Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Music, dance, and humor embolden the newcomers to find their tenuous place in this foreign land while still reveling in their cultural history. Henry (Tommy Rivera-Vega) and Maruja (Alix Rhode), both with outstanding solo songs, are based on Delgado's parents who got married long-distance while he was in Chicago and she in Medellín, Colombia. An homage to Latinx and American history, La Havana Madrid is a delightful night of cha cha, salsa, and love."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...That's right—the music. Delgado is not content to merely tell "our story," but also recreates the Havana Madrid in the Den's Heath Mainstage, whose dimensions approximate those they duplicate more closely than previous auditoriums, and thus easily accommodates Roberto "Carpacho" Marin y Su Super Combo, ( featuring Carol McPherson on dancing trombone ) and Delgado herself as guest vocalist/emcee, along with hoofers Victor Musoni, Marvin Quijada, and Tommy Rivera-Vega burning up the floor with Wilfredo Rivera's choreography. Oh, and did I mention the evening's agenda including several "dance breaks" for playgoers to salsa in the aisles?"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...When we see a play for its second time, we often notice things that were missed earlier. As I always say, the beauty of “live theater” is that every performance is unique and can be considered an original. Now in its third incarnation, “La Havana Madrid” a story about the settling of areas of Chicago and those who migrated to our city has much more than entertainment values. It is as educational a piece as it is entertaining, and there is no way that one can leave the Den Theatre without feeling the spirit of those in this sparkling cast of players."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...With its third engagement in as many years, it's almost hard to believe that Teatro Vista and Collaboraction's La Havana Madrid ever closed up shop. And it didn't, really. Sandra Delgado's restless play - a great big party, really - just kept finding new digs, journeying on a wave of critical acclaim and overwhelming demand. If you happened to miss the party before, it's going on at the Den right now. Wouldn't wanna miss it."
The Hawk Chicago - Recommended
"...But it’s easy to see why Sandra Delgado’s La Havana Madrid is on its third Chicago production since 2017; not only does it illuminate a decade of our city’s history long-ignored, but it welcomes us into its world. “Music is home,” one of the characters says. And in an evening at The Den Theatre, you can experience and be a part of the sacred sanctuary that defines La Havana Madrid."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...Delgado's rich urban work brims with confidence, optimism and hope. She sums up the inspirational immigrant spirit of the era as a metaphor for today-a respect for past sacrifices and continuation of the beauty, music and love that shapes our lives. "We are living on these layers," she says, "pass it on.""
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Despite how much ground it covers and how well it covers it, "La Havana Madrid" can't begin to tell all the stories of every immigrant, child of immigrants, or anyone who's been unjustly othered by white supremacy. And yet, that it makes the effort, makes all the difference. And so the play comes to mean so much to me precisely because it means so much to so many."
