MPR News0%
‘Somewhere’ at the Guthrie explores family tensions through drama and dance86%
By Jacob Aloi0%
12/26/2025, 2:00:00 AM
Keywords: Somewhere, Matthew Lopez, Guthrie Theater, Dance, Puerto Rican, West Side Story, Maija Garcia, Joseph Haj
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Negativity Bias, and Overconfidence Bias, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 25.2% saturation with 80 hits. Analysis detected 575 faulty-reasoning hits from 318 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 77.4% and a BS Rank of 86% (3,246 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 85.20% of the article peer group.
Dance, not song, carries the emotional weight in Matthew Lopez’s “Somewhere,” now onstage at the Guthrie Theater.
In the play, a Puerto Rican family of performers struggles to hold onto art — and home — as their neighborhood disappears in 1959 New York City.
“There is something to be said about the art of dance, where words can't really express what the feeling is,” said Preston Perez, who plays the lead Alejandro in the Guthrie Theater’s production.
“Even in a song, you have the lyrics that accompany the melody.
But with dance, it's purely how something feels in your body,” he added.
“Somewhere” is similar to other intimate family dramas, like Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.”
Here, the play focuses on a family of Puerto Rican performers, whose dreams of landing roles in shows like “West Side Story” stand in contrast with the reality that their neighborhood is being torn down.
“I think one of the primary tensions in the play is sort of this question, can I afford to be an artist?” said the show’s choreographer, Maija Garcia, who is coming off of debuting a new work with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater called “Jazz Island.”
“I really admire and respect Matthew Lopez as a playwright.
I think he’s arguably one of the greatest playwrights alive today,” Garcia added.
Garcia has a range of dance influences, including West African movement and Cuban salsa.
She uses those styles to shape the production alongside director Joseph Haj.
One of the show’s key influences is “West Side Story,” making it a natural collaboration for Haj and choreographer Garcia on “Somewhere.”
The two crafted the Guthrie’s 2018 production of “West Side Story.”
“It's full circle for Joe Haj and I,” Garcia said.
“There’s a lot of nostalgia and trust in the room.
So that's been, that's been a particular delight.”
“Somewhere” runs at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis through Feb. 1.
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