Study of the censured staging of Chico Buarque de Hollanda's and Ruy Guerra's play, Calabar: the political musical theater of the 1970s

Abstract

The aim of this research is to study Brazilian political musical theater of the 1970s through the analysis of the first staging of Calabar (written by Chico Buarque and Ruy Guerra in 1973). The staging was directed by Fernando Peixoto on the same year, and censured a few days before its debut. This play may contribute to a better comprehension of political musical theater in the context of the Brazilian dictatorship, particularly if it is studied from the perspective of the process of its staging and censorship.This study intends to dedicate itself to a detailed examination of the relations between scenic form, productive conditions and historical context. The center of this study is the analysis of the staging and it's esthetic formations, in an effort to reconstitute it's artistic possibilities, taking into consideration the perspective of the constitution of a project of critical musical theater. This analysis will take as its point of departure, the study of the historical context in which this play was written and staged, as well as what it represented in terms of the cultural production being undertaken in Brazil at that moment.There were great social expectations with respect to Calabar's debut. Its prohibition was extended to the use of the title Calabar in any media: the record with the songs from the play was simply named, "Chico canta" [Chico sings]. This case brought on repercussions and produced criticisms to censorship at that time.The objective of this research is to re-evaluate this unconcluded staging so as to better comprehend a specific moment of the most critical Brazilian theatrical production, when politization, professional interests, esthetic research, and dialogues with other artistic sectors united around a project of creating Brazilian politicized musical theater. (AU)