La Llamada

La Llamada is a Spanish-language musical comedy about two teenagers at a Christian summer camp and the night-time visitor who unsettles their summer. It mixes original songs with pop hits, has a live band and plays with English subtitles. Repertorio Español produces it at the Gramercy Arts Theatre on East 27th Street, as the show's U.S. premiere.

The musical began in Madrid. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, known as Los Javis, wrote the book, and the first production opened in 2013 at Teatro Lara. It is an original stage work; the 2017 film was adapted from it.

Repertorio has staged Spanish-language theater in New York since 1968. Its productions normally play in rotating repertory, so La Llamada appears a few dates at a time between the company's other shows instead of running every night. Check the official calendar before you settle on a date.

The action is set in August 2013 at La Brújula, a Christian summer camp in Segovia, Spain. María Casado and Susana Romero, both 17, have come to this camp since they were small children. Outside the chapel, they love reggaeton and electro-Latin music and perform together as a duo called Suma Latina.

Sister Bernarda runs the camp with a modern outlook and a firm belief that music can carry faith to teenagers. Beside her is Sister Milagros, a young novice who is still sorting out her doubts and loves the band Presuntos Implicados. In the New York production, Milagros is a gentle nun who recognizes something of herself in the more rebellious María.

One night, God appears to María and communicates by singing Whitney Houston songs. María has no idea why she was chosen. The visions begin to change the lives of both girls, and each starts to question her plans for the future. Underneath the comedy, the show is about belief, friendship, a first romance and working out who you are.

Calvo has said the show grew out of a plan to put a lesbian romance inside a Christian camp. Director Rafa Sánchez, who attended Catholic school, wanted the nuns to be more than the stock figures of saint or villain, and says both churchgoers and people with no faith are meant to feel at home in the audience.

Alberto Jiménez, singer of the Spanish band Miss Caffeina, wrote the original songs. Around them the score borrows from Whitney Houston, Presuntos Implicados, Henry Méndez and a set of religious songs. Repertorio's credits for the New York staging add Dolly Parton to the list, along with Antonio Manuel Sánchez García and Juan Luis Giménez Muñoz.

Houston's hits matter to the story because God sings them to María. Sánchez says the music is what reveals the characters' inner lives, so expect songs to carry feeling that the dialogue leaves unsaid.

Gonzalo Valencia is the music director and is also credited with orchestrations. A live band plays the score in New York; the original Spanish staging had a band of four.

The company held a workshop of the show on February 10, 2024, before the first previews. The 2024 company was international, with artists from Spain, Argentina, Cuba and Puerto Rico among others.

That 2024 cast included Jenyvette Vega as María, Lari Panini as Susana, Zulema Clares as Bernarda, and Carmen Borla and Laura Castrillón as Milagros. Andrés Quintero played God at first, and Eddie Noel Rodríguez took over the role from September 2024 in his Off-Broadway debut, after touring in Hadestown and making his Broadway debut in it in 2023. Casts change in repertory, so check the official calendar for your date.

The performance is in Spanish. Repertorio's Simultext captioning system delivers the English translation to each audience member, though the company notes that not every one of its productions offers translation, so confirm it for your date when you book.

The musical premiered on May 2, 2013, in the lobby of Teatro Lara in Madrid, with eight sold-out performances. After that early success it moved to the theater's main stage on October 18, 2013. The Spanish tour began in 2014 and visited more than 30 cities, including Palencia, Valladolid, Valencia and Soria.

Productions abroad followed. A Mexican staging opened on August 28, 2015, at Teatro López Tarso and closed within a few weeks. Moscow also hosted performances, and plans existed for stagings in Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and Chile. The Spanish cast recorded a four-song release in 2014 and a full album in 2019.

New York took more than a decade to get the show. Sánchez has said that an earlier email from Los Javis offering it to Repertorio went unanswered before his time at the company. Repertorio announced the U.S. premiere on February 14, 2024. Three preview performances ran from May 3 to May 5, 2024, and opening night was May 9, 2024. The production continued into the 2024–25 season in the company's regular repertory, with performances from September 7, 2024.

The Spanish production collected a number of prizes. At the 2013 BroadwayWorld Spain Awards it won Best Small-Format Musical, along with awards for direction, lead actress, supporting actress, choreography, sets, costumes and lighting. Macarena García won Best Theatre Actress at the 2013 Fotogramas de Plata, and Belén Cuesta won Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Premios Teatro Musical. In 2015, Ambrossi and Calvo received the Premio Libertad TEATRO.

The New York production earned four nominations at the 2024 HOLA Awards, given by the Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists, and no wins. They were for Outstanding Production in Musical Theater, for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design, and for Outstanding Performance in Musical Theater for Carmen Borla and Jenyvette Vega. We found no Obie, Lortel, Drama Desk or Outer Critics Circle awards or nominations for it.