Adelaide Mestre has turned her life story into the book of her musical, and it ends up being a comedy. In the path, though, come serious problems and tragedy. Pretty in a deep pink evening dress, Mestre both sings and says how, in overcoming what she viewed as the need to be “Top Drawer” in life and art, she actually reached her own transcendence of early strictures and being set up for crises on and off stages. Music filled Mestre’s upper-class house in New York. Her socialite mother was a singer of opera with “Top Drawer” vocal musical standards that were handed down to Adelaide. Her Cuban father was a concert pianist. He was also gay at a time of oppression of gays and, while still young, committed suicide. For a long time, Mestre questioned whether her parents could really have been in love, and even whether she, too, could ever be. Adelaide had, as well, a slew of relatives, like the Marshall Field part of the family and a grandfather who was a founder of the Met. What a group of achievers to follow! She doubted her ability to meet their standards. Life began to change when Adelaide visited Cuba to explore her family heritage there. Her performance has her going back and forth between visiting areas in Havana and coming back to the stage to vent her feelings. She found her father’s piano, preserved in the Embassy of Bulgaria. What that gave her was strength to pick up her inheritance. She sings of and dramatizes her Cuban journey as the apex of her story. Adelaide was helped back in New York by an encouraging teacher. She quit feeling she lacked abilities. She also quit failing at loves that weren’t really meant for her and vice-versa. Adelaide, at the end of her play, is triumphantly at the beginning of a lovely life story. With the help of professionals in staging and a fine pianist, it is successfully imparted to audiences at many venues. SaraSolo 2017 is one of them.
