VEDETTÍSIMA: 20 and 86 years later

Legendary Cuban megastar Rosita Fornés has surprised and awed her many fans in Cuba and throughout the world by taking again center stage at the no less mythical Great Theater of Havana to present a 3-day weekend engagement (August 14-16) of Vedettísima: 20 years later.

Vedettísima, produced and presented originally in 1989, when Miss Fornés was 66, broke all theatre box office records in all Cuban cities where it toured, including Havana. Such was the success of this musical review that it toured island theaters (with some brief interruptions) for more than 3 years to sold out houses.

Now, 20 years later and with Rosita Fornés at 86, this show-retrospective returns to delight her fans and prove once more that La Fornés is in essence ageless and that her incomparable, bigger than life magical stage presence and magnetism is strong enough to substitute for vocal difficulties and some of the obvious physical impediments age has imposed upon this great star.

By all witness and press accounts Rosita Fornés has captivated her audiences to the point of delirium during these presentations. She sings less songs, her voice might falter here and there at times and she has difficulty with some body movements on stage (due to a thrice-operated left femur) but that does not deter her nor her loyal fan base. To them. Rosita is THE diva, the goddess, the great and only true vedette left in the world today. And in that sense, they are not delusional or mistaken. Only Rosita Fornés could do something so daring and so outrageously fabulous as returning with Vedettísima 20 and 86 years later.