Review of Visión Latino's Yellow Eyes

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Yellow Eyes. It was by Migdalia Cruz and it was directed by Xavier Custodio. It was about a girl Isabel (Jackie Siejo) who went to go and visit her great grandparents, Don José (Armando Reyes) and Doña Ana (Joette Waters). And her great grandmother was going kind of crazy. But she loved them very much and she learned a lot from them. She has a boyfriend Ian (Johnathan Nieves) who seems to think only about himself, but he does love her. She also has two friends. One, Lulu (Yajaira Custodio), was obsessed with church and was kind of going crazy. And the other friend Sharon (Tara Marie Smith) was her best friend and their relationship was kind of fading because Isabel was getting beat up a lot by people who thought she shouldn't be friends with or dating people of a different race than her. It is about friendship, reflecting on your choices, and love. I thought that this was a great show and I really really enjoyed it because it was just such a perfect mix of funny and sad and those are the exact kind of plays I love.

Sharon was Isabel's best friend and her little brother had just died. It was so sad to see how sad she was but also how mad at her mom she was because her mom was sad and as a result Sharon could never have any peace and quiet. I found it super sad that this person went through such hard times and got so mad at her mom just because she was as upset as her mom was, she just contained it. She was one of my favorite characters so it made it even sadder. I found the scene where Lulu was talking to her about her brother, who she thought was still alive but of course he wasn't, so sad. And what happened is that Sharon was very sad and didn't want any help, but she did realize that actually she did want help and wanted Lulu to come to her brother's funeral. Sharon is important to the show because she is Isabel's best friend and is trying to save their relationship. But the thing is is that she is more than a sidekick to Isabel because of this story about her brother.

I felt like the grandparents were very funny but also very touching. I think that all the flashbacks of her as like a young maiden and him as a working boy were very funny; the way that they interacted like they were very young was very funny, but not how sad he was that she would never say that she loved him. He would say,"Do you love me?" and she would say "Maybe" like she actually did but she didn't want to confess it because she thought that was very sappy. But of course it wasn't. It was just a feeling. He told everyone that he loved her and he would look at her so tenderly and lovingly. And when they were older, he would still look at her in the same way. At a certain point in the show you see that she hasn't hated him her whole life. She actually does love him, but the problem is that they had had a bad experience and he wasn't able to help her. But not because he was lazy or didn't care. I felt like it was so sad because he wanted to help her and was so mad at himself that he couldn't help her.

Ian was so funny. I loved how he did this Michael Jackson stuff all the time, like doing the dance and he also picked his afro all the time. I found that very funny. I loved the huge amounts of sass that he had, but on the inside he seemed kind of sweet even though he often seemed pretty selfish--like how he only seemed to care about his hair. But that wasn't all he cared about. He just thought if he only seemed to care about his hair he would seem cooler. The same actor played the grandpa as a young man and I thought he did a great job at being very serious and sad in that part but also being this really funny character. Lulu was really funny and touching too. She talked about church all the time, but then it became a different church she was really happy about even though it was a different belief. And she didn't see anything weird about that so she seemed kind of clueless. When she was talking to that rat it made me want to cry. You'll have to go see the show to find out what I mean.

People who would like this show are people who like afros, beautiful friendships, and great grandparent love stories. I think that people should definitely definitely go see this show. It is a beautiful play with amazing actors and I really really loved it.


Photos: Yajaira Custodio