At Lyric Opera of Chicago, El último sueño de Frida y Diego unfolds not as a linear narrative, but as a sequence of dreams, vivid, surreal, emotionally charged visions that blur the boundaries between life and death, memory and myth. And like any good dream, it lingers.

From the moment the curtain rises, the audience is pulled into a world where time bends and the impossible feels inevitable. The premise itself, Frida Kahlo returning from the underworld for a single day with Diego Rivera, sets the stage for a story that is as much about longing and reckoning as it is about love.

A Dreamscape Rooted in Culture and Imagination

This production leans fully into magical realism, and it works. Scenes feel less like events and more like emotional landscapes. Each transition carries the logic of dreams, fluid, symbolic, and occasionally disorienting in the most satisfying way.

As a Mexican woman, I couldn’t help but watch through a slightly irreverent lens, even in death, Mexican women seek vengeance. And honestly? Frida would approve. There’s a quiet humor in the idea that crossing back from Mictlán isn’t just about romance, but unfinished business. The opera captures that duality beautifully, tenderness laced with bite, devotion shadowed by betrayal.

Visual Splendor: A Living Canvas

The visual world of this production is nothing short of magnificent. The set design transforms the Lyric stage into a living painting, saturated with color, texture, and symbolism. From the marigold strewn landscapes of the underworld to the jewel toned intimacy of Casa Azul, every scene feels meticulously crafted and emotionally resonant.

Costumes are equally breathtaking. They don’t just clothe the characters, they define them. Traditional Mexican silhouettes are infused with surrealist flourishes, echoing Frida’s own aesthetic. This is a production where design is not background, it is storytelling.

Bravo, especially, to the set designer Jorge Ballina and costume designer Eloise Kazan, whose work elevates the entire experience into something immersive and transportive.

The Performances: Anchoring the Surreal

Daniela Mack’s Frida is both fierce and fragile, embodying the contradictions that made Kahlo such a compelling figure. Alfredo Daza’s Diego carries the weight of regret and ego in equal measure, grounding the opera’s emotional core.

But the true revelation of the evening, the undeniable star, is Catrina.

Ana María Martínez’s portrayal of the skeletal Keeper of the Dead is mesmerizing. She commands the stage with elegance, wit, and a kind of knowing authority that bridges worlds. Her presence is magnetic, every entrance feels like an event. Vocally luminous and theatrically precise, she transforms Catrina into more than a guide between life and death, she becomes the pulse of the production.

It’s the kind of performance that makes you lean forward in your seat and quietly ask, who is this woman, and how is she stealing every scene?

Music That Breathes Between Worlds

Gabriela Lena Frank’s score weaves Mexican folk influences into a contemporary operatic language that feels both grounded and otherworldly. Under conductor Roberto Kalb, the orchestra becomes an emotional undercurrent, shifting, swelling, and sometimes haunting.

The music doesn’t just accompany the story, it breathes with it.

Final Thoughts: Art That Refuses to Die

At its heart, El último sueño de Frida y Diego is about what survives us, love, memory, art. It asks a deceptively simple question, what would you do with one more day?

Lyric Opera’s production answers with boldness, beauty, and just enough irreverence to keep it honest.

It is a feast for the senses, a meditation on legacy, and yes, a dream you won’t quite shake when you leave the theater.

And like any good dream, it reminds you, the past isn’t gone. It’s just waiting for the right moment to return.

– Norma Magallanes, S+P

El Último Sueño De Frida Y Diego

Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 4, 2026 at 2 p.m.

Lyric Opera of Chicago