FLOR DE NIT, in English known as Jessamine, the flower which stays closed during the day, its scent kept secret until the evening when it opens, scattering its heady perfume.

A flower symbolising a double life, a duality reflected as much in the Barcelona of the time the transition from 1929 to 1936 as in the show’s leading role. We are once again witnesses to the re-enactment of the mythical belle de jour.

However, FLOR DE NIT isn’t just a symbol of the hardworking night-time Barcelona between the wars, but also the name of the cabaret where artists, the rich, young men and call girls met, as if on a border cross-roads, on the emblematic Paralelo.

It’s 1991. The Olympic Games are just around the corner and demolition is necessary for the city’s reconstruction. The FLOR DE NIT venue is included in the demolition plans and, hours before the machinery moves in, SEBASTIÀ REYNALS, the city’s aged chronicler, reminisces on what the FLOR DE NIT represented in the hopeful years between 1929 and 1936, through the use of a practically uninterrupted flashback. The audience observes a split-level representation of Barcelona daily life across the social scale during the transition, counterpointed by the FLOR DE NIT artists’ performances at the cabaret.

The name belongs the cabaret, but the entire city, irrespective of social class, plays a double-edged game, egged on by the cultural and political revolution on its way.

With this backdrop, QUIMET, the idealist and anarchist down on his luck, the working-class girl searching for an identity, and SEBASTIÀ REYNALS, the intellectual who comes out at night to play with forbidden flowers, all three form a triangle, a sentimental story line which serves as a base for all other social and psychological relationships.

FLOR DE NIT is not, however, a nostalgia vehicle for conventional cabaret scenes and a collection of songs from the “good old days”. FLOR DE NIT is a drama which uses significant elements of the city that was, with its night time high spirits, and recreates faithfully the music and lyrics of that in-between period.

The music returns to pay homage to the musical eclecticism of those years, in the same way as the lyrics reflect the eclecticism of a time situated somewhere between the avant-garde and populism. However, both music and lyrics are necessarily geared towards the taste of the contemporary listener.

In other words, FLOR DE NIT is no exercise in musical archaeology.
FLOR DE NIT is a musical which converts the remembrance of bygone days into a metaphor for the present, as much in form as in depth of reach.

MANUEL VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN

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CAST
ROSA		CARME CUESTA
REYNALS		CARLOS GRAMAJE
QUIMET		ÓSCAR MAS
GRAN THONET, Councilman 1992, Gral. Primo de Rivera		PEP CRUZ
MIMÍ		ISABEL SORIANO
ARRUFAT, Mayor 1992, Militiaman		XAVIER RIBERA
PATRICK, Press 1992, Foreman, Andalusian poet		PEP MARTINEZ
COLOMA, Press 1992, Factory woman, Client		M. JOSEP BESSON
ISADORA, Councilwoman 1992, Factory woman, Chorist, Militiawoman		NÚRIA MAMPEL
REMEI, Reporter 1992, Chorist, Party girl		ROSER BATALLA
PAQUITU, Nina, Councilman 1992, Gral. Goded		PACO ALONSO
FLAVIO, Councilman 1992, Militiaman		EUGENI SOLER
HORTÈNSIA, Councilwoman 1992, Factory woman, Chorist, Militiawoman		M. CLARA DEL RUSTE
PONS, Municipal 1992, Steward, Client, Policeman		XAVIER MESTRES
MADRILES, Municipal 1992, Ex- Mayor, Client,"Merendero" waiter, Comandant Franco		JUAN ANTONIO VERGEL
MATAMOROS, Press 1992, Party boy, Crupier, Romberg, "Matón"		FULGENCI MESTRES
ADELAIDA, Press 1992, Factory woman, Party Lady, "Merendero" Lady		ARGENTINA SOSA
GIGOLO, Press 1992, Foreman, Client, "Merendero" man, Comissary, Militiaman		ENRIC TORNÉ
DINAMITA BOY, Chorist, Party girl		MIREIA FONT
CHORIST, Press 1992, Factory woman, Party girl, Militiawoman		MARISA GERARDI
CHORIST, Municipal 1992, Factory woman, Party girl, "Botones", Militiawoman		EVA TRULLÀS
WOMAN, Worker, Client, Militiawoman		MUNTSA RIUS
REYNALS		MIQUEL PERIEL
The character ROSA is played in some performances by		MUNTSA RIUS
RADIO VOICE OFF		VICTÒRIA SANZ

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