Antonio Banderas' musical Gypsy wins four Talía Awards

The Talía Awards, given by the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts (AAEE), took place on Monday 12 May, in which the play 1936 swept the board with six awards - out of the six nominations it had - and the musical Gypsy, produced by Antonio Banderas, won the four awards for which it was nominated.

Gypsy won: Best Actress in Musical Theatre (Marta Ribera); Best Actor in Musical Theatre (Aaron Cobos); Best Musical Theatre Show; and Best Musical Direction, collected by the composer Arturo Díez, who thanked Banderas for his fight for musicals to be "absolutely live".

The award of Honour for Professional Trajectory went to Antonio Banderas, who received a standing ovation for his speech in which he extolled the importance of the theatre.

"A stage is a very small place where very big things happen. Theatres are these days, in which lies shamelessly move from one place to another, a refuge for the truth, a place for many ways of seeing and interpreting reality while paying tribute to a single, objective and unquestionable truth. A marvellous ritual in which we can laugh, cry, be moved or reflect together and in which artificial intelligence does not predominate, but human intelligence, that which we are celebrating here today", he said.

Before his speech, Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo thanked him for dedicating himself "body and soul" to the performing arts. "You have dedicated your time, your wisdom. You are a reference for us", the president said. The presentation of the award was preceded by a performance from Blanca Paloma, who sang the song 'Resistiré'.

The Teatro Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid hosted the gala, which lasted just over two hours and began with a performance that paid tribute to Lina Morgan and her legendary 'Gracias por venir'. The president of the AAEE, Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo, presented the gala and at the beginning addressed her mother, the actress Gemma Cuervo, who was in the audience, and thanked her for the fact that her generation "changed things".

"They opened doors and windows, threw down walls, prejudices and overthrew prejudices. And they also conquered the rights and freedoms we now enjoy," she said, before extending her thanks to José Sacristán and Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, who were also in the audience.

The gala was attended by the minister Yolanda Díaz, and the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí Grau, among others.

One of the most outstanding awards was the Talía for Best Text Theatre Show, which went to '1936', which tells the story of what the military coup d'état of 18 July 1936 meant for Spain and which led to the civil war.

The production won the Talía for best playwriting for theatre, an award received by Juan Cavestany and Juan Mayorga, who called for "working for peace". They said, "1936 is a play about a war that should never have happened. Thinking about a war that should never have happened is our way of working for peace."

1936 also won the Talía for Best Stage Direction, and although its winner Andrés Lima was unable to attend the gala, he left a message dedicated "to all those who suffered during the war, to those who were persecuted, tortured and murdered". He went on to say, "I want to dedicate '1936' to the 114,000 disappeared and to their relatives who are still searching for them in mass graves or in any ditch."

These words were shared by the actor Juan Vinuesa, winner of the Talía Award for Best Leading Actor, who plays Franco in '1936'. "I dedicate it to all the people who are looking for a family member because remembering is not dividing, remembering has more to do with recognising and I believe it is the only way for us to walk together towards the future with coexistence," he said in his acceptance speech.

The play also won in the category of best lighting and best supporting actor (Antonio Durán). Also in the theatre category, Amparo Pamplona won the Talía Award for best supporting performance for 'Nada'.

Another of the big stars was Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, who won an award for best actress in a leading role for 'La Madre'. "What a year," celebrated the actress, who recently received the Goya de Honor.

The best Lyrical Show was 'La Rosa del Azafrán'; the Best Female Performer was Marina Monzó for 'Marina' and Ángel Ruiz was awarded Best Male Performer for 'La Rosa del Azafrán', who gave the award to Gaza and to "all the children who are massacred by the murdered state of Israel".

Among the presenters was the singer Marwan, who recalled that he is the son and grandson of Palestinian refugees and asked the public not to forget Gaza. "I ask you to put pressure on everyone in this country so that no more arms are sold to Israel", he said before presenting the Talía award for Best Original Music to Alberto Granados for 'Un monstruo viene a verme' (A monster comes to see me).

The best dance show went to 'Afanador', by the Ballet Nacional de España, which also received the Talía Award for best choreography. Patricia Guerrero and Manuel Liñán received the awards for best female and male performance in dance, respectively.

The Talía for best company work went to Teatro Kamikaze, who claimed the responsibility of the sector to "defend now more than ever the values of equality and freedom threatened by the reactionary wave that is advancing in Europe and the United States".

"We cannot mention these values without committing ourselves to the genocide in Palestine or the war in Ukraine", said one of the representatives of Kamikaze Theatre.

The Extraordinary Talía 2025 Award for the region of Castilla y León went to Emilio Gutiérrez Caba. "I was born in September 1942, just as the Stalingrad offensive was beginning. Today we are still at war. We live in difficult times and we will surely live in more difficult times, but we have to be united and fight," he said. Along with him, the actresses Helena Pimenta and Ana Garcés also received the award.

The actor Telmo Irureta was also one of the winners at this event with the Special Award for social change and inclusion in the performing arts, sponsored by ONCE. "I am committed to continue working, educating and making people uncomfortable in order to click in the minds of our audience and to be able to advance in the normalisation of diversity," he affirmed.

Another special award went to Mina El Hammani and Ricardo Gómez for Young Talent. The actor remembered Juan Margallo, who passed away on 2 March. The Best Latin American Performing Arts Show went to 'Discurso de promoción', a collective creation of the Agrupación Cultural Yuyachkani, from Peru.

"The discourse of colonialism, of extermination, is repeated not only in the global south, but also in this contemporary history now", commented a member of the group, who explained that the work speaks of Peruvian independence from the Spanish crown. "Sadly, it proves that the independence of the invisible communities, the peasants, the indigenous people, has not changed until now," he explained.