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If you’ve
ever wished your parents were glamorous
theatrical stars – and what gay child
hasn’t? – Marga Gomez in her riotous and
touching one-woman show, Los Big Names, will
disavow you of all delusions of grandeur.
Growing up as the only child of two stars of
the Sixties Latin theatre circuit, Gomez
yearned for a kind of normalcy which would
enable her picnics in Central Park with her
mother – who when finally coerced to join
little Marga proceeds to a dalliance with a
Central Park cop. Such are the indignities
Gomez relates as she recounts the years
spent bouncing between her two sparring and
fame-seeking parents, from whom it’s clear
that Gomez has inherited her love of
audience and applause. With the merest trace
of a smile, and mischievous eyes which shift
effortlessly from ironic to vulnerable,
Gomez has a physical presence reminiscent of
the best mime artists. And while her humor
is limned by the ineffable sadness of the
parent/child dynamic - the distance we
travel from our parents in our pursuit for
independence, and the continued need for
their approval, even from the grave – Gomez
proves yet again that there’s nothing like
laughter for letting go of resentment for
being the butt of a family joke.
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