Farewell to 'Mar i Cel': "I've seen it 52 times. I'm 90 years old and I'm very sad."

BarcelonaThe sea is like a desert of water and, since this Sunday, it is also in a bit of mourning. The pirates of Sea and sky have finally landed after more than 1,600 performances. The final performance of the musical, which took place at the Teatre Victòria (where it premiered in 1988), is also Dagoll Dagom's farewell. the emblematic company of Joan Lluís Bozzo, Anna Rosa Cisquella and Miquel Periel. Over 50 years, and with shows like Antaviana (1979), The Mikado (1986) and Night flower (1992), Dagoll Dagom has left a profound and unforgettable mark on the history of Catalan theatre. He has put on "an armor" and thinks of it as "just another show" so as not to realize—yet—that it's coming to an end. Dagoll Dagom has finished on a high, with sold-out fourth revival of Sea and sky sold out for months and the public and critics were enthusiastic"Seeing that the show hasn't deteriorated, that it's still very much alive, is the greatest consolation prize," Cisquella emphasized.

In the dressing rooms, before the curtain rose, laughter and nerves mingled with tears and a few extra hugs. For actor Xavi Fernández, this Sunday's performance also marks the end of a journey in his professional career. When Fernández saw Sea and sky In the first production, he decided that he wanted to dedicate himself to exactly this. And he succeeded: in 2004, he was chosen to play Don Carlos, a role he repeated in revivals. of 2014 and also the one in 2024"It's a very important part of my life. I know it's touched a lot of people. Some tell me they sing it at Christmas, others saw it when they were in high school and now come back with their children. All of this has left its mark on me," Fernández explained. Sea and sky will always remember you in a special way.

The lives of some viewers can also be followed through the impossible love story of Blanca and Saïd. For example, that of Marta Robert, one of the show's long-time fans. "I've seen Sea and sky 52 times. The first was in 1988. I was so excited that I got hooked, and now I'm here every now and then," she said from the theater lobby, before the performance began and deeply moved: "I'm 90 years old. I feel very sad thinking that I'll never see her again."

Oriol Castro –nine years old–, on the other hand, is about to live an as yet unknown experience accompanied by his mother, Mireia Gamell. "My mother has always explained to me that, when she was pregnant with me, she would Sea and sky. At one point they fired a shot and I got scared and jumped in my stomach," Oriol explained. Now, for the first time, he will see the spectacle with his own eyes. "We have told him that it is a very important moment, because it is the last time of Sea and sky"I want to pass on this legacy to him and let him live it," Gamell emphasized. Like them, nearly 1,200 people didn't want to miss this unforgettable moment. The Speaker of the Parliament, Josep Rull, and the Minister of Culture, Sonia Her, also attended the stalls at the Victoria, which was packed to the rafters. A lesson in love in the theater

"Thank you very much, Dagoll Dagom, for always supporting live music," said the orchestra's director, Joan Vives, at the start of the performance, which this time was somewhat longer due to the effusive applause between scenes, especially in the best-known ones, such as the already classic ones. Why I cried and The Pirates' AnthemBefore the curtain finally fell and after a rousing five-minute ovation from the audience, Dagoll Dagom gathered the entire team on stage.

"You are the representatives of the five million spectators who have followed us throughout history," Cisquella told the audience, through tears, and then thanked the institutions. Periel remembered "the more than a thousand people" who have worked with them, "especially those who are no longer with us." And Bozzo concluded the farewell thus: "None of us has ever felt the need to go somewhere else. We have always thought that what we were doing was stronger and more important than what each of us could do individually. This is a lesson in humility and love for the theater."

An era has come to a close Sea and sky, but there's still a small window of opportunity for anyone who wants to revive it. Bozzo, Cisquella, and Periel are leaving the door open to other theater companies to adopt it as a franchise. They've also made a high-quality recording of the show together with TV3. They are confident that they will be able to premiere it in theatersMeanwhile, the ship will drop anchor in the company's warehouse, waiting for the sails to fill again and the wind to carry it like a runaway horse to another theater.