Todos estamos juntos en esto.
We’re all in this together.
Changing the face of musical theatre, changing the soundscape of our nation’s narrative— Mexodus is the story of the Underground Railroad that led south; a story that they will have to pass down by word of mouth. It’s a moment omitted from the history books— but it’s a story of thousands worth a second look— rapture and release, visceral emotions and peace— this is one for the ages splitting time on two stages— but you get to be in the room where it happened first— The Head Theatre at Baltimore Center Stage. Written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, directed by David Mendizábal, this stunning new musical will take the nation by storm— it’s a tour du force of emotional reality, history, and actuality all bound up in live instrumentation and real-time looping; it’s the most indescribable phenomenon since Hamilton.
Where does one even find the words to begin? It’s an experience that must be seen, felt, heard, absorbed to truly encapsulate all of the glory and the intensity that you’ll get from this production. Trying to explain the nuance and complexity in addition to the talent and intensity of the narrative doesn’t begin to do this show justice. Two people on stage, performing their hearts and souls out to a story that’s lost to history and still in the fabric of our everyday lives and they’re doing it in live-time. It’s extraordinary. The Design Team— Mextly Couzin on lights, Mikhail Fiksel on Sound, Simon Briggs live-checking as the audio engineer, Riw Rakkulchon as scenic designer— has brought their A-game to the stage, covering the play space with all sorts of instruments and audio devices, in addition to the wooden barn doors which are intricately covered with cotton and wanted posters, serving as an ever-present echo to the past, where more than half the story takes place. The brilliance and synchronicity of how Couzin’s lighting design and Fiksel’s sound design comes together is artistic ingenuity and integrity at its finest, creating these moments of surreal otherworldly existence that simultaneously float in the ether of reality— particularly the moments of ‘the storm’. Couzin’s lighting also absorbs the heartbeat of the show’s music and sound, pulsing and moving, breathing in perfect syzygy as if all of the show’s design elements were one super-element and yet at the same time their own individualized production component.
The use of the stage and the way the performers treat the set like this unspoken third every-character, the way they move around it, navigate through it, make themselves spatially aware of their placement on it and in relation to all of the musical instruments, tools of sound, and components of auditory enhancements is wild. Movement Consultant Tony Thomas, working with Director David Mendizábal, has created this playground of sorts that allows for pure expressions, whether they’re in dance, gesture, or simple movement. And the cumulative effect such movements, placements, and overall spatial articulation has on the production is tremendously impressive.
Director David Mendizábal gives creator-performers Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson the freedom to play, permission to fail, and the gift of exploration, which makes this piece of theatre beyond extraordinary. These two performers and creators of living art are telling a story. In live time. With real music being created and performed on stage and being looped as they’re telling it. It’s impossible to describe the wonder that this is; it must be experienced first-hand. You get a plethora of instruments in addition to Quijada and Robinson’s vocals, which are superb, to light up this tale lost to history with truth, pathos, and heart-pounding intensity. There is a visceral, vibrant, vivacity to all of the music that this duo is creating, while storytelling and living in the moment, whether that moment is their present existence as Brian and Nygel or in the past as Carlos and Henry. The musical diversity featured in this production is astonishing; there’s hip-hop and drop-beat, bolero and ballad; it’s as blended and different as America was always meant to be— until she forgot she was supposed to open her doors to everybody.
The way both Quijada and Robinson share the creation of this production live is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They are clearly two separate individuals on stage and yet at times they are so in synch with one another it’s like they’re one entity split into two realities. Both have phenomenal singing voices that carry the gravity of emotion, the intention of the story, and the overall raw sensation of the experience directly out to the audience. The show itself almost starts like a live club-night concert and the energy is high-octane from jump street. They each have their specialties when it comes to instruments— Quijada laying down a sizzling plate of noodles on that acoustic at the beginning while Robinson is serving straight up finger-fury on the keys. And of course it’s not epic without an accordion— and Quijada gives us a mighty epic squeeze on that accordion! They create beatbox style rhythms with their mouths, train sounds, whispers of wind, and so many other sensational auditory effects that it’s dazzling and mesmerizing. There is an unstoppable pulse of sound and feeling that physically shakes through the floor at times during this performance; a heartbeat that is both palpable and ephemeral at the same time; it’s delightfully disorienting living so earnestly in the raw emotions of the moment with these two performers.
I could spend hours singing praises of Nygel D. Robinson’s glorious voice— the way he patters with perfect articulation when he’s deep-diving into the hip-hop-rap-lyrics of these songs or the way he carries that soulful sound when the music slows down. I could spend as many hours singing praises of Brian Quijada who sings in Spanish half the time, emoting and articulating and expressing his soul in a way that makes the lyrics crystal clear even if you don’t speak Spanish yourself. Articulating how moving, how gripping, how deeply profound this experience is as a piece of theatre is truly beyond what words can accurately express. And its all in the hands, hearts, minds, souls, musicality, and vocality of these two artists— telling an untold story that so desperately needs and deserves to be told. The story itself— a composite of truth and research to create a character who escaped slavery via the underground railroad into Mexico but questioning what freedom really means and if freedom is really freedom if one has lost everything to gain it— is profound and deeply moving in ways that defy description.
It’s impossible to encapsulate in mere words what this experience is; how deeply moving and impactful Mexodus is to those in the audience taking it all in. It is game changing in the way we experience theatre—not just because it’s reinventing what musical theatre can look like and how live-time-loop and performance is executed but because it’s shedding a much-needed light on an all-but-forgotten, deeply important passage of history. It’s edgy, invigorating, dynamic and sensational all at once. Mexodus is harrowing and haunting with beauty and faith, tragedy and grace all wrapped up into one explosive, indescribably visceral experience that is the 2024 must-see of theatrical experiences. This limited engagement in Baltimore is unique beyond compare; see it here first and be in the room where history is living and transcending the bounds of traditional musical theatre.
Running Time: Approximately 105 minutes with no intermission
Mexodus plays March 14th 2024 through April 7th 2024 in the Head Theatre (upstairs; 4th Floor) at Baltimore Center Stage— 700 North Calvert Street in Baltimore, MD. For tickets, please call the box office at 410-332-0033 or purchase them online.
To read the interview with Director David Mendizábal , click here.
