DCPA Theatre Company’s production of Matthew Lopez’s play lands at exactly the right moment, with stellar performances and dazzling dance.

Somewhere, a quasi-musical play by Matthew Lopez, has arrived in Denver just at the right moment. With the city poised to fight intrusions by ICE searching for undocumented immigrants, Somewhere reminds us of how ambitious and admirable immigrant families are in the U.S.

The first-rate DCPA Theatre Company cast of Somewhere sings, dances and acts their hearts out as the Puerto Rican Candelaria family, a group of dreamers full of aspirations to one day make it big in show business. Set in 1959 NYC as their San Juan Hill neighborhood is being torn down to make way for Lincoln Center, mother Inez is convinced her three children — Alejandro, Francisco and Rebecca — have the talent to appear on stage and in movies. Her focus — and theirs — is the film of West Side Story being shot nearby by the genius director Jerome Robbins.

Inez’s hopes are focused mainly on Alejandro, who appeared as a child in a walk-on role under Robbins in The King and I, and Susana, a dancer in training with the looks and skill, Inez believes, to be one of Anita’s friends. Meanwhile, the hyperactive Francisco is studying acting and also hoping for a break in the big time.

Danny Gomez, Adriana Sevan, Angel Lozada and Bella Serrano in ‘Somewhere.’ | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

A son’s burden

Alejandro is the focal character in the play. He is clearly a major dance talent — portraying him, Ángel Lozada demonstrates the power and flexibility of the best Broadway performers — but faces a major obstacle to artistic success. Bandleader father Pepe has abandoned the family, purportedly to earn enough money to support them all. But Pepe’s contributions never turn up, and Alejandro has become the family’s sole breadwinner. Sacrificing his own dreams for the benefit of the family, Alejandro works at a menial job while pushing his siblings to pursue their performing dreams.

Alejandro is an inherently tragic figure. But Lopez’s writing and Lozada’s restrained acting don’t uncover the depth of his anguish until almost the conclusion of the play. The only clear-eyed member of the family, Alejandro reveals his feelings to his mother in a sucker-punch moment for her, him and the audience.

Despite the underlying difficulty of the Candelarias’ situation, thanks to Inez’s drive and optimism, there is always a lot of laughter, energy and joy in the family life. Somewhere doesn’t contain typical song-and-dance numbers, but there are several dazzling set dance scenes featuring individual cast members — including the non-Puerto Rican Jamie, a kind of adopted son who has made it big. As Jamie, Keaton Miller does a flamboyant duet with Lozada that has them both jumping on and over chairs in a jazzy celebration of Broadway-style dance.

Adriana Sevan as Inez in ‘Somewhere.’ | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

An authentic matriarch

As the matriarch of the Candelaria family, Adriana Sevan is a gem. Her Inez feels completely authentic with her overarching ambition for her kids and her refusal to give in to the challenges of their daily circumstances. In her intermixed Spanish and English, Sevan can be a Pollyanna one moment and a pushy but loving force the next — but always entirely genuine.

As Francisco, the unfocused would-be actor who regularly misses his acting classes, Danny Gómez cavorts around the stage, providing delightful comic relief just when it’s needed. And Bella Serrano as Rebecca, the obedient youngest child, makes us believe she will ultimately fulfill her dream of dancing in the West Side Story film.

In addition to joy and energy, there is depth within the performances of this cast thanks to the artful direction of Laurie Woolery. She has crafted a simultaneously intimate and expansive work of theatre that deeply touches our hearts and ultimately makes them soar. Woolery also deftly manages the actors physically at the in-the-round space of the Kilstrom Theatre so that we can always easily hear them and capture their emotional tenor whether they’re facing toward or away from us.

Choreographer Mayte Natalio performs magic with the dance sequences in the tiny space allotted by Efren Delgadillo, Jr.’s evocative New York City apartment set. The dances all take place in the compact center of the apartment, but Natalio is able to use the high kicks and expansive turns typical of musical theatre choreography.

Delgadillo’s set, with its physical references to the fire escapes and apartment building cellars of New York, makes us feel that we are sharing the apartment with the Candelarias. The masterful design team — Pablo Santiago’s lighting, costumes by Kevin Copenhaver and music and sound design by Paul James Prendergast — does a wonderful job of propelling us instantly into the lives of a family whose hopes are still a part of the American Dream for so many around the world.