"La zarzuela se divierte… y aprende": Una conversación con Víctor Pagán sobre el arte nuevo de divulgar el teatro lírico para nuestros tiempos

Abstract:The Bulletin of the Comediantes features this conversation between Víctor Pagán and José Antonio Rodríguez Garrido of the Editorial Board as a Touchstone of theater studies. In so doing, we celebrate Pagán's three decades of pioneering work preparing scholarly programs for Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela. Born in Puerto Rico and holding a doctorate from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Pagán has curated the cuadernos didácticos ("educational playbills"), transforming these publications into treasuries of theater history and accessible educational tools for the wider public. The program books feature research articles by noted specialists, complete libretti, chronologies, artist biographies, and visual artifacts related to the featured work. Pagán discusses his methodology for linking zarzuela scholarship to academic research, moving beyond sentimental approaches to establish rigorous professional and aesthetic frameworks for understanding zarzuelas. The interview explores connections between the nineteenth-century zarzuela and its early modern ("Golden Age") predecessors, particularly works by Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderón de la Barca that inspired later lyric theater.