When you think of a musical, what comes to mind? An orchestra in pit, perhaps on-stage in the back? Singers and dancers? Elaborately choreographed numbers?
Set that all aside when you see Mexodus at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mexodus is a very non-traditional musical, at least in that respect. All of the music is created live by the two performers telling the story. And when I say created, I literally mean created. Not only do they play all the instruments, but the record and loop those instruments and background sounds live as they perform the story. They then play them back as they tell the story to provide their own generated backing tracks. It is a very unique way of presenting a musical. Additionally, not only are these two the performers, they are also the authors: all the music and lyrics and story are by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, who perform the show.
Oh, and there are no traditional song and dance numbers, but that’s less surprising with a cast of only two.
As for the show itself, well, an article in Playbill describes it best:
When the two began working on it five years ago, they were still relative strangers. Back in February 2020, Quijada and Robinson were both speakers at a conference for actors who were also musicians. The two immediately got along: they both played multiple instruments, they loved hip-hop and musical theatre, and they grew up going to church.
After the conference, the two were hanging out at Quijada’s small studio apartment “just rapping and vibing and stuff,” recalls Robinson. “But he was like, ‘Have you ever heard of the Underground Railroad that led south to Mexico? And I was like, ‘oh shit. That does make sense.’”
Quijada had seen a History.com article about the Underground Railroad to Mexico on Facebook. “I remember reading that and thinking about my parents and their story of crossing the border,” says Quijada. He jotted that factoid down in 2017 as an interesting idea for a potential piece, but didn’t touch it until 2020, after he met Robinson, because, “I’m not going to write a slave narrative alone. That’s not my story.” Quijada’s parents are from El Salvador.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the theatre industry was shut down, Robinson and Quijada passed the time writing songs for Mexodus, bringing in their love of hip-hop and also gospel and bolero. The goal was to have enough songs to do a concert in 2021 at the development hub New York Stage and Film. Scholarship about the Underground Railroad to Mexico was scarce, but the two were able to find some compelling stories—such as the story about a slave who crossed the Rio Grande on a bale of floating cotton. Admits Robinson: “We don’t know if it’s a folk tale that happened for real, for real. But just the idea that the thing that enslaves you can be the thing that sets you free—that is the bigger metaphor.”
So Mexodus tells the story of Henry, a slave from Victoria TX, and Carlos, a former Mexican army medic turned ranchworker across the border in Mexico (probably in the Neuvo Leon province). After having killed his master when his masters wife made sexual overtures to him (and the master caught them), Henry escapes across the Rio Grande floating on a bale of cotton. Carlos rescues him. The story the develops shows how the two became friends, and they provided protection for each other.
But more than this surface story, there are some key underlying messages. It starts at the very beginning, when Quijada tells a story about his youth in Chicago when they had to stop to get gas in a Black neighborhood. His parents were scared for their safety, simply because the people around them were different. He emphasizes how this shows that the attitudes America held during slavery: fear about people who were different, and only feeling comfortable around “your own” were still present today. He implies that a lot of this fear is what is driving what we are seeing today: People that are only comfortable with their own, and the immense fear many people have over those who are black and brown. They don’t see them as people; they see them only as the archetypes to be feared.
My wife said it well: She came into see a play, and came out having learned history. According to the History.com article that likely inspired the story, “Researchers estimate 5,000 to 10,000 people escaped from bondage into Mexico”. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 when Texas was still part of the country, in part prompting white, slave-holding immigrants to fight for independence in the Texas Revolution. Once they formed the Republic of Texas in 1836, they made slavery legal again, and it continued to be legal when Texas joined the U.S. as a state in 1845. Mexico refused to sign a treaty equivalent to the Fugitive Slave Act, insisting that all enslaved people were free when they set foot on Mexican soil. Despite this, some U.S. owners of enslaved people still hired slave catchers to illegally kidnap escapees in Mexico. This is also a plot beat in the story.
Robinson makes it appear that his family history includes escaped slaves that went to Mexico. Whether this is true is hard to know, but he does make it believable. As such, this is a layer above histories such as Hamilton: This appears to be the real story of the performers telling the story.
The music is complex, and is not your traditional Musical style. It is hip-hop, and Tejano, and gospel, and so much more. It is also complex and developed. Again, quoting from the Playbill article:
The two act while singing and playing every musical instrument in the show. There’s no backing orchestra here—it’s just these two performers, some guitars, a bass, a piano, a trumpet, and drums. Oh, and the most important instrument of all: a looping station, which allows them to record a musical phrase and then play it back in repeat, so they can then layer multiple instruments on top of each other. This means that Quijada and Robinson are creating the arrangement for each song live on the spot every night. […] The musical complexity of Mexodus means that it doesn’t always go smoothly, notes Robinson. “It’s so complicated and the margin for error is so thin, like, if we hit [a button] a millisecond too late, we could derail three songs. I wish I was being hyperbolic. There have been some things that have messed up on our part, even in this run—like running up the steps and accidentally hitting the button and not meaning to. It’s like, ‘Why did that not record?’” They asked me if I noticed a mistake that occurred on the night I went to the show. I can honestly say that no, I couldn’t tell, because I was so swept away by the music I was hearing.
I can attest to that. At our performance, Quijada was having trouble with the peg at the bottom of his guitar that holds the strap. He kept fiddling it, while still trying to keep the music going and having the loop and record. He did, and he even joked live about it during the show. Both Quijada and Robinson give shoutouts to the technical and sound crew assisting them with the looping. They deserved it.
That’s yet another reason to see this musical. Often, when I see musicals, I assess their ability to move to the regional or school stage. Mexodus is technically complicated and requires sophisticated technology, and multi-talented musicians to pull it of. This is not a show likely to be seen on the regional or school stage. Pasadena Playhouse was able to remount this by bringing in the original Off-Broadway cast, including the original looping system architect. I’ll note that if you are interested in this production, it has been recorded and is available on Audible. I’m not sure I like that trend: I prefer traditional cast albums. Perhaps one day they will release just the songs as a cast album; for now, just one song has been released.
The show is short: Just 90 minutes with no intermission. It is well worth seeing, especially if you would like to learn some history you probably never knew. Oh, and the music is great as well.
Credits
Mexodus. Written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson. Directed by David Medizábal. Choreographed by Tony Thomas.
Cast: Brian Quijada Carlos; Nygel D. Robinson Henry. Understudies: Trent Lawson Henry; Alan Mendez Carlos.
Production and Creative: Brian Quijada Co-Creator; Nygel D. Robinson Co-Creator. David Medizábal Director, Costume Designer; Tony Thomas Choreographer; Alan Mendez u/s Carlos, Music Director; Riw Rakkulchon Scenic Designer; Mextly Couzin Lighting Designer; Mikhail Fiksel Looping System Architecture & Sound Designer; Johnny Moreno Video/Projection Design; Hope Villaueva Production Stage Manager; Fior Tat Asst Stage Manager; Mike Deyo Assoc Sound Designer; Hide Nakajo Asst Sound Designer; Matt Perosa Deck Chief; Jordan Del Pino, Joe Court Audio Engineer A1; Akari Izumi Audio Engineer A2.
Key Producers: P3 Productions, Audible. Originally produced by Baltimore Center Stage. West Coast Premiere produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Administrivia
I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.
Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania. If you are looking for discount tickets, TodayTix (unlike their predecessor Goldstar Events) doesn’t handle the small theatres in LA. Luckily, Theatre Source LA has a new initiative: StageRushLA for discount tickets.
Upcoming
Key: 🎭 Theatre / 🎼 Music / 
Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (🎫 indicates ticketing is pending).
- July: 🎭 The Wizard of Oz at 5-Star Theatricals; 🎭 If/Then at Chromolume Theatre.
- August: 🎭 Beauty and the Beast at BIH/Pantages;
- September: 🎭 Water for Elephants at BIH/Pantages; 🎭🎫 The Visit at Pasadena Playhouse; 🎼 Sutton Foster at The Soraya; 🎭🎫 Catch Me If You Can at The Colony Theatre; 🎭🎫Every Brilliant Thing at The Main;
- October: 🎭 The Outsiders at BIH/Pantages; 🎼 Branford Marsalis & Dianne Reeves Celebrate John Coltrane at The Soraya; 🎭 Les Miserables at 5-Star Theatricals; 🎼 Gershwin and the Golden Age (feat. Michael Feinstein) at The Soraya; 🎭 The Who’s Tommy at BIH/Pantages.
