Chico Mello: Destino das Oito

A telenovela where five characters have got lost in the fictitious plot forms the basis of this musical performance. Like in the conflict structure and plot of a telenovela, all actions are reflected on stage. The difference is: in a rewind, one single episode is played through in numerous possible variations. Stars and audience alike unfold the various possibilities of dealing with one and the same situation. Every-day occurrences intermingle with things absurd. In a continuous interaction with fade-in images from popular Brazilian telenovelas, ever new developments and absurd involvements of the characters are displayed. The basic motifs in all this are: love, passion, deception, schemes, emotional outbursts, social differences, gender-specific misunderstandings etc.

Chico Mello works with the ‘de-contextualisation’ of bossa novas. The “telebossa” is a combination of Brazilian telenovelas and the musical form of a bossa nova. What the two have in common are the ever recurring patterns aimed at provoking strong emotions. In the newly conceived form of the “telebossa”, the drama of telenovelas is ‘bossa nova-d’, which leads to fascinating contradictions that are enhanced by scenic presentation.