With the opening of “Somewhere Over the Border” at Syracuse Stage, Central New York theatergoers have a rare opportunity—a chance to be the first audiences to experience a brand new musical.
While Syracuse Stage has had success in recent seasons with world premieres like resident playwright Kyle Bass’ “Possessing Harriet” and Keenan Scott II’s “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” which transferred to Broadway last fall, “Somewhere Over the Border” is the first musical to have its world premiere as part of a regular Syracuse Stage mainstage season.
Given one prominent inspiration for the show, a world premiere in Central New York is very fitting.
“Somewhere Over the Border,” as described by its writer and composer Brian Quijada, is a musical mash-up of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” and the very personal story of Quijada’s mother Reina, who as a teenager in the late 1970s journeyed from El Salvador to the United States with the hope of making a better life for herself and her son.
According to Quijada, Reina was 17 and the single mother of an infant son named Fernando when she decided to travel from her small town in El Salvador through Guatemala and all of Mexico to Tijuana where she hoped to cross the border. Having left Fernando in the care of her own mother Julia and her uncles, she thought she would be gone a few weeks or maybe a month at the most. It took her ten years to return and reunite with Fernando.
Reina eventually settled in Chicago, married and had three more boys: Roberto, Marvin and the youngest Brian. Growing up, Brian was aware of his mother’s story and knew that his eldest brother Fernando had a different father. But there was much he didn’t know that he wanted to know.
A chance phone call gave him the opportunity.
“About four years ago, my mother called me and I had nothing going on, so we talked for a long time. I asked my mom why Fernando had a different last name. Why he had curly hair?” Quijada said. “And she took a very long silence, of course, it’s very awkward for her because she had to tell me about relations she’s had with another man who is not my dad, and she went on this huge story that was very hard for her to go through.”
As he listened, Quijada recalled, he couldn’t escape the idea that his mother’s story sounded familiar.
“It was an epic story, epic. I couldn’t even put the whole thing into the play, and I was like ‘this is like a classic story.’ At first I thought it was ‘The Odyssey’ and then it kind of clicked, especially with the people she met along the way, it was ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I knew I wanted to write it.”
An invitation to work with students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro gave Quijada the environment he needed to write the play. In a brief and very intense span, he completed “Somewhere Over the Border,” writing upwards of 20 – 30 pages and pumping out two songs every day, connecting the dots between his mother’s story and the famed musical: “What are the ruby red slippers? Who was the Scarecrow? Who was the Tin Man? Who was the Cowardly Lion? Who was the Wizard?” In different ways, they all are represented in “Somewhere Over the Border.” Even the flying monkeys and the tornado show up.
For musical inspiration, Quijada looked to the landscapes his mother traversed on her journey and infused the score—played by a four piece on stage band—with Cumbia and Mexican Bolero as well as Hip-Hop, American Rock and traditional musical theater.
“It’s kind of paying homage to a bunch of different genres, but it’s all under the umbrella of American musical theater,” he said. “It’s very traditional. ‘Somewhere Over the Border’ is a nod to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’”
Quijada said he sought and was given his family’s blessing to tell this story. He knows the memories are painful for his mother.
“You know, my mom is very moved. She has a difficult time with this piece because, she told me, you’ve dramatized the three hardest times in my life, which was leaving Fernando, crossing the desert and then returning ten years later,” he said. “She’s like, you’ve packed it into an hour and half. So, it is absolutely hard for her to relive those moments, even dramatized.”
He knows, too, that there is a lot of sadness, hardship and even death in the stories of the many people who have crossed or tried to cross the border. But, he said it is important to remember that there is a lot of joy as well and that joy is a testament to the strength of those individuals.
“Almost all of these stories begin in hope.”
“Somewhere Over the Border” opened Friday, Feb. 25 and runs through March 13 at Syracuse Stage.