Randy Barceló (September 19, 1946 – December 6, 1994) was a Cuban dancer, photographer, interior designer, and all-around artist. He was also known for his set and costume designs for theatre and film.
Biography Born in Havana on September 19, 1946, Randy Barceló left Cuba through Operation Pedro Pan at the age of 14. He studied art at University of Puerto Rico and in 1965 moved to New York where he enrolled in the Lester Polakov Studio and Forum of Stage Design.
Barceló began his career as a dancer and choreographer. At the age of 24, he worked as a designer for the Broadway musical, 'Lenny'. In 1972 he designed the costumes for Jesus Christ Superstar and was nominated for a Tony Award, the first Hispanic nominee for costume design. He went on to design costumes for several on- and off- Broadway plays and musicals, ballet and dance productions, and operas.
Barceló's art-work, primarily abstract and figurative sketches and paintings, have been shown in several galleries and museums including the Cooper Hewitt Museum, Hudson River Museum, and Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
In 1994, Barceló designed costumes for ¡Si Señor! ¡Es Mi Son!, choreographed for Ballet Hispanico by Alberto Alonso and Sonia Calero with music by Gloria Estefan. These were his final designs as he died of cancer on December 6 of that same year.
Works or publications
Randy Barceló’s Production Credits
Broadway
Ain't Misbehavin, 1978 Ain't Misbehavin, 1988 A Broadway Musical, 1978 Dude 1972 Jesus Christ Superstar, 1971 Lenny, 1971 The Leaf People, 1975 (costumes and make-up) The Magic Show, 1974 Mayor, 1985 (sets and costumes) The Night That Made America Famous, 1975 Senator Joe, 1989 (never officially opened) Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Off-Broadway
Blood Wedding, INTAR Theatre (sets and costumes) Caligula, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club Cracks, Theatre De Lys, 1976 Lady Day, Chelsea Theatre Center Mayor, Village Gate Theatre (sets and costumes) A Midsummer Night's Dream, New York Shakespeare Festival, Delacorte Theatre, 1982 The Moondreamers, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club Phillip Morris Superband Series, Beacon Theatre (set) Rice and Beans, INTAR Theatre (sets and costumes) Spookhouse, Playhouse 91, 1984 The Tempest, LaMama Experimental Theatre Club
Opera
L'Histoire du Soldat, Carnegie Hall (sets and costumes) Les Troyen, Vienna State Opera Lily, New York City Opera Mass, Leonard Bernstein, Kennedy Center Salome, New York City Opera
Ballet and Dance
Black, Brown & Beige, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1976 The Blues Ain't, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1974 Crosswords, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre La Dea delle Acque, Alvin Ailey for La Scala Opera Ballet, 1988 For "Bird" – With Love, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1984 Fuenteovejuna, Ballet Hispanico Lovers, Jennifer Muller (sets and costumes) Mondrian, Jennifer Muller (sets and costumes) The Mooche, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1974 Opus McShann, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1988 Predicaments for Five, Jennifer Muller (sets and costumes) ¡Si Señor! ¡Es Mi Son!, Ballet Hispanico, 1994 Spell, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, 1981 The Street Dancer, Ballet Hispanico,
Television
Ailey Celebrates Ellington, Alvin Ailey for CBS, 1975 Ain't Misbehavin, NBC, 1982 Duke Ellington: The Music Lives On, PBS, 1983
Film
Body Passion, 1987 (production designer) The Cop and the Anthem Cubanos (art direction and costumes) Fat Chance (set and costumes for theater sequence) Fatal Encounter, 1981 Secret Life of Plants (costumes for dance sequence) Tainted, 1988 (art direction and costumes) Los Dos Mundos de Angelita, 1984 (art direction and costumes) Welcome to Miami (art direction and costumes) When the Mountains Tremble, 1983 (production designer)
Notes and references
External links
The Randy Barceló collection is available at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. The Randy Barceló collection consists primarily of oversize costume and set designs by the Cuban-born designer. The collection also includes costume plots, drawings and sketches, posters and postcards, videotapes, photographs and slides, and two scripts written by Barceló. Selected designs from the Randy Barceló collection are available through the University of Miami Libraries Digital Collections portal. Creator page for Randy Barceló in the Cuban Theater Digital Archive. .