Sergio Trujillo tango show ‘Arrabal’ touches on Argentina’s Dirty War

TORONTO – Homegrown superstar choreographer Sergio Trujillo says he wanted “Arrabal” — which makes its world premiere in Toronto on Tuesday — to be more than just a tango show.

The story he wanted to tell became clear when Trujillo visited Argentina and heard about the so-called “disappeared” — thousands of victims of the country’s “dirty war” in the 1970s — and their relatives, who are still wondering what happened to them.

The Colombian-born Trujillo says as a Latin native, he felt a responsibility to share their experience.

“The show is not a dark show, because I don’t want it to be,” he said in an interview. “It’s a celebration. It’s a celebration in a way that you have this culture who has gone through a very, very difficult time in history — and with something as horrible as the disappearance of all their sons, daughters, wives, husbands, children, so on and so forth — and it has affected the country with such deep, deep turmoil and such a deep mourning.

“So I wanted to deal with it but I also wanted to find how to create a show that feels a little lighter. So there’s a love story within it and, of course, there is a dance.”

Starting Tuesday at Toronto’s Panasonic Theatre, “Arrabal” is told entirely through dance and the music of two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla of Argentina and his tango-rock band Bajofondo.

Trujillo — a Broadway veteran with an illustrious resume including “Jersey Boys,” “Memphis,” “Next to Normal” and “The Addams Family” — directs alongside choreographer Julio Zurita. The book is by Tony Award nominee John Weidman.

The story follows the heroine Arrabal as she navigates Buenos Aires’ tango clubs and learns how her father died during a military junta that led to thousands of deaths and disappearances.

Trujillo says Santaolalla and a producer approached him about collaborating in summer 2010. Already a fan of Santaolalla and his band, he immediately said yes.

“As a matter of fact, when I found their CD 12 years before, I said, ‘I’m going to do something with this music someday,’” said Trujillo.

Santaolalla took him to Argentina, where Trujillo immersed himself in the culture and thought of the idea of touching on the country’s history in the show.

Trujillo said the stay in Argentina “awakened the core” of who he is.

Meanwhile, the show itself has allowed him to be “courageous” in theatre.

“Arrabal’ has been incredibly vital in my creativity as a choreographer in a way that, because I’ve been doing Broadway show after Broadway show, you sort of are boxed in in terms of the narrative,” said the world-renowned hot-stepper, who has shared the stage with Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul.

“The last two pieces I did I felt very boxed in, I sort of felt restless. And so by going to Argentina and working on the piece there I felt like I could be free, like I could create theatre any way. I can break the rules and nobody was going to say, ‘No, you’re not doing it right,’ or ‘No, it has to be this way.’

“So what it has done to me, it has liberated me.”

Trujillo held rehearsals for “Arrabal” in the La Catedral tango bar in Buenos Aires.

Watching from the sidelines were members Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of Argentine mothers whose children were “disappeared” during the dirty war.

“It was really, really painful,” said Trujillo. “For them, the Argentinians to watch the show that dealt with this, was really incredibly emotional.”

Trujillo is now brainstorming on other shows he can bring to Toronto.

He said he’d love to choreograph an original show at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, where he danced in “Damn Yankees” in ’88 in what was one of his first professional experiences.

“Maybe I’ll originate the revival of ‘Damn Yankees’ at the Royal Alex,” he mused.

Trujillo is also still hoping to bring his musical “Flashdance,” which he helms, to Toronto one day.

He originally wanted to debut it in the city but couldn’t due to logistics.

“One of my ex-girlfriends from back when I was in high school, when she found out I was directing/choreographing, she said: ‘Oh my God, do you remember when we went to see it?’ The two of us, all of a sudden we just burst into the theatre door and we were dancing to that ‘Maniac’ song,” he said.

“So it was my hope for it to start here but unfortunately due to unforeseen reasons the plan was changed, which kind of broke my heart a little bit.”

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