Héctor Armienta’s ZorroA Note from the Director
By David Radamés Toro
Zorro has been a part of American popular culture since 1919 when John McCulley first wrote a historical fiction serialized novel about a California landowner who donned a black mask and cape to defend the people from Spanish tyranny. Since then, this story has been adapted into a famous black and white TV show, comic books, multiple movies, and now, an opera.
No matter the medium, Zorro is recognized for its sense of adventure, romance, but most importantly, justice. Along with entertaining audiences, this opera addresses an American history that few outside of California learn about, that of the Spanish empire’s presence in North America centuries before the colonies east of the Mississippi would become a republic. It addresses the complexity of an American identity through dramatizing colonial California and its caste system.
The Spanish and criollos (people of Spanish descent who were born in the Americas) set themselves atop a hierarchy and placed indigenous populations (in this story, the Tongva people) and the mestizos (the biracial people of Spanish and Indigenous backgrounds) beneath them. In the opera, Diego de la Vega, the son of a Spanish landowner, returns from Spain, but only becomes aware of the system’s injustice when his childhood nanny, Toypurina (a Tongva woman inspired by the historical figure) and his childhood friend, Ana Maria, show him firsthand the plight that imperial rule has caused.
The beauty of Mr. Armienta’s interpretation is that Zorro is not a white savior who arrives to save the poor. He is an extension of revolutionary thought who can only defeat the tyrant, Moncada, with the help and strength of the people who seek freedom.
The opera’s historical setting reminds audiences that Latino culture is an American culture. That we have always been here and that we belong. Even the way in which the text flows seamlessly between English and Spanish reflects how intertwined Latinidad is in America’s heritage. As the American opera canon continues to expand, I am honored to be a part of a production that celebrates Spanish language opera’s place in telling the multifaceted and diverse stories that make up the history and culture of the United States.