Saying goodbye always causes sadness, but it's better to do it in good form. This is how Dagoll Dagom wanted it, the historic Catalan musical theater company has decided to put an end to its trajectory when it saw that it was approaching 50. "It's a very long story," says Anna Rosa Cisquella, the last active member of the triad that promoted Dagoll Dagom, along with Joan Lluís Bozzo and Miquel Periel, the management team that took over from its founder, Joan Ollé. Before it was too late, the Barcelona company has created its last show, L'alegria que passa, which can be seen until May 14 at the Teatre Poliorama, with an eye on the last return, this time for real, of its Mar i cel next year.
Dagoll Dagom has chosen for its final creation ---reaching 30--- a Catalan classic, Santiago Rusiñol's first great success, continuing with the house tradition that has also adapted Antaviana by Pere Calders or Aloma by Mercè Rodoreda. According to Cisquella, recently involved in the recovery of the old Texas cinemas, the idea arose in the midst of the pandemic, when theater experienced one of its toughest moments. L'alegria que passa had been on the pending list for a long time and, considering that it narrates the daily life of a theater company, no one came up with a better farewell ---and tribute to the sector---. In addition, it is a short play, which gave a lot of freedom to add songs and dances without its performance becoming too long.
Cisquella thought of Andreu Gallén (musical direction) and Ariadna Peya (choreographic direction) to shape it, with whom she had already worked on Maremar in 2018. The last to join was Marc Rosich, for the text and stage direction, achieving a balanced four-handed leadership and jointly building all the elements from the beginning, that is, music, dances and text. The important thing was to maintain the essence of Dagoll Dagom, emphasizes the producer, wanting to innovate and take risks, but without forgetting that the most important thing is to captivate varied spectators: "You have to have a clear vision of how to tell the story for the general public, without lowering the bar, in which everyone can make their own reading and not reduce it to very prepared elites. Our works have different visions and we believe that we have recovered the public this way. We always asked ourselves, will my mother like it?"
The result is based on a musical power in which the cast sings but also plays the piano or guitar, in addition to setting the rhythm with breathtaking, even frantic, dances and acrobatics. All of this, without hindering the progress of a plot that was written at the end of the 19th century but remains relevant.
Rusiñol thought of any town, dominated by a strongman who decides for everyone. The gray life of its inhabitants is interrupted by the arrival of a company of traveling artists, which will serve to awaken them, a little, from their lethargy, although without offering, as in life, the absolute panacea. The interpretation made by Dagoll Dagom places the weight of the action on the performances of Júlia Genís, Mariona Castillo and, above all, Àngels Gonyalons.
The actress who played Blanca in the first production of Mar i cel (1988) returns to work with the Barcelona company, devouring the two roles assigned to her, the town mayor and the director of the theater company, the leaders of the worlds that come into conflict. In what she says will be her last musical, Gonyalons makes both characters grow, and conquers the stage, until she confronts them in an exquisite monologue in which she demonstrates her strength. "I have a gift," admits the actress, who highlights the harmony of the cast, "we are like an amoeba," confirmed from the audience watching all the members working together, dancing to the sway of the clock hands or whatever comes up.