Metrópolis

An Intro to SODRE and an Engaging Sci-Fi Rock Musical

SODRE (Servicio Ofical de Difusión, Representaciones y Espectáculos) is a national cultural organization, run by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and yet another example of Uruguay’s commitment to preserving and perpetuating the performing arts.

While in Montevideo, our whole cohort attended a performance of the musical Metrópolis, featuring SODRE’s Coro Nacional de Niños y Juvenil at the Auditorio Nacional Adela Reta. Every seat in the auditorium looked full, showing how much people support music and music education in Uruguay. The choirs are part of SODRE’s Elencos Estables, which also includes the Orquesta Juvenil Nacional, as well as the professional groups: Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Conjunto Nacional de Música de Cámara, Coro Nacional, and Ballet Nacional. Members in all these groups must audition for their spots.

The musical Metrópolis is based on the 1927 film by Fritz Lang. Critic Roger Ebert offers enlightening commentary in his review of the film. The sci-fi story includes a city powered solely by human energy, heroes who hope to free the enslaved from this city, and a robot created to sabotage the heroes efforts. The internet credits Joe Brooks and Dusty Hughes for creating the music and lyrics to the songs in the musical Metrópolis, however, the program to the performance we attended by SODRE states, “Música original Fernando Rondán” who also served as the bass guitarist in the band. I really enjoyed the rock stylings of the musical numbers and the singers’ and band’s performance of them. One of the songs really sounded like Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” which perfectly fits with Metrópolis‘s enslaved humans trapped in the city and being drained of their energies.