"Lee Breuer’s dark, joyous and utterly splendid musical fantasia...'La Divina' is indeed unusual: strange, singular, perfectly self-contained and so wondrous that it may leave you in a daze. Don’t say you haven’t been warned."
“It sounds like a Hollywood ploy: ‘40 years in the making,’ ” Mr. Breuer said. “But, yeah, aspects of this piece were around then, so technically, I’ve been screwing with it for that long. The story keeps evolving as I evolve.”
“La Divina Caricatura” has a lot more than puppets. We get video, a live band, and an impressive crucifixion. There’s a quartet of male soul singers and a trio of female backup singers, in sequinned gowns. The music incorporates rhythm and blues, soul, tango, reggae, rap, Gregorian chant, French folk songs, and Indian ragas. (Breuer says that he was also influenced by ancient Indian epics such as the Mahabharata and by Disney’s animated features, especially “Snow White.”)
