Anna in the Tropics

Rating:
Summary: I saw it on Broadway AND read it - it's weak either way.
Review: I don't care if it won a Pulitzer. I think it's a mediocre piece that might, if it's lucky, have a life in community theatre.

The three main reasons it's not very good:

The plot is feeble. Lector arrives, reads excerpts from Anna Karenina to cigar factory workers, has an affair with a married woman and gets shot by the guy representing "heartless progress." And you know lector guy is going to get shot long long before it happens.

How do we know that guy represents heartless progress? He doesn't like lectors (the last one stole his wife) and he wants to use modern methods in the factory. Then he rapes the youngest daughter of the factory owner. THEN he shoots the lector.

In the world of this play, lectors are easy-living gigolos. Why wouldn't a guy who needs to make a living rolling cigars resent them? Or want to use modern equipment? Hell, through most of the play I was on the side of progress guy.

Second: everybody speaks with ludicrous floridity. And the implausibility of the dialog is highlighted by the frequent readings from Anna Karenina, which contains prose that is simple, unpretentious, and to the point. Why would cigar rollers sound more poetic than a 19th century novel about the Russian aristocracy?

Third: You don't know what's going on unless you READ the play. Unfortunately I had no idea heartless progress guy raped the daughter in the Broadway production. The stage directions say that heartless progress guy looks at her with lust. On stage, without benefit of stage directions, I thought the guy was glaring at her because maybe he was mad about something. When she shows up the next day, in a daze and wearing a winter coat, I'm thinking, what, did heartless progress guy tell the daughter that lector guy is having an affair with her sister, and she's disillusioned? It seemed a more plausible reaction to disillusion than rape.

When I saw the play on stage, I thought it was ludicrous. When I went back later and read it, I changed my mind and thought it was feeble. I can't imagine how anybody could find it a satisfactory evening of theatre - you'll get deeper philosophy, better plot, and more affecting human interactions in a standard soap opera episode.

Rating:
Summary: For this, a Pulitzer?
Review: I have lived in Tampa most of my thirty eight years on this planet so I am instantly attracted to anything in The Tampa genre.
However, this play will put you to sleep. Its a pity because the Ybor City district of Tampa is ideally suited for a play especially one dealing with the history of cigars. Buy Nitol instead!

Rating:
Summary: For this, a Pulitzer?
Review: I have lived in Tampa most of my thirty eight years on this planet so I am instantly attracted to anything in The Tampa genre.
However, this play will put you to sleep. Its a pity because the Ybor City district of Tampa is ideally suited for a play especially one dealing with the history of cigars. Buy Nitol instead!

Rating:
Summary: A Bit Predictable and Formulaic With A Few Good Moments
Review: I haven't seen a production of this play, so I'm judging only by the quality of the text on the page. As stated by a few other reviewers here, the play is just very predictable. Characters are narrowly drawn and perform like puppets used by the playwright to make a point about how the world is about to change from one that is warm and vital to one that is harsh and mechanized. Not exactly breaking new ground here, so it's odd the play earned a Pulitzer Prize. Maybe the production adds nuances that the written text just doesn't have (a good director can make even modest material come alive.) This play felt contrived and agenda-driven, not in a hugely in-your-face way, but more in a piece-of-fluff way. I can't imagine it surprised the author as he was writing it - which isn't good - and it probably won't surprise anyone reading it. It's old news and a bit tired.

Rating:
Summary: A well-made play with a Chekovian atmosphere
Review: I saw this play on Broadway and later directed a staged reading of it in a University setting... it's really a lovely piece and grows on you the more you work with it. There are no weak parts -- seven strong characters all have significant roles (Eliades is a cameo, but can be doubled by Palomo). The setting (a cigar factory in 1929 Tampa) is unusual, as is the situation (the lector reads classic literature to the workers as they hand-roll cigars). While some of the script uses phrases that suggest classic Latino "magical realism", the real magic is in the experience of a group of people becoming lost in a piece of literature, as the Russia of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" lives again in Florida. There is an abundance of romance along with social realism, as the cigar-rolling machines threaten a traditional way of life.
This play is best performed in an intimate space -- I recommend Spanish guitar music for the scene changes and comfortable seats for the audience to relax and soak up the language and Caribbean atmosphere of this poetic drama. It works on a lot of different levels and would be great to read in a classroom or use as the basis of a term paper. (I'm writing one now.)

Rating:
Summary: A nice read, better to be seen
Review: I was quite excited to read this play after hearing the playwright speak and read excerpts from it. However, I found out that this is a play better suited to be seen than read. Reading it cannot possibly capture the rhythm of the Cuban characters speech that Cruz has aptly recreated. [I should know, as I live in Miami] Cruz had done a lot of research on Ybor City, but it seemed to not come through as vividly as one might think. [I've been to the charming little city] Sure, one could easily find historical data that points to the lectors and Cuban cigar makers: but that is information easily found and known. Still, there are lines that are just plain beautiful and make the reader stop and say "Hmmm..." But in this writer's opinion, Cruz' "Beauty of the Father" is much more poetic, deeper, and beautiful. Maybe the Pulitzer should have gone to that one.

Rating:
Summary: Cruz Paints a Compelling Cuban Portrait
Review: In "Anna in the Tropics," Nilo Cruz emulates events occuring within the story by segments of "Anna Karenina" read aloud by the lector. The character in the novel who work within the cigar factory relate to the lector, who has come to give them education in the form of his novels, in many different ways. Affairs, deception, and love occur at the hands of one man and the Tolstoy novel. This much deserved Pulitzer Prize winner never allows the reader to drift. Each word appears to be carefully chosen by Cruz to enstill some sense of dramatic and literaty awe. I found myself laughing, crying, cheering and smiling at the characters relationships and Cruz's amazing ability to create a wonderful story. I've read an unhealthy amount of plays lately and I can wholeheartedly say that this is the "best." I highly reccomend any fan of theatre, hispanic culture, or life/relationships pick this up right away!

Rating:
Summary: Cruz Paints a Compelling Cuban Portrait
Review: In "Anna in the Tropics," Nilo Cruz emulates events occuring within the story by segments of "Anna Karenina" read aloud by the lector. The character in the novel who work within the cigar factory relate to the lector, who has come to give them education in the form of his novels, in many different ways. Affairs, deception, and love occur at the hands of one man and the Tolstoy novel. This much deserved Pulitzer Prize winner never allows the reader to drift. Each word appears to be carefully chosen by Cruz to enstill some sense of dramatic and literaty awe. I found myself laughing, crying, cheering and smiling at the characters relationships and Cruz's amazing ability to create a wonderful story. I've read an unhealthy amount of plays lately and I can wholeheartedly say that this is the "best." I highly reccomend any fan of theatre, hispanic culture, or life/relationships pick this up right away!

Rating:
Summary: Escape to a Different World
Review: Take a break of a few minutes from your life and venture into the colorful world of this Florida cigar factory. The story is hardly new. It is a story about love, family, and change. A warm and inviting play that will make you wish that you worked in an old fashioned cigar factory.

Rating:
Summary: All plays are meant to be seen, not read.
Review: There is a review here about this play being better to see than to read. This should be true of all plays, since that's their purpose. In fact, if you really enjoy reading a play, in the same exact way you enjoy reading a novel- it very likely may not be a good play & should in fact be a novel instead.

Having said that, I believe Anna in the Tropics is a great and beautiful play. Reading it I can see how wonderful it would be to see on the stage; watching these very real characters go through their vulnerable journeys; I enjoyed my copy thoroughly.