Curtis Brown Photography
El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom.
El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom
Long Wharf Theatre
Southern Connecticut State University’s Lyman Center
New Haven
Through Feb. 23, 2025
For three weeks only, a masked crusader strikes in New Haven.
Since Long Wharf Theatre’s Sargent Drive location closed its doors in 2022, the Tony-award winning theatre company has staged productions across the New Haven area. Now in its second season of itinerant productions, Long Wharf Theatre’s latest play found a home in Southern Connecticut State University’s Lyman Center of Performance Arts, the first formal collaboration between the university and the company. Behold, El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom.
Written by Matt Barbot and directed by Kinan Valdez, El Coquí tells the story of Alex, an insecure Nuyorican comic book writer living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. When Alex begins adopting his superhero persona to overcome his writer’s block, he finds himself grappling with newfound questions of identity, consumerism, and the true meaning of heroism.
In the lead role of Alex Nunez, Jason Sanchez is an illustration that comes to life. He is delightfully animated, bouncing across the stage with glee. His exuberant performance is only matched by Michael John Importa as his nemesis El Chupacabra, and later high school bully Junior. Melissa DuPrey plays Yesica (with the Y instead of the J), a Latina photographer dedicated to documenting the gentrification of Sunset Park. And as Joe, Alex’s older brother, Xavier Cano provides a grounded foil as a pragmatic soda marketer, and Susanna Guzmán plays the matriarch of the Nunez clan.
Under Valdez’s direction, Barbot’s play is at its funniest when it leans into comic book tropes, while Gabriel Rosario’s dynamic fight choreography injects suspense and intrigue as Alex literally fights his demons.
Even still, it is the production design that truly brings El Coquí to life. Gerardo Díaz Sánchez’s two-story New York city facade provides the perfect backdrop for John Horzen’s show-stopping projection design, which is worth the price of admission alone.
Incorporating comic book popups, laser blasts, and sketch drawings (and bolstered by sound design and composition by Charles Coes, Nathan A. Roberts, Joe Krempetz, and S. Maxwell Brown), Horzen creates a vivid backdrop for the story to unfold. Plus, Rea J. Brown’s costuming deftly renders superhero spandex with the same precision as 2010s fashion, such as skinny chinos, plaid bermuda shorts, and some truly iconic cheetah print leggings.
While this production of El Coquí successfully marries comic books to Puerto Rican mythology and social satire, it struggles to realize another prominent element of its text: the family drama. It is in these scenes where Sanchez’s animism comes to his detriment – like in the first act, where Alex’s sorrowful recollections of his father were initially met by audience laughter. This is not helped by the fact that, compared to the other three leads, matriarch Patricia lacks a dramatic arc, leaving a noticeable gap in the family dynamics.
Finally, though Barbot effectively utilizes tropes to comedic effect, he often fails to subvert them, which leaves the plot of the play feeling predictable, or already played out.
Despite these minor qualms, El Coquí Espectacular is a breath of fresh air, a wildly entertaining and stunningly produced play from one of New Haven’s most exciting theater companies.
El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom is running until Feb. 23 at the Lyman Center for Performing Arts.
Curtis Brown Photography
Curtis Brown Photography