Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street Went From the Banned-Books List to the Opera
Photo: Keith Dannemiller.
Sandra Cisneros, one of America’s greatest writers, says that up until a few years ago, she was over speaking about her 1984 novel, “The House on Mango Street.” What started as an autobiographical book that she says she wrote during the “most powerless time” in her life became a work of fiction as Cisneros drew on the harsh realities her students experienced living their lives outside of her classroom across working-class neighborhoods in Chicago.
Countless people saw themselves in Esperanza, the book’s Latina protagonist, and her Chicago neighbors, making “The House on Mango Street” a huge success with more than 7 million copies sold, translated to over 25 languages, and becoming a longstanding fixture on required-reading lists — as well as banned-book lists — in U.S. grade schools and universities. As Cisneros published other books and still works on new ones, she never expected “The House on Mango Street” to have the long life it has had.
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“I was kind of tired of talking about my first born. I'm proud of it, but it's not my favorite book,” Cisneros tells Refinery29 Somos.
But her classic novel gained a new life when Grammy-nominated composer Derek Bermel approached Cisneros nearly 10 years ago with the idea to collaborate on turning “The House on Mango Street” into an opera. Excitedly, Cisneros accepted. Together, they co-wrote a libretto — the script of an opera — and brought the characters to life for the first time through songs, orchestral arrangements, and scenes on a stage.
On Friday, July 18, the operatic debut of “The House on Mango Street” drew nearly 1,000 people from across the country and outside the U.S. for its world premiere at Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York.
Photo: Kayleen Bertrand.
“I had so much fun with this collaboration, and I feel grateful that the book is doing its spirit work and not just in Latino communities. I get letters from people across the globe. It's very shocking, energizing, and confirming,” Cisneros shares. “I don't know if it will do its spirit work after I'm gone, in 100 years, or 10 years, or 20 years, but it's doing the work it needs to do at this time in history, and I'm very happy that the work is speaking to people whose lives are like the protagonists and who feel it gives them hope. That's what we need to do in times that are dark.”
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"I was a little worried about this opera coming out at this time with this administration, but I believe, and have to trust, that it's opening at the right time."
Sandra Cisneros
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Against the backdrop of today’s conversations around mass deportations, the continued hypersexualization of Latinas, and the gentrification of Black and brown neighborhoods, among many other topics covered in the book, the opera manages to make the script relevant while still drawing many of its lines directly from the novel.
“We had no idea when we were putting this together how contemporary it was going to be. So last night, as I watched it with the audience, it was chilling,” Cisneros says. “I was a little worried about this opera coming out at this time with this administration, but I believe, and have to trust, that it's opening at the right time.”
While walking the lush, green outdoor grounds of Glimmerglass Festival, I found myself among a crowd of mostly older, mostly white festivalgoers — that is, until I overheard a woman speaking Spanish. Looking to connect with other Latinas, I approached her. Samantha Alvarez greeted me with a smile and told me she’s from Pilsen, Chicago, just like Cisneros, She said the inspiration she felt from feeling represented by “The House on Mango Street” as a kid opened up a world of possibilities and empowered her to start a travel community and podcast called Hood Girls Travel Too.
“If Sandra, a hood girl like me, was creating such an impact in the world with her writing, maybe I could be someone, too,” Alvarez says.
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"If Sandra, a hood girl like me, was creating such an impact in the world with her writing, maybe I could be someone, too."
Samantha Alvarez
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Alvarez invited me to sit with her. Before I knew it, I was sitting with 12 other women who are part of Rise & Thrive Latinas, a Chicago-based book club-turned-community for Latinas. The women carpooled together, driving nearly 800 miles from Chicago to Central New York to see the opera.
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“For most of us, ‘The House on Mango Street’ was one of the first times we saw ourselves in a book, especially growing up in Chicago. And there we sat, watching the book that gave us life come to life as an opera — a medium not many of us are familiar with. But this time we were part of the inside jokes, we understood the references, we understood the dynamics Esperanza was experiencing. This time we were not the outsiders, we were home,” shares Rise & Thrive Latinas founder Stephanie Gomez.
This, Cisneros says, was exactly her goal: to introduce her characters to a new audience and introduce a new audience to opera.
“The fact that they all drove, these women from different walks of life, all of them in a caravan to come here was so moving to me. And they don't even know each other, except through this Latina book club, and their enthusiasm and their willingness to embrace each other and the story was so gratifying for me, was just thrilling,” Cisneros shares. “There was even a woman who came from Los Angeles and she wasn't part of the book club, but they grabbed her and said, ‘Come on, come with us.’ This is what I want to see, an opera where the audience includes my community, including the diversity of faces and people on the stage. That was just beyond my dreams.”
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"The incredible thing about this book is that it's both specific and universal, that almost anybody can see themselves in these characters. Older people, younger people, people of all different races and ethnic origins find themself in the story of their family and their neighborhood in that book."
Derek Bermel
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I watched the opera on the edge of my seat, shimmying to the tunes and tearing up at the drama. Derek Bermel, the composer of the opera, created a new layer of depth for the “Mango Street” characters by infusing the sounds of música norteña, rancheras, merengue, salsa, and hip-hop — all genres that would play in the Chicago neighborhoods in “The House on Mango Street.” Having grown up in New York City in the 1990s and 2000, I also felt at home.
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“The incredible thing about this book is that it's both specific and universal, that almost anybody can see themselves in these characters. Older people, younger people, people of all different races and ethnic origins find themself in the story of their family and their neighborhood in that book,” Bermel says.
Bermel and Cisneros worked closely on the songs to ensure they would reflect the characters’ origins and personalities. One of those characters is Lucy, one of Esperanza’s first real friends when she moves to the neighborhood and whose Mexican-American Spanglish is sprinkled throughout the Tejano-style music in her scenes.
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"It made me feel so connected to my ancestors and the sacrifices that so many generations before us had made."
SAMANTHA Sosa
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“To be a Latina in this Latina-driven story, in a Latina-written opera, felt like such a privilege and honor when I was cast in the role. I based her off on myself and my experiences growing up in Caracas,” says Samantha Sosa, who plays Lucy. “It made me feel so connected to my ancestors and the sacrifices that so many generations before us had made. It felt like such an honor to be doing the show, and then when we all did our bows, personally, when I took my bow, I felt like I was taking it for more than just myself, I took it for a community of living people and a community of people that came before all of us in the audience and on stage.”
Much like Cisneros shared that her journey out of Chicago to Iowa for her master’s degree provided some relief and fresh perspective after years of living in the city, I felt a wave of comfort wash over me while taking a break from New York City and enjoying my time around Cooperstown. I was relieved to get fresh air, look out to the foothills of the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains, and feel the breeze off the Otsego Lake.
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Photo: Courtesy of Landmark Inn.
I stayed at The Landmark Inn, a historic 1856 mansion that was the most relaxing place to rest between visiting Cooperstown’s main attractions just minutes away. I found a plethora of cultural connections, from visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame’s “¡Viva Baseball!" exhibit on Latin American baseball traditions — which featured my family’s Dominican hometown team Las Aguilas as well as a literal nod to my favorite Venezuelan Mets player Francisco Alvarez by way of a bobble head in the gift shop — to viewing American folk art at the Fenimore Art Museum and walking through the historic village at the Fenimore Farm. I strolled through the Cooperstown Farmers Market, tasted locally made food like chocolates by Madrileña Sonia Sola of Nectar Hills Farm, and sourced the cutest rainbow striped wristlet handmade by Brazilian artist Lucia Emiko.
On my final day in Cooperstown, Cisneros and I met at Clausen Lodge and we both admired the view of rolling green hills. We sat on the porch the morning after her opera’s premiere and, as we closed our discussion, Cisneros shared why she felt spiritually moved to center her book’s vignettes about migration and the threat of deportation in the opera.
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"The story of immigration is the great American story, and I feel that people who don't feel love toward immigrants [suffer from] arrested development."
sandra Cisneros
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“If we don't tell our stories, it will be like it never happened. The story that I was privy to while writing ‘The House on Mango Street’ is one of great American values. The story of immigration is the great American story, and I feel that people who don't feel love toward immigrants [suffer from] arrested development,” Cisneros says. “Everybody is on a spiritual path, and if you can't open your heart to love, and you are enclosed with anger, resentment, and revenge, it’s because you're not developed as a human being. Politicians that are in positions of power right now are spiritually immature. They haven't come into a place where they can see others who are unlike them with love.”
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Before parting, Cisneros shared her advice on how to protect our hearts and minds during these politically strife times.
“I think that it's going to be very important that we retreat into connecting with our ancestors and our cultural beliefs, with art, which is our medicine, and with community. Our community is going to be our strength. Who's going to love us, if not us?” Cisneros says. “We have to go back to our raíces, connect with our ancestors and with our culture. That’s the gift that we can give to el mundo: our spiritual generosity, our spiritual vision, our spiritual love.”
Performances of “The House on Mango Street” at Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, will run for a limited time through August 16, 2025.
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