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An Imaginary Meeting and a Life Lesson Buenos Aires
Teatro Astral
09/12/2024 - & Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays till March 2, 2026 (Seen on October 15, 2025)
Cuando Frank conoció a Carlitos
Oscar Lajad (Carlos Gardel), Alan Madanes (Frank Sinatra), Antonella Misenti (Nancy Sinatra), Victoria Galoto, Ale Andrian & Rodrigo Verón (dancers)
Hernán Ian (guitar), Luka Giangualani (piano), Patricia Szilagyi (substitute piano), Aureliano Mosquera & Martín Bogado (bandoneon), Ruth Gerez, Santiago Moore & Ariel Núnez (violin), Shania Díaz (double bass), Nico Posse (keyboards, direction & musical arrangements)
Raúl López Rossi & Gustavo Manuel González (dramaturgy), Natalia del Castillo (stage director), Gonzalo Córdoba Estévez (sets), Analía Morales & Jorge López (costumes), Verónica Pecollo (choreography)
O. Lajad, A. Madanes (© Voros Otero)
A visit to Buenos Aires would not be complete without an evening of tango. Rather than a dance hall or a club featuring a tango singer, one may opt to attend a much‑praised musical of which the central character is the greatest chanteur de charme of all time, Carlos Gardel. The fact that Gardel’s songs were the main feature guaranteed a pleasant musical experience.
This hit musical has been running to almost full capacity since September 2024. Winner of seven Hugo Awards in 2024 (the Argentine equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards), Cuando Frankie encontró a Carlitos was also made into a film by Disney (for its cable venture) that same year. The fact that a multinational studio is the producer of both the musical and the movie may explain some of the show’s weaknesses and idiosyncrasies.
It’s to be noted that Buenos Aires’ Avenida Corrientes is the most impressive theatre district I’ve ever seen. Though most feature plays rather than musicals, it eclipses New York’s Broadway or London’s West End. Performances vary from the commercial to the recherché and are presented in venues of varying capacities. Other than Portenos’ (residents of Buenos Aires) appetite for the arts, the affordability of most performances explains the continued popularity of the arts, even in the present dire economic situation.
The premise of Cuando Frankie encontró a Carlitos is that 19‑year‑old Frank Sinatra and 44‑year‑old Carlos Gardel met at NBC studios in 1934 when the well-established Argentine crooner recorded a program in front of a live audience. Though chronologically possible, the apocryphal encounter is an astute idea uniting two giants of popular song.
A young Sinatra sneaks into Gardel’s dressing room to effusively express his admiration. An initially irked Gardel slowly warms up to the young man, giving him a life lesson in song, the meaning of tango, how to conjure passion, and the mysteries of love, imparting how a vieux roué such as himself handles women. He even advised him to eschew a budding career as a delivery man for Sicilian crime families, advice that may not have succeeded, given Sinatra’s subsequent reputation.
The older man even gives young Sinatra a flyer announcing auditions to Colonel Bowes Amateur Hour Show, which the New Jersey native would win, marking the start of his career. However, that audition was one year later and the reason he was able to be part of the winning quartet was that the three musicians needed wheels, and young Sinatra had a car.
The present show is more a revue than a musical. Raúl López Rossi and Gustavo Manuel González’ musical contribution is almost non‑existent, as the musical score collects Gardel’s greatest hits of the 1930s, from Caminito to El día que me quieras and about ten others, including Mi Buenos Aires querido, Volver, Arrabal amargo and Por una cabeza. Except for Cambalache and Yira, Yira, both written by Enrique Santos Discépolo, all others were written by Gardel and his collaborator Alfredo Le Pera.
Despite its lack of musical originality, the show is still highly enjoyable, given the quality of Gardel’s music. In comparison, there was little Sinatra, with most of it overly familiar, such as New York, New York (from Martin Scorsese’s homonymous film, 1977) and Fly me to the Moon (1954), both from middle or late career. A later hit, My Way (1969), Paul Anka’s adaptation of Franco-Egyptian pop star Claude François’s song, Comme d’habitude, was briefly featured. The fact that only short Sinatra excerpts were performed may indicate copyright constraints, unlike those of Carlos Gardel, who died in a 1935 plane crash.
The success of the show, despite its flimsy storyline, is in large part thanks to the charisma and voice of Oscar Lajad, who portrayed Gardel. Lajad’s voice is powerful and reminiscent of the legendary tango king. Without being excessive, Lajad managed to channel Gardel by adopting his mannerisms and speaking style, as seen in his many films. Moreover, Lajad is a natural comic and easily brought levity to an infelicitous plot.
An equally talented Alan Madanes portrayed Sinatra, though his impersonation of a wholesome naive ingénue wasn’t convincing to those familiar with the American crooner’s biography. More irritating was the supposed 19‑year-old adopting the voice and style of a mature Sinatra, rather unforgivable considering the abundance of recordings and films from Ol’ Blue Eyes’ early years.
Antonella Misenti was disappointing in the brief role of a young Nancy Sinatra, Sinatra’s sweetheart and eventual first wife. Like many female singers of Broadway musicals, especially outside North America, Misenti seemed to exaggerate her nasal voice, a device employed by singers with weak upper registers to conceal their limitations. Somehow these singers, who may have a healthy top, imagine this ugly sound is de rigueur in American musicals. Pity!
On the positive side, a further high point was the excellent dancers, and the fact these only appeared briefly, to accompany tangos sung by Lajad. The meager plot would have collapsed had there been dancing throughout. This choreography was a beautiful and appropriate adornment, not the pièce de résistance.
Given that the French-born Argentine Gardel didn’t speak English, nor did Sinatra speak Spanish, each spoke their native languages slowly and clearly, to be understood by an audience unfamiliar with one or both (though there were Spanish surtitles). The young Sinatra, son of Italian immigrants, certainly spoke and understood the language of Dante. Sinatra’s recording with Kathryn Grayson of “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, from the film It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) displays a diction found only in Italian speakers or those intimately familiar with Italian.
Understandably, having Gardel and Sinatra communicate in a Spanish/Italian mix can only work in limited markets. It’s obvious the show’s producers have ambitions for the U.S. and international markets.
Apart from certain discrepancies, the show’s biggest flaw is its dramatic weakness. In this implausible, hypothetical meeting, Gardel helps the young Sinatra and gives him both artistic and life lessons. Nice enough, but this premise leads to a weak dramatic dénouement. A more powerful plot would have each man learning from the other. Hopefully, given the enduring popularity of these musical icons, new musicals with more authentic, compelling storylines may emerge in future.
Ossama el Naggar
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