Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Delgado, who operates here as a kind of mystical conjurer of stories, works best not when she is waving her arms like a magical storyteller (we get that function without the fluttery fingers) but when she's having fun singing in the socially essential nightclub of the show's title. A big talent who has really found something here, she needs to stay in the spotlight of the fascinating story she has written about our shared hometown."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...The action unfolds seamlessly under director Cheryl Lynn Bruce. Bruce, like Delgado, has a keen sense of the immigrant narrative and how it is shared across time. That reality is reflected in recurring videos of crashing waves, a visual metaphor for our ceaseless desire to explore new shores. And it's reflected in Delgado's epilogue."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...But they'd be more so if they weren't buried under conceptual overload; Delgado, as the club's embodied spirit, mystically invokes each storyteller, skulks about listening, then delivers songs with more showiness than conviction. And the intoxicating rhythms of the five-piece Carpacho Y Su Super Combo are often so far in the background it's hard to imagine this reconstituted nightclub drawing crowds. It's a shame that so much vital, disquieting history ends up in a muddle."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Sandra Delgado documents the Latinx diaspora in microcosm by focusing her ethnographic survey on a single location—the Havana Madrid club at the corner of Belmont and Sheffield Avenues, in the loft now housing the Milio's Hair Salon. Though operating for barely a decade, in the 1960s, La Havana Madrid was an urban refuge where immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries, united by their common language, congregated to bask nostalgically in the music they remembered."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Rather than tell you all of what this beautiful story has within its spirits, I suggest that you find a way to get to see it for yourself. It is inspiring, it is honest, it is historical and pretty factual. The music played is wonderfully played by Carpacho and his super combo (by the way, Carpacho is played, as a character to perfection by Marvin Quijado (but the real man plays the music). Other cast members are:Mike Oquendo, Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel , and the mistress of ceremonies, narrator/story-teller and spirit of the times by Sandra Delgado. WOW! You will find yourself falling in love with her as she brings you into her world. By the way, it is a world you will enjoy being in. I did!"
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...And the music! Between Delgado’s singing and the dancing that punctuates every vignette, there is an endless life coursing through ‘La Havana Madrid,’ a contagious joy at life and a refusal to accept the status quo. These are quietly revolutionary works, ultimately – works of art that rebuke political correctness, rebuke cultural leveling, rebuke the forces of bigotry that always threaten to take hold in diverse areas. These are the stories that truly make America great, and given that the original run of ‘La Havana Madrid’ is completely sold out – even after it was extended for another week – it’s clear that many, many people recognize that greatness."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...La Havana Madrid is a fun, high spirited, interactive show. However, as a history project it felt a bit like a tease. A nightclub is not the best backdrop for unpacking one's hardship and immigration story, but it is a fine place for listening to salsa. It doesn't seem appropriate to be disappointed by this production, so I suggest going to it with a salsa first, immigration narrative second, mindset."
The Hawk Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The most effective selection from the show comes from Donovan Diaz; he shifts from hilarious and boyish to devastatingly serious in a heartbeat, and Delgado's fine script has some incredibly impactful moments. However, because the scenes rely so heavily on the actors performing monologues, each scene is only as strong as its performer. These moments certainly vary, but the majority of the ensemble is up to the challenge and even the most bashful of audience members will feel inclined to join the fun. LA HAVANA MADRID is not only excellent theatre, but it is a magnificent familial experience. We are not just being invited back into a club, but into a family - - and all are welcome here."
Picture This Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...For those willing to forgive unpolished storytelling, the show offers a loving appreciation of La Madrid Havana where many variations of a mother tongue breathed the same air. Same for the music which, as one character points out, has its own regional accents. If music be the food of fellowship, Delgado seems to suggest, La Havana Madrid played on until the neighborhood changed."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Staging such a work at Steppenwolf, a cornerstone of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, is itself a political act. Playing in the company’s eighty seat cabaret theater, “La Havana Madrid” gains much from the intimate setting. Designed as a nightclub, complete with stage and dance floor, the play (directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce) unfolds dreamlike, moving elegantly between its scenes with Delgado herself playing both emcee and the spirit of the long gone club."
