Solamente Una Vez/You Belong to my Heart

rhaps best known in the States as the composer of the Latin standard "Granada," Agustin Lara is known to many as the Cole Porter of Mexico. In a career that spanned seven decades, Lara wrote more than 600 compositions incorporating a baffling variety of styles, from blues to bolero. With this musical revue, writers Margarita Galban and Lina Montalvo have created a buoyant memorial, a tribute to a man who was as prolific in his professional life as he was in the romantic sphere. Director Galban creates a light, celebratory feel, packing the stage with dancers, beautiful women, and stunning period fashions by Carlos Brown. We are swept through 21 of Lara's greatest hits--"Aquel Amor," "Nadie," "Maria Bonita"--punctuated by scenes in which we come to know the full scope of Lara's womanizing tendencies. At the beginning of the piece, Lara steps forward and dedicates the show to the memory of the women who moved him with their beauty. We learn that there were a lot of women who moved him with their beauty--one every night, if his boasting is to be believed. In the rest of the scenes that follow, we watch him struggle with this aspect of himself. He is a man who "worships" women and yet deserts them. They are muses for his enormous output of songs in which he depicts these women in a flattering but one-dimensional light. He was not without his detractors. We learn that the Congress of Intellectual Women eventually boycotted him. As Lara, Cesar Oliva-Bernal strikes the right chord as a deceptive charmer. Also well cast are the women in his life, from the haughty Maria Felix (Maria Helene Kraul-Rodriguez), a beautiful actress with whom he had a well known affair, to the waiflike Bibi (Veronica Stocker), who suffers with him until she cannot take more. A handful of other women display voices so enormous, so full of tragedy they could melt you: Rosella Arvizu's glorious belting alto, the pristine soprano of Gabriela Crowe, the rich operatic tones of Angela Estrada, who plays the singer Tona La Negra. Estela Scarlata's set is an elegant parlor that opens into a swank bar. Choreographer Gema Sandoval has created a tour of dance styles to accompany the wide-ranging music--from jazz to folklorico. All in all, Solamente Una Vez offers a delightful bit of nostalgia, a warm depiction of a familiar face: that flawed genius whose work is so beautiful that it will always lead people to forgive hi