Frida and Diego together eternally in Lyric’s Stunning Opera

Gabriela Lena Frank’s new Spanish opera El Último sueño de Frida y Diego is a gorgeous visual art piece that shifts and transforms and enchants, and it is also a lovely contemplation of death and grief in a way not usually seen on stage. This is in part because the opera, and the libretto by Nilo Cruz, envisions our dead and their connection to us in a way that is distinctly tied to Mexican culture, where our now departed loved ones inhabit an underworld ruled by Mictlantecutli and ferried about by La Catrina, the Keeper of the Dead sung and acted by Lyric favorite Ana María Martínez. This land of the dead is just beyond our world. This underworld where the dead go does not seem to be a bad place. Frida, sung by Daniela Mack, is finally free from pain as she lives there. She is surrounded by people from all walks of life in a kind of post living village.  Once a year the Dead may return to their still living families for a short visit. In the land of the Living,  Diego Rivera, sung by Alfred Daza, misses his muse and companion Frida and wants her to be among those who return.  

Life was not so great with Diego so Frida declines the invitation but a chance meeting with Leonardo, a Greta Garbo enactor, causes her to rethink a brief visit to the land of the living to paint once more. Frida’s Day of the Dead visit causes Diego to believe his time to go to the underworld has arrived, and the opera ends with the two of them united forever in Death. This is a moving story about complicated relationships and being human.

Jorge Ballina’s set will knock your eyes out: it is fantastic and beautiful and delights for the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes. The costumes by Eloise Kazan are exquisite; this show is worthy of these two artists and their legacy. There is a scene in the second act when singers arrive as Frida’s paintings and it will knock your socks off. This opera unites story, visual art and music in a way that brings the entire offering straight to your heart. 

In order to better appreciate El Último sueño more deeply and to continue to explore the various accommodations that Chicago cultural institutions utilize to make productions more accessible to people with disabilities, I and a hearing impaired pal donned Sound Shirts for this opera. A Sound Shirt, invented and produced by London based CuteCircuit, allows the wearer to experience music as a tactile sensation. Here is a video that describes the technology: https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/your-visit/accessibility/soundshirt/#:~:text=Worn%20like%20a%20jacket%2C%20this,every%20thrilling%20note%20in%20real%2Dtime. We were also able to attend a touch tour before the opera which offered further opportunities to literally feel the opera by touching costumes and props.   Once we put on the shirts which are quite stylish in a low key way, we felt vibrations in different parts of our torsos to correspond to different “parts” in the orchestra and when the singers performed.  As this was a quieter opera the vibrations rarely became huge.  For me it brought an entirely new sensation of opera as I felt it across my upper body. There were some glitches: one of the patches was over a glucose monitor and it blocked transmission : this is maybe not a good choice for folks with medical device. The shirt seems to be very good at imparting base and rhythm, it seemed less reliable with upper ranges.  Feeling the vibrations and watching the conductor’s body added a full body taking in of the music for me, but my companion felt that it could become too stimulating because as yet you cannot “turn down” the vibrations.  If it is too much, you can unzip the shirt and that diminishes the sensations once they are not close against your body.  I believe that the development of these kinds of technology will allow audience members of all kinds to experience opera in new ways.  You can look for icons for SoundShirts, audio description, ASL interpretation and touch tours on the Lyric Opera Calendar https://www.lyricopera.org/calendar/

And for accessible options at other Chicago institutions go here: https://chicagoplays.com/access/

You only have a few more days to see El Último sueño de Frida y Diego – Wednesday April 1 and Saturday April 4, 2026 at the Lyric Opera House at 20 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago.   Don’t miss this, it’s one of the more fantastic cultural happenings in Chicago this year.  For tickets and information go to

https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2025-26/el-ultimo-sueno-de-frida-y-diego/

Photo by Cory Weaver

For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com