Cuba Entertainment Guide - A Night at the Tropicana

Cabaret Tropicana was born in 1939 in the farm Villathat have been acclaimed by millions, and there,
Mina of the Havana neighborhood Marianao. This wassurprise and enjoyment become a total experience.
not its original name, and started as a ballroom forThis room has a capacity for one thousand people,
parties and gaming which little by little included musicals.distributed around the stage, which is surrounded by
It was actually the artistic director who suggested inpalm trees and launch pads used by the artists during
1940 that the name change to Tropicana, due to thetheir performances. Its shows usually have around 300
sonority and the Caribbean concept that the melody ofartists: dancers, acrobats, singers, and musicians.
the flutist Alfredo Brito entailed while the group ofTropicana delights its audience with rhythmic songs of
dancers were rehearsing for a new choreography.mambo, rumba, cha cha, son and danzon; with such a
Nowadays, the luxurious cabaret is the symbol of therepertoire, classic musicians like Benny Moré,
Havana nights and few foreign tourists do not take aLecuona or Grenet cannot be missed. Great artists
night from their time to go to the Tropicana. In 1992 thesuch as Josephine Baker, Tongolele, Xavier Cugat, Los
American Academy of the Restaurant Industry gaveChavales de España, Carmen Miranda, Liberace,
the cabaret the Best of the Five Stars DiamondPedro Vargas, Rita Montaner, Rosita Fornés and
Award as the best cabaret in the Americas, and itNat King Cole, among others have performed on its
was selected among another 20 places forstages. In 1954, the French designer Pierre Balmain
broadcasting live to the world the farewell bidding ofpresented his summer collection having as models the
the 20th century by the American televisioncorps de ballet of the cabaret. More recently, Norma
consortiums ABC and CNN.Duval, Alejandra Guzmán, Cheo Feliciano and the
The ballet dancer icon that identifies the cabaretJapanese fashion designer Junko Koshino have been
welcomes the visitor, a sculpture made by the Cubanin Tropicana, an emblematic space that has surpassed
artist Rita Longa in 1950. Then, one enters to thethe Cuban borders and the borders of international
Room under the Stars, which has a mobile stage thatmusic.
each night is filled with beautiful voices and dancers