‘Humorous, magical and fun’

“The Little Big-Top Circus of Illusions” is a new, original musical that will open this week and includes live music and colorful costumes.

The musical was written by Mario Lamo-Jimenez, a writer and poet who uses the basic concepts of a circus to give structure to the show. The musical emphasizes the importance of staying positive, allowing oneself to dream and appreciate art.

The musical was commissioned by the Latino Theatre Initiatives, “one of the most active college organizations for Latino theatre in the United States,” according to the UTRGV website.

Eric Wiley, the musical’s director and UTRGV theatre professor, described it as “humorous, magical and fun.”

Philosophy senior Paul Diaz (left) catches a hat thrown by theatre freshman Frida Aviles during last Wednesday’s rehearsal of “The Little Big-Top Circus of Illusions” in the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre on the Edinburg campus.

“It’s a special kind of circus that we see in this play. … Beautiful costumes, circus costumes, and music,” Wiley said. “Singing, dancing, it’s very colorful and lively. … It’s a very innovative play that gets you to think about the theater in kind of a fresh way.”

The entire musical is about 35 minutes long and contains approximately seven songs. Although the musical is for all ages, it strives to get the attention of children. The show includes a lot of pantomime, which is the acting technique of conveying emotions and movement without speech.

“I’ve never done anything like that,” said theatre freshman Frida Aviles, who plays the director of the circus. “It’s structured kinda like a poem, instead of dialogue. I would describe the play like … very energetic … whimsical. It’s just very fun and poetic. It’s pretty much just a big poem.”

Students participate in the play as performers, costume designers, set builders or light producers. About 40 to 50 students are working on and behind the stage.

“The play is super fun. … It’s going to be like a roller coaster,” said Armando Hernandez, a theatre freshman and member of the play’s ensemble cast. “There are some sad parts and there are some super fun and energetic parts of the show. The music is, like, beautiful. Our music director made … amazing songs for the show and some are sad and some are super fun. It’s a fun show.”

The play will take place at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre, located in Liberal Arts Building South on the Edinburg campus. Admission is $5.

For more information, call 665-3581.