by Peter Eltringham
The music and dance spectacular Mythical Rainforest is now showing at the new Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. Mythical Rainforest is directed by Gregory T. Vernon and features the Equinox Performers. Written by Gregory T. Vernon, John Alexander Watler and Leroy Green, the music was composed by Carlos Perrotte and Sam Harris.
The first show at this stunning, state-of-the-art theater perfectly captures the spirit of Belize's astonishing blend of cultures. Xbalanque (Jayson Belisle) and Hunahpu (Charles Flores) - the Hero Twins of the ancient Maya - are entranced by the beauty of Isadora (Tanya Barrow), the Queen of the Rainforest, and inevitably they fall in love with her. But her fickle and manipulative nature angers them, and they punish her by transforming her into the hideous Ixtabay, doomed to wander the forest frightening everyone she meets as she searches for a human heart to restore her beauty.
Escaped African slaves living in the forest tell her to seek the help of Anansi, the trickster spider of West African culture who had arrived as a stowaway on their slave ship. Ixtabay is desperate - and she'd have to be to trust Anansi (Delbert Quilter), who has ambitions to become the King of the Rainforest. He also has designs on Ixtabay (at least when she becomes the beautiful Isadora again), so he agrees to help her. In return she reluctantly agrees to become his wife when he brings her a human heart.
The plot thickens and the cast of characters grows, dancing and leaping to the beat of drums. But it's the lanky and lisping Anansi who steals the show. Dressed in black, wearing sunglasses, his height exaggerated with a top hat and often hiding under the shade of an umbrella, he's wary, wicked and very witty - the perfect mythical man/spider. Does he become King of the Rainforest? The show is a must-see, and the performers are electrifying; I'm convinced the Bliss is on its way to becoming a world-class venue. •
The Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts is located on the southern foreshore in Belize City,
just south of the Swing Bridge. Performance dates of Mythical Rainforest may vary,
for details contact Institute of Creative Arts 227-2110 or 227-2458. |
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Isadora, Queen of the Rainforest, as Ixtabay seeks the help of Anansi, the trickster spider. Photo credit: Juan Carlos Cuellar (www.digiconegraphics.com/photography), reproduced with permission of the National Institute of Culture and History/NICH (www.nichbelize.org).
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