{"id":248852,"date":"2026-04-27T22:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248852\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T22:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:44:11","slug":"alvarez-guedes-tribute-show-at-tropical-park-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248852\/","title":{"rendered":"Alvarez Guedes tribute show at Tropical Park, Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legacy of Cuban comic Guillermo Alvarez Guedes is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

He was a stand up comic and television and film actor with a rare blend of talents for physical and linguistic humor. He managed to turn \u201c\u00a1\u00f1\u00f3!,\u201d an abbreviated version of a four-letter-word Cuban expletive, into his signature flourish without entirely diluting its power or making it sound offensive. He was a skilled storyteller, the voice of home for a wounded exile community, while also making his streetwise cubaneo popular throughout Latin America.<\/p>\n

But Guedes, who died at his home in Kendall in July 2013, at the age of 86, was also a writer, a visionary entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Gema, considered one of the most important record labels in Caribbean music. Its catalog includes the work of figures such as Lena Burke, Bebo Vald\u00e9s, Rolando Laserie, Rafael Cortijo, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, and a young, unknown but promising singer and songwriter, Willy Chirino, who recorded his first three albums with the label.<\/p>\n

\"Comedian Comedian Guillermo ALvarez-Guedes jokes around with DJ. Adrian Mesa at the studio during his FM radio show in Sept. 29, 2000. Pedro Portal EL Nuevo <\/p>\n

Now \u201cMuerto de Risa El \u00daltimo Show de \u00c1lvarez Guedes,\u201d an immersive theatrical experience, opening at a custom-built space in Tropical Park on Thursday, April 30 to Sunday, May 31, summons the words and spirit of the comic to celebrate his legacy in one last run.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis impact on preserving Cuban culture, on preserving the exile and immigrant story in a funny, happy, joyful way, and the impact he had on music, is felt to this day,\u201d said Nelson Albareda, co-producer, co-writer and co-director along with co-writers and co-directors H\u00e9ctor Medina and Robby Ramos.<\/p>\n

\"A A photo from 2006 of comedian Guillermo Alvarez Guedes. Roberto koltun El Nuevo herald <\/p>\n

Albareda compares Guedes\u2019 place in Latin comedy to that of Celia Cruz\u2019s in Latin music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same way that Celia opened the way for Gloria and for Shakira, Alvarez Guedes opened up Latin Comedy for today\u2019s comedians whether it be Fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias), Paul Rodriguez, Marcelo Hernandez, or George Harris,\u201d says Albareda. \u201cI think of Guedes as the father of Latin comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even academia took note of the reach of his work. In \u201cDiversi\u00f3n: Play and Popular Culture in Cuban America,\u201d Yale scholar Albert Laguna examines the place of Guedes\u2019s stand-up comedy in Cuban life in the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Cuban Cuban actor Ariel Texido as Alvarez Guedes in \u201cMuerto de Risa \u2013 El \u00daltimo Show de \u00c1lvarez Guedes\u201d premiering in a custom-built venue for the show at Tropical Park. (Photo by Yusnel Su\u00e1rez, courtesy of Loud and Live ) <\/p>\n

And yet, notes Albareda, Guedes, who left Cuba in exile in 1960, \u201cnever got a proper tribute recognition on his legacy while he was alive,\u201d adding that he\u2019s been working on the show for close to eight years.<\/p>\n

Written in Spanish, sprinkled with Spanglish references, and featuring Cuban actor Ariel Texido in the lead role, \u201cMuerto de Risa\u201d sets Guedes coming from the heavens to Miami to put on one last show. For it, the production has built a custom space in Westchester\u2019s Tropical Park. \u201cThink Cirque du Soleil,\u201d says Albareda. It\u2019s outfitted with a bar, a cabaret performing space, and a patio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was fitting to do this show in Westchester, because it was a key Cuban neighborhood for a lot of Cubans,\u201d explains Albareda.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuerto de Risa\u201d comprises three distinct experiences. A pre-show bar \u00e1rea, a cabaret setting, where the play takes place as well as a show with music and dancers, and then a post-show experience in the form of a patio.<\/p>\n

\"Hector Hector Medina, left, co-writer and co-director, Nelson Albareda, co-producer, co-writer and co-director, and Robby Ramos, co-writer and co-director, of \u201cMuerto de Risa \u2013 El \u00daltimo Show de \u00c1lvarez Guedes.\u201d (Photo courtesy of Loud and Live) <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want . . . it to be something that people would want to talk about with their children afterward\u2014 to connect across generations and have a good time with food and drinks,\u201d says Ramos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an idea that mirrors what emerges as a ritual of sorts among Guedes\u2019 fans. Ask about him to your Cuban or Cuban American friends, and chances are they will have a story or two of listening to his comedy albums \u2014 he recorded more than 30 throughout his career \u2013 as part of a family get-together. Albareda remembers his entire family, \u201c30 or 40 people, including grandparents and my parents, cousins, listening on Christmas Eve, after dinner. We would all sit around and listen to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramos speaks of knowing \u201call Guedes\u2019 jokes by heart\u201d after hearing his uncle reciting them at parties and having his parents and grandfather \u201calways listening to Alvarez Guedes\u2019 records and talking about him. He was truly part of my childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in Cuba, long after he was gone, his humor and storytelling brought people together, notes Medina, a Cuban actor, writer, director, and producer who moved to Miami in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, I\u2019d always see groups of people in Cuba listening to the radio in secret,\u201d recalls Medina. \u201cAnd when I\u2019d ask, I\u2019d find that there were two things they had to listen to very quietly: one was Radio Mart\u00ed, the other was when they played the cassettes by Guedes. He was funny and said all those swear words but so elegantly \u2014 and he also said many things that many of us wanted to say. That was my early experience with Alvarez Guedes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texido reminisces about listening to the cassettes his grandmother owned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where she got them, but she had about six or seven of his cassettes that I listened to over and over again. For us in Cuba, it was a relief amid all that tension and pressure and repression and everything else. Still, I only came to realize what a big deal he was when I came here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cuban Cuban actor Ariel Texido steps into the shoes of Alvarez Guedes in \u201cMuerto de Risa \u2013 El \u00daltimo Show de \u00c1lvarez Guedes.\u201d He listened to the comic on his grandmother\u2019s cassettes. \u201cFor us in Cuba, it was a relief amid all that tension and pressure and repression and everything else.\u201d (Photo by Yusnel Su\u00e1rez, courtesy of Loud and Live) <\/p>\n

But Guedes made a point in not taking things too seriously \u2014 including his place in the cultural landscape. Fittingly, \u201cMuerto de Risa\u201d keeps nostalgia at a distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we choose to make it like a biopic, or to make it nostalgic, I think we\u2019d be failing him,\u201d says Medina. Instead, \u201cMuerto de Risa\u201d stays true to the spirit of its subject, suggests Texido.<\/p>\n

Texido says that there\u2019s a moment in the show where Guedes says, \u201cFor me, leaving Cuba . . . really hurt me a lot. It made me so angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

A silence.<\/p>\n

Then the character says, \u201cBut I never let the pain \u2014 that pain and that hatred \u2014 consume me. From then on, joy was my only mission.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that when he said that, he wasn\u2019t talking about just his own joy\u2014it was the joy of the people,\u201d says Texido.<\/p>\n

If you go:<\/p>\n

WHAT: \u201cMuerto de Risa \u2013 El \u00daltimo Show de \u00c1lvarez Guedes\u201d<\/p>\n

WHERE: Tropical Park, 7900 SW 40th St., Miami<\/p>\n

WHEN: Opening Thursday, April 30 through Sunday, May 31. Shows Thursday through Sunday. 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 9:30 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

COST: $79.99, $119, and $139<\/p>\n

INFORMATION: https:\/\/alvarezguedesmiami.com\/<\/p>\n

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don\u2019t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Amy Reyes edits the education team plus arts, entertainment, food and race & culture.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legacy of Cuban comic Guillermo Alvarez Guedes is no laughing matter. He was a stand up comic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-248852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}