A superhero play by Matt Barbot, El Coquí Espectacular is set in Brooklyn. Our hero is an aspiring, out-of-work comic book writer named Alex (Bradley James Tejeda, terrific). In his everyday life, he lives at home with his mother and brother, who works for a vile soda company peddling sugar to Latinos. This is the “Bottle of Doom” of the title. Naturally, our Puerto Rican superhero has a costume (handmade), is a vigilant neighborhood crime fighter (well, trying) and, in the process, becomes a famous celebrity in the community.
As is required in comics, we have a diabolical villain named El Chupacabra, apparently named after a legendary creature who sucks the blood of goats and was first purported to be seen in Puerto Rico. None of this is in the play but it certainly explains the spines on the costume! El Chupacabra is played with hilarious evil relish by Gabriel Diego Hernández. There is also the female photographer who encounters our hero and a mom who is tough, a little batty but with a heart of gold. Much of this entertainment is great fun, if slightly leaning toward children’s theater. The messages and themes are fairly simplistic, which admittedly can be appropriate for comics but adds extra weight to the serious moments. Thankfully the townsfolk, denoted by the cast wearing bright green glasses, jump in to make us laugh at the exaggerated parody.
The production values of El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom were incredibly good. This was my first excursion to Two River Theater and the venue is impressive. The scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado and the rest of the largely New York based production team have created a colorful and creative comic book storyboard which impressively enhances the action. Overall, this play is high quality fun.