Review: REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES at Alley Theatre

“La migra!” is slang for “immigration”, and you hear it mentioned quite a few times throughout this production of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES at The Alley Theatre. Surely artistic director Rob Melrose couldn’t have known how relevant this play would be when he finalized this year’s season, but this is a play from that past that speaks to the present in an eerie, discomforting way. But make no mistake, it is funny and warm at the same time. Josefina Lopez wrote this based on her own experiences back in the late ‘80s, when she was nineteen. It’s about a group of Mexican women working in a tiny sewing factory in East Los Angeles (something the playwright did). There has been a movie and a musical adaptation, but this is the original source material, the “OG” if you will. Here we are almost four decades later, and maybe “ICE” has replaced “La migra!” but it still strikes fear in immigrants, documented or not. The show is about a heck of a lot more; it addresses all sorts of issues about body image, spousal abuse, cultural pressures, and what it means to be a woman. It sounds like a heavy night, but surprisingly, the genius of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES is that it’s a lovely “slice of life” comedy with a cast of five women that you will easily fall in love with. It is definitely not heavy on plot, but this ensemble keeps it moving with their infectious Latina joy and friendship. 

Director Lisa Portes has been given an amazing cast for this one, and the show benefits immensely under her guidance and their performances. Brenda Palestina gets the star turn as Ana, the nineteen-year-old who dreams of leaving the sweatshop and East L.A. for a writing career in New York City.   She has many feminist ideas to share with her older, more traditional friends, but the show is about her coming to terms with who they are and what they struggle with. Palestina is earnest and completely believable in the role and skillfully navigates the play's heart. Melinna Bobadilla plays Estela, her older sister, who owns the factory and has dreams of becoming legal and a dress designer. This actress is warmly funny as the lovestruck boss lady who is under way too much pressure to meet a deadline. Sophia Marcelle plays young and spunky as Rosali, a woman who sees herself as “too heavy” and turns to a drastic diet tactic to get to her goal weight. Carmen is the mom of Ana and Estela, and she represents the most traditional Hispanic woman in the piece. Angela Lanza is a hoot as the matriarch who makes a questionable mole but has a huge heart. And finally, we have the “Dorothy/Bea Arthur” of the group, with Gloria Vivica Benavides playing Pancha. She’s tough, grumpy, and sarcastic, and the actress steals any scene she is in with crack comedic timing in both verbal and physical comedy. The ensemble is one of the strongest I have ever seen, and they work together so well as a group of friends and coworkers. I wanted to know these women, and thanks to these five, I feel I do.  

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES continues the Alley’s streak of technical excellence in the arts. The set is super realistic for a warehouse and was designed by Mariana Sanchez. She bucks some of the heavy realism with touches of fancy, such as clouds and dresses in the air. Speaking of dresses, Raquel Barreto’s costumes are period-perfect for the late 80s and playfully executed to emphasize comic bits. Mextly Couzin takes that same serious and playful cue for the lighting design; it is stark and then wildly colorful in turns. David R. Molina’s sound design is also 80s-inspired, featuring deep cuts from Company B, Madonna, and the Jets. 

The script by Josefina Lopez is thirty minutes longer than the film version and has way more dialogue than the musical. It takes its time to get going, allowing for deep character beats to unfold. The pacing is reminiscent of plays from the era it debuted in, in that it dives into each topic. The only issue is that, as a “working women’s” story, some of the issues feel predictable and don’t feel like high stakes.  The point is, this piece takes its time. It languishes in dialogue and is truly more of a love letter to a community than a fast-paced spectacle we seem to see more of these days. Lisa Portes injects livelier sequences now and then, but for the most part, this is simply about watching women relate to each other at work under a tight deadline. The cast fuels the pacing and elevates the script quite a bit. It’s funny, it’s warm, and you walk away feeling as if you saw a community revealed. 

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES is a perfectly timed production from a political standpoint, and the Alley offers up a great cast and creative team to ensure the messages hit home. This cast is so lovable, and they reminded me of a Latina iteration of THE GOLDEN GIRLS or the waitresses in the 70s sitcom ALICE. Maybe Las Chicas de Oro could be an alternate title. Sometimes heavy topics are best addressed by gentle comedy, and this is the strength of this production. I will give it the highest compliment you can give a piece of theater, “It just feels real.”