Alumnus Julián Mesri Music Directs Brian Quijada’s ‘Somewhere Over the Border’
Playwriting alumnus Julián Mesri ’20 is the music director and orchestrator for Brian Quijada’s new musical, Somewhere Over the Border.
Somewhere Over the Border is inspired by the author’s mother, Reina Quijada, on her real-life journey from El Salvador to the United States. The story utilizes the structure of L. Frank Baum’s famous The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The musical relies on the factual and the fantastical depiction of one young woman’s pursuit of the American dream. Reina gathers friends, experiences dangerous obstacles, and holds the memories of her family and home close as she travels north to the Mexican Border. The story is set in the 1970s and propelled by Cumbia, Mexican Mariachi Boleros, American Rock, and Hip Hop. The musical is part fable, part family history, and a testament to the determination born of love.
Somewhere Over the Border will premiere at Syracuse Stage on February 23 and run until March 13.
Julián Mesri is a New York-based Argentinean-American writer and composer who makes multilingual plays and musicals in the US and worldwide. He is a current Public Theater Emerging Writers Group member and received a 2020-2021 EST/Sloan Commission. Recent productions include Immersion (Ingenio Festival at Milagro Theater, BAPF Semi-Finalist), The Gauchos Americanos (Teatro Extranjero, Buenos Aires), and the upcoming musical Telo. Other work includes music directing/arranging Songs About Trains with Radical Evolution, composing music for the Public Theater Mobile Unit presentation of Pablo Neruda’s Romeo y Julieta, and a newly commissioned musical for young audiences, The Adventures of Snow White, to tour China in 2021. Mesri has been an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow at NYTW, a Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español, and the recipient of an ASCAP Scholarship. His adaptation of Fuenteovejuna received the HOLA Outstanding production award. He has also translated dramatic works for the Lark US/Mexico Exchange and PEN World Voices.