Alejandro Sanz has built a musical out of his own songs, and it premieres this week in Madrid. El Alma al Aire — which translates to “The Soul in the Open Air” — takes his catalogue and sets it in a fictional fishing village inspired by Cádiz, in southern Spain. The story follows a young man named Ale, his mother, his grandfather and his best friend Bruno, until a real estate developer from Madrid arrives with her two daughters and sets the whole town arguing about tradition versus progress.
Thursday, Oct. 1, marks the start of the run at the Teatro Ocaso Coliseum in Madrid. Four years of work went into it. Sanz was part of the creative process from the beginning, reading scripts, sitting in on rehearsals and offering his thoughts to the team.
Key Facts Box
- Premiere: Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Teatro Ocaso Coliseum, Madrid
- Development: 4 years
- Cast: Pepe Nufrio, Amanda Digón, Lydia Fairén, Hugo Ruiz, Natán Segado
- Band: 12 musicians
- Max Awards: Álvaro Tato, two-time winner
Sanz’s Surprise at How His Songs Changed Shape
Sanz explained that he had always pictured his songs being performed live, but the reality exceeded anything he had anticipated.
“A musical is not a succession of songs, one after another, without any connection,” he added in a statement.
The Cast, the Wind and the Rain
The main actors are Pepe Nufrio, Amanda Digón, Lydia Fairén, Hugo Ruiz and Natán Segado, with a live band of 12 players behind them. The production is on a grand scale, equal to that of major international musicals.
A generational struggle shapes the tale. Alma, a developer from Madrid, arrives at Gazulea with her two daughters, and she makes the town face what it wishes to preserve and what it desires to alter. Bonds between the old and the young become knotted as every person grapples with their own choices.
The show gives flamenco a significant presence, and one of its most striking moments comes from Inma La Carbonera, who portrays Levante, the embodiment of the wind that sweeps across the Cádiz shore. The storm even produces real rain upon the stage during the performance.
Tato’s Trip to Cádiz for Inspiration
The author Álvaro Tato, a two-time winner of the Max Awards for Performing Arts, was given wide latitude in shaping the tale. He received only a couple of instructions from Sanz: the piece must not be about his own life, and the region’s culture and its deep origins must appear throughout.
Sanz was born in Madrid, yet his ties run strong to Cádiz, where both his father and mother come from and where he spent time growing up. That is why Tato journeyed south to draw upon that source of inspiration.
“I went down to Cádiz with a list of songs, to feel the Levante wind and to listen, simply letting myself be carried away,” Tato recalled to Billboard Español, describing the trip where Gazulea and its characters began to take shape.
The Hits and How They Land
Among Sanz’s most popular songs, several stand out in this set: “Amiga Mía,” “¿Lo Ves?”, and “La Música No Se Toca.”. The crowd knows these numbers well, and they fit naturally into the evening’s narrative.
Some songs surprise with how they are used. “Y Si Fuera Ella” becomes a duet, while “Corazón Partío” starts with sorrow and ends in celebration.
“We try to ensure that audiences looking for the songs will find them, but also feel like they are being sung for the first time,” Tato explains.
Longing as the Story’s Engine
He found something in Sanz’s songwriting that helped bring his songs to the stage. “They always deal with someone wanting something they don’, and he describes it as a discovery.
The feeling of yearning — be it romantic, personal or emotional — naturally provided the characters with a starting point to make those lyrics their own. The story honors love across many forms and includes surprising turns, along with moments of humor that drew laughter, applause and even a few surprises from the audience.
Sanz’s Role Throughout Development
Sanz followed the project from its earliest stages, participating in readings, rehearsals and meetings. He shared his impressions with the team from the perspective of the “first spectator,” marveling at how his own songs could tell a new story in this context.
“You recognize great masters because they never stop being children in some way, never lose their sense of wonder,” the playwright says.
The Premiere Marks the Beginning
Four years of labor have gone into El Alma al Aire, and now it is starting its career on the Madrid stage, with Gazulea and its characters hoping for many years of performances ahead.
The show premiered on Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Teatro Ocaso Coliseum in Madrid. It took four years to develop. The cast includes Pepe Nufrio, Amanda Digón, Lydia Fairén, Hugo Ruiz, and Natán Segado. The band comprises 12 musicians. Álvaro Tato, a two-time Max Awards winner, wrote the script. The songs featured are “Amiga Mía,” “¿Lo Ves?,” “La Música No Se Toca,” “Y Si Fuera Ella,” and “Corazón Partío”.
The show is a clever idea. A beloved Spanish singer’s songs become the bones of a musical, built around a fishing village, flamenco wind and a real estate developer’s clash with local roots. That premise actually sounds fun.
The songs in Sanz’s repertoire were designed for the studio rather than the stage, and Tato’s description captures precisely what makes adapting them into a show difficult: a musical cannot simply string together a series of individual songs, one after another, with no connection between them.
A live band of 12 musicians backs the production. The tale is said to honor love in its many shapes, mixing unexpected turns, laughter, applause and even surprises from the audience. Comedy, drama and spectacle sit side by side, and that blend of styles is the kind of theatrical balance that can make a show feel alive.
The presence of flamenco deserves attention as well. It carries significant weight throughout, with one of its strongest moments coming from Inma La Carbonera, who portrays Levante, the personification of the wind that blows on the Cádiz coast. A storm even brings rain down onto the stage during the performance.
Throughout development, Sanz was an active presence, reading scripts, sitting in on rehearsals, and offering his thoughts to the team from the point of view of the “first spectator.”. He was struck by how his own songs could take on a fresh narrative in this setting. That feeling of amazement is precisely what Tato holds up as a hallmark of great masters — that they never fully shed their childlike wonder, that they never stop being children in some way.
Gazulea and its cast of characters are only starting their run in Madrid. Four years of labor went into building the production, and now the creators hope it will continue playing to audiences for many performances to come.
Source material: “This Is ‘El Alma al Aire,’ The New Musical With Songs by Alejandro Sanz,” Billboard.
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