Backstage at Malinche: "Working with Nacho Cano is a continuous challenge. You always have to be awake. It doesn't allow you to let your guard down"

A gigantic Aztec mask nestled in a pyramid, a jungle full of symbols and neon lights, an ancient Spanish galleon...

embraces whoever crosses her doors to take them to a magical world, to transport them to the 16th century without leaving the 21st.

The essence of the story that it narrates is felt there, in the gastronomic space that welcomes us, and also on the stage and in what is behind it, in that place forbidden to the spectator where the most valuable part of the musical remains hidden.

GRAN MADRID has moved

's show, which has just premiered at Ifema after 10 years of hard work.

Two hours before the performance begins, the silence no longer exists.

over and over again to the cast, who rehearse the most important scenes of the play without question to the sound of music and behind closed doors.

Like every day.

Perfection, they say in unison, characterizes him.

And here,

.

It is his musical, his most ambitious project, and even the last detail bears his stamp.

"We are led by a lover of work. We have been rehearsing for a year and a half, from Monday to Friday every possible hour. And then everything is seen on stage.

," says Alejandro Molina, who plays Moctezuma, one of the main characters of the play, which narrates the birth of miscegenation and the fundamental role played by a young Aztec girl, Malinche, by allying herself with

to unite two peoples hitherto incapable of understanding each other.

"For me this role has been a challenge. I had never participated in a musical before.

. It has been a hard road, but the reward is incredible", adds the actor.

Ainhoa ​​Maho touches up her makeup.

Beside him, Ainhoa ​​Maho, one of the girls from the dance corps, details that the beginning and the end are rehearsed every day so that "they come out impeccable".

She looks happy.

It is his first opportunity in the working world and he sees it "as a dream": "Nacho is a person who

. He goes further and gives opportunities," says Maho, who is also studying the Malinche's character to be prepared in case she has to take over the role later on.

Another of the stars of the musical, Nacha la Macha, expresses herself in a very similar line, with whom we meet in another of the dressing rooms.

"When you give her talent, she helps you multiply it.

," says the artist, who steps on a musical for the first time after 18 years in the world of drag.

"One of the nicest things he said to me when we premiered was: 'I wasn't wrong about you,'" he says excitedly.

Between feathers, jewels, skulls and leathers we talk to

, responsible for costumes and characterization, who shows us how he has merged the Spanish and Aztec worlds for the

by reusing clothes.

"We have represented the Spanish part with recycled, worn leather. And the Aztec, with fabrics that seem to be taken from 500 years ago, full of color, feathers and stones," explains the stylist.

"

. I've tried to capture what was in Nacho's head and give it life. He likes that point of rock," details Ventura, who has created spectacular costumes with designer Javier Soria .

José Ventura, with one of his designs.

About baile, nobody better than

, to make us understand what we will later see on stage.

The choreography of Spanish dance has fallen to him, one of the

of the genre -he is the National Dance Award-, although he makes it clear that he has amassed the choreographic work together with

, in charge of the urban dance part.

We catch the first one before they

him in makeup.

He has been involved in the musical for five years, since Nacho Cano proposed it to him after seeing him live with his company in New York.

"We have worked a lot on the script.

," he says.

"Actually, we have put steps to his ideas, almost like something handmade. And we have had time to be able to chew each choreography," adds the dancer, who has performed a "choral" work with Orduña so that there would be "a common thread" that would unite the two languages ​​of the show, Spanish and Aztec.

"We understood each other quickly.

partner shortly after

, whom we catch taking a breather after spending 40 minutes adorning his torso with Aztec paintings.

In addition to playing the leader of this tribe, he debuts as a choreographer here.

A make-up artist retouches the choreographer and dancer Sergi Orduña.

And as we said at the beginning, it is not the only one.

, the director of actors and one of the protagonists, talks about it -he

plays the role of Governor Velázquez-.

he assures after reminding her of that radical change from the flamenco dancer turned into Moctezuma.

For him, being with Cano is a blessing.

"It's the third fat montage I've done with him. I've known him for 18 years.

. It doesn't allow you to let your guard down," he adds.

And his opinion is widespread.

"There is never enough coffee to put up with Malinche

," Daniel Serrano releases minutes later - "like ham" - while he hurries a cup dressed in a black robe.

Time moves on but, there,

.

They have many rehearsals on top and a few functions.

The cast walks from dressing room to dressing room, laughing, humming... In make-up we are surprised by the

, the two children who act in the show.

Although what strikes us the most is that

.

Looking around, we find under the stands, an hour before going on stage, the actors, who

, the lyrical singer who has had the difficult task of getting everyone to sing.

Because here, she says, everyone who goes on stage does everything.

"I come from classical music. This is my first time, but it's been a wonderful experience," she says.

The cast tunes the voice before the show,

From that little essay comes

, one of the actresses who plays Malinche, with a resume already nourished in musicals (Madrid, London...).

"This has been the most special and demanding, because I play a woman who existed.

. She was the mother of miscegenation and managed to get both sides to understand each other and that the catastrophe was not greater," says the actress, who praises her boss for not "caring so much if the grades are reached or not" but for putting "the soul" at the center so that "the message reaches an emotional level".

We meet her fictional lover,

, Adrián Salzedo in real life, outside the dressing rooms shortly before the performance.

To his role, he says, he has tried to contribute what "Nacho has left him."

"He is a historical character full of nuances and contradictions," adds the actor, for whom

.

"With what he cost and now I don't dance," he laments between laughs.

With half an hour to go, the

, the gastronomic space where spectators can have a snack before the

-from nachos with guacamole, tacos or margaritas to croquettes or salad- overflows with people.

In one of the

VIP

, the show's producer, who tells us about the hard work behind it.

"Everything good takes effort," he notes.

"We wanted the experience to be spectacular.

," he adds before assuring us that the experience is not the same as in other pull-out theaters.

Here, he says proudly, the seats, for example, are for VIP theatres.

A waiter, in the Rogue Temple.

When we step on stage, we understand everything that

told us minutes before , the director of art and set design, the one in charge of putting "skin on Nacho's idea, that world he wanted to express."

"It has been difficult to adjust what we had in mind to a scenario.

," he explains.

From the seat, once the curtain is raised, you can see that mix between the Spanish and the Aztec world, which moves between the jungle, the tavern, the stern of a ship, a lake, a waterfall or a huge pyramid.

In almost three hours of musical, between flamenco dance, urban dance and the

, the 50 Malinche artists recall the history that took place more than 500 years ago in Spain, Cuba and Mexico, and, after the final applause, the public begins to sing a song encouraged by the director of the work, who is full of joy.

The DJ at the Canalla Temple, which becomes a disco after the 'show'.

Leaving the show, the night continues.

that doesn't take long to boil.

A DJ, dancers from the cast swaying sensually in the heights while singing Mecano songs and tequila, a lot of tequila.

At least until the body endures.

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