier Miranda, candidate for the role of Saïd, declares that he has learned a lot in just 10 minutes: “I have gone through a phase and I really want to see how far I can go.” Who is also looking for hope on the horizon is the actor Karim Belayne, who has been living in Catalonia for six years. In the process of learning Catalan, he claims to have done his best although he was worried that he could not hear himself while he sang.
The cast is expected to be completed with around twenty actors, 14 musicians and 10 technicians at the end of February. The compass that will guide the decision, in the words of the executive producer of Dagoll Dagom, Anna Rosa Cisquella, for the choice will be to perceive the connection between its characters. Concept that the casting director, Miquel Periel defines as: “Having a feeling with the rest of the characters so that they fit.”
Cisquella assures that, as if that were not enough, “not only are there characters that are difficult to find, they are also demanding to choose.” After a first selection via video, Dagoll Dagom has started the in-person tests, 15 minutes per candidate, with the provision of a third test. “In Catalonia there is a very good level, and compared to the casting tests in ’88 there is an abysmal difference.” -She states.
The company guarantees a work with strong ropes and buoyancy thanks to its history: pirates and Christians facing off for reasons that the tide of time should have made disappear. However, it is a story that, unfortunately, echoes an inexhaustible theme, all too current, that speaks of confrontation between cultures and religions.