Review: SPANISH STEW at New Conservatory Theatre Center

Eight-year-old Marga Gomez should’ve paid more attention when her Latino parents tried to teach her how to cook. For the father, it’s a matter of cultural pride, the mother, a means to catch a man. Fast forward to 1976 when she desperately needs the recipe to Caldo Gallego (Spanish stew) to secure a cook’s job at San Francisco’s ACME Café. It’s just one of the many heartfelt anecdotes included in comic legend Marga Gomez’s lesbian coming out story making a World Premiere at NCTC.

Like so many other budding gays and lesbians, Gomez flees to San Francisco to find a new life of freedom and love. Being able to hold each other’s hand in public is a momentous milestone moment. Calling it a “mental health trip, she and her lover Nancy find refuge as lab rats in a rolfing collective led by a guy named Wisdom. Her relationship with Nancy breaks up over Marga scarfing a buffalo sandwich at Tommy’s Joint and finding a joyous carne asada burrito at La Rondalla.

Now on her own, Marga discovers the all-knowing bulletin board at Rainbow Co-op and finds a tiny room in the Duboce Triangle with the crazy landlord Estella, looks for that cook’s job (cause cooks make more than dishwashers), and falls for a cute waitress offering casual sex. There’s plenty of 1970’s San Francisco references to make those of us who lived through it smile with nostalgic acknowledgement. Marga inhabits a number of wacky, hippie characters easily and has been performing one-woman shows over her long and storied career, most recently tackling Lily Tomlin’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at Aurora Theatre Company.

When her now rich mother comes to visit, Marga is both nervous and conflicted. Why hadn’t she stood up to her mother when she came out? But momma turns out to be really cool and accepting. She likes Marga’s crazy landlord, chows down in the Mission, and dances to punk rock at the infamous Mabuhay Gardens. Fast forward to 2025 and Gomez is proud of her lineage and believes her parents would be allies. Spanish Stew is a loving homage to them, her coming out, and the city she loves.

Spanish Stew continues through November 23rd. For tickets call (415) 861-8972 or go to nctcsf.org.

Photo credits: Lois Tema

San Francisco / Bay Area Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. URINETOWN (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble)

17% of votes

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8.9% of votes

3. SWEENEY TODD (Cabrillo Stage)

8.6% of votes

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