24 Hours Lying (1947)
Genre: Lyric comedy in two acts.
Text: Francisco Ramos de Castro.
Music: Francisco Alonso.
Premiere: June 12, 1947, at Bretón de los Herreros, Logroño.
Performers of the premiere: Maruja Boldoba. Angelita Navalón. Araceli Castro. Hloria Santoncha. Carmen de León. Carlos Garriga. Alfonso Goda. Luis Barbero Juan Pascual Amadeo Llauradó.
Synopsis: The delusions of grandeur of Doña Casta (wife of Don Casto) and her daughters Charito and Totó, reach such ridiculous proportions that they end up locking themselves up in the house to make the neighbors believe that they are on vacation.
This behaviour will lead them into a constant and ever increasing spiral of lies. When Don Fernando and Doña Laura arrive, the Argentine parents of Toto’s boyfriend, Don Casto and his wife, will pose as servants of themselves. The day is saved by Don Fileto and his wife, parents of Charito’s boyfriend, who, posing as Don Casto and his wife, mange to get the Argentines to leave.
The compromising situations and the strangest adventures occur until the arrival of the couple, Fernando and Ricardo, which manages to clarify everything.
For 24 hours lying, a fine work of ‘entanglement’, Alonso wrote a series of attractive but punchy numbers , which were an instant hit. The audience of the Albéniz theater came out humming the melody of the “Foxtrot de las cocteleras”, the smooth “Portuguese Fado” the chotis “Arrímate-maté-maté”, the rogue “Pregón”, the delicate “Canción mallorquina” and the vibrant pasodoble “Claveles granadinos”.
On July 2018, with musical direction of Carlos Aragón and scenic of Jesús Castejón, the work was released in Teatro de la Zarzuela. The singers were Jesús Castejón, Gurutze Beitia, Estíbaliz Martyn, Nuria Pérez, Joselu López, Enrique Viana, Raffaela Chacón, Ángel Ruiz, Cecilia Solaguren, José Luis Martínez, María José Suárez, Mario Martín and Luis Maesso.
