By: Jovia Zhang
The iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has been the inspiration for artworks and merchandise such as movies, T-shirts, and tote bags. In fact, there is so much Kahlo copycat merchandise that it’s unbelievable that there’s still content left to be made. It was announced on Thursday that Kahlo’s life, from Mexico City to New York, will be made into a musical.
The production, titled “Frida, The Musical” will follow Kahlo to and from the “Blue House” where the painter was born in 1907 and died in 1954 at age 47. The show is expected to open on Broadway in 2024 and will include lyrics by playwright Neena Beber and music by Jaime Lozano. Valentina Berger is to be the show’s producer.
Kahlo’s story is no secret; numerous books and movies detailing the same life events have been published and released. But this musical will be different. The creators hope to give Kahlo’s life a new perspective, fishing out the untold stories and details that were once buried and kept secret. Parts of the musical will be based on the book Intimate Frida, written by her niece Isolda P. Kahlo, and filled with conversations Frida had with her family members in Mexico. An interesting fact is that this is the only musical Kahlo’s surviving family has officially signed off on, despite many attempts made in the past.
“In all the stories I heard when I was a little child, our family remembered Aunt Frida as a very joyful woman,” said Mara Romeo Kahlo, universal heiress to the Frida Kahlo legacy, in a statement to The Washington Post. “She was passionate about music, arts and Mexican culture. ‘Frida, The Musical’ honors everything she was: a real woman who fought for her dreams, loved like anybody else and always lived ahead of her time.”
Merchandise, movies, and books can be deceiving – especially in Frida Kahlo’s case. She’s always been depicted as a “bubbly feminist icon,” although art historians focus on her physical and emotional suffering, which she expressed very distinctively—and sometimes graphically—in her self-portraits. Whether or not these thoughts and ideas are relevant to Kahlo’s legacy now is up to you to decide, as the creators of the musical say they want to show her story in a “more three-dimensional” way.
“Everyone knows a colder Frida, a suffering Frida, but she loved life,” Berger, the producer said in a phone interview. “She was really, really fun. That’s what we want to portray. I used to have a sad view of Frida, like, ‘Oh, the poor woman.’ Now, knowing how she was so smart and so clever, I look up to her.”
Many people tend to focus on Kahlo’s sad, misfortunate side, overshadowing her real personality and her witty, humorous side. Beber, the playwright is excited to capture and show this side of Kahlo to audiences.
Other than the upcoming musical, there are many more exciting shows, movies, and art galleries covering Kahlo’s life to look forward to. In 2002, starring Salma Hayek as Kahlo with Alfred Molina as her husband, painter Diego Rivera, the biopic Frida received mixed reactions from various reviewers. If that film is not for you, more recently, Kahlo’s and Rivera’s artworks have appeared in digital form in many galleries, including a show entitled “Mexican Geniuses.” Her estate also announced recently that her life and work are to be documented in a TV series.
According to The Washington Post, “To Beber, the seemingly endless content doesn’t mean Kahlo’s life has already been done. ‘Why are people still doing Shakespeare?’ she said. ‘Why are people still finding ways to make Hamlet exciting? How many self-portraits did Frida do? Quite a few. I think there’s room for multiple Fridas. We want to bring our own passions, love, interests, pain to her story. Let there be many Fridas.’”
No matter how many Fridas or how many sides of her there are, her life story will remain a dramatic one. The artist had an affair with Russian-Ukrainian revolutionary and Communist Leon Trotsky during her marriage to Rivera. A street-car accident at age 18 left her with chronic, exhausting pain after injuring her pelvis and spine. She would often paint in bed, showing her body as crippled and mangled, bleeding, or even cut in half. She passed away at the young age of 47.
But as the saying goes, “Look on the bright side!” Kahlo and her three sisters were named the “Kardashians of Mexico,” by Berger, who recently visited the Kahlo family in Mexico. Did you know that before Kahlo left on her trips she would ask her sisters to give her husband a bath? “I mean, how close do you have to be to your sisters to suggest something like that?” Berger asked.
Berger got to experience some of the important details of Kahlo’s life, such as her mother’s basement, where she would hide when Rivera got uncontrollably brutal or the songs that Frida would always sing. Berger even got to hear firsthand accounts from family members telling how Kahlo was always laughing and telling crazy stories.
Lozano, the musical’s composer, has also taken a trip to Mexico to visit the Kahlo family. After immigrating to the United States from Mexico in 2007, he has dedicated much of his career to telling Latinx stories. He says that he relates to Kahlo, who also immigrated from Mexico to New York at some point in her life.
“She is such an inspiration, not only as an artist but also as a warrior,” Lozano said. “With everything she went through, she kept fighting, making her own art, telling her own story. As a Mexican, to be telling this story and bringing this authenticity to the show, I feel really honored.”
At this point, ten songs have been written for the musical. One of the songs, “Wings,” portrays Kahlo’s determination and contentment throughout her suffering. This song was inspired by something Kahlo said while her pain kept her in bed: “Feet,” she said, “What do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/07/24/frida-kahlo-musical/