Luis Carlos de la Lombana lives, quite literally, in the shadow of the Empire State. Every morning he appears majestically through the window of his New York home. De la Lombana, Spanish actor in the movie Big Apple, This autumn also live under another shade: … Which is presented by another actor, also Spanish, Jorge Bosch.
They’re both part of the Kyoto team.a play produced by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company that crossed the pond this season. It is performed in one of the best places in the city, At Lincoln Center Theaterinside the stunning complex that houses the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New York City Ballet.
Bosch, who has an established career in Spain, has one of the lead roles. He represents the Argentine ambassador in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, the historical moment around which the work revolves. De la Lombana has the same role. But he never comes on stage. Unless the manager suffers a setback. It is the “alternative”, the alternative. A character not found in Spanish theater (except in the great musicals). An actor lives in the shadow of another actor, in the darkness behind the scenes. In light of the tension resulting from having to get on stage at any moment. From zero to one hundred. And who lives in frustration night after night of staying on the edge of the light.
De la Lombana, a native of Santander who grew up in Madrid, has been based in New York for 18 years. His face is wrinkled with cracks. Some of it is about dealing with a difficult city that creates and crushes dreams. He has managed to make a name for himself and makes a living – not many can say so – from acting.. Theater, film, television and dubbing.
“I come here every day and see what a great place to work.”“,” he told ABC as he walked across the Lincoln Center plaza, pointing to the Opera Building. Their theater is a little further away, in the same complex. It’s the only Broadway theater outside of the theater district around Times Square. He stops to chat outside his front door, the Kyoto light behind him, at the foot of a stunning pond, topped with a statue of Henry Moore. He spends a good part of the day here.
“We always have to be there,” he says of the “substitute” role. “We are in rehearsals, seeing our colleagues how they do it, learning all their movements, taking notes, and writing down what the director says.”
Jobs are spent behind the sceneswatching the play on the screen, fixing his gaze on the actor who could take his place, reading the text at the same time, preparing the costumes, and determining the character’s mustache before he could possibly have to go on stage.
“The ‘replacement’ is a firefighter.”He explains. “There is a fire and you have to be at your best, you have to be able to put out the fire and that’s it. And there’s a very big difference between someone who’s been able to practice it throughout that process and someone who just has it in their head. But you have to come and do it.
The jobs pass and the fire does not occur. De la Lombana attends rehearsals and shows, ready to hit the cover to rescue the performance If the main company, Bosch, has a problem. And to rise to the type of stage and the type of role he has played since his arrival in New York.
A few nights ago, it almost happened. “I called him and said: ‘Luis Carlos, you have to get out anyway. I don’t know if I should continue with this or not.’Bosch (Madrid, 1967) tells this newspaper. He’s an actor with a strong theatrical career – among many others, with great roles in “The Gronholm Method,” “They Were All My Children” and “Lights of Bohemia” — and a frequent face on the small and big screens. However, with “Kyoto,” he made a massive incursion into the Anglo-Saxon scene. In London’s West End, the production earned him an Academy Award nomination Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor, the first Spaniard to win it. After spending some time in New York with the same work, he confirmed that he had already signed an actor here.
That night, severe back pain, which left him limping, nearly sidelined him. The replacement is required to be a firefighter.
“It’s exhausting. I see the ‘replacement’ of the hero, always between the boxes, all tense. One day, a replacement for the Japanese ambassador had to appear. And he got drunk. It shouldn’t be easy. When I told Luis Carlos, I didn’t see him so afraid. He told me he was ready“, he remembers.
But the candidate did not appear on stage. Bosch – in the Spanish theatrical tradition of taking to the stage “no matter what” – was able to play the role. De la Lombana was among those who encouraged him to move forward.
This is part of the strange case of the “alternative.” He has to live with the fact that a setback from a colleague, an accident, or a problem is what opens the door to a wonderful stage. «I resist seeing this as a job where he (Bush) would do poorly They will give me a chance. But the truth is that the only way for me to get out is if something bad happens to him.”
His friends jokingly offer to put banana skins in Bush’s path for tripping him innocently and giving him the role of his life. And they seriously tell you that it is impossible not to want these circumstances to arise. Let it happen to her like Shirley MacLaine, who was an “understudy” on Broadway and whose heroine’s sprained ankle allowed her to act. A Hollywood producer noticed her in the room and her stardom began. Or like Catherine Zeta-Jones, who first made headlines when she was an understudy in a musical in London and had to go on stage.
“No,” de la Lombana answers frankly. “Whether it comes out or not is the least important because of everything I can experience thanks to this experience.”
“Aren’t you frustrated? It’s a bit like being denied a role every night…”insists this newspaper. “Man, watching the work of Stephen Doldry (co-director of “Kyoto”), director of films like “Billy Elliot” or “The Hours,” is very interesting for an actor. I know that Gerardo Vera or Jaime Chavarre made films and theater in Spain. “But this is not very common,” answers the actor.
He talks about how much he earns even though he is not on stage at the moment. “I live it with great enthusiasm. The fact that I entered Lincoln Center in my career is an important change. “I’m really connected to a theater that has great standing in New York and the United States.”
De la Lombana arrived at Lincoln Center unexpectedly. He went to an “open call,” an open casting process in which the chances of landing a great role are remote. So they asked him to repeat it twice. In the process, he saw it and chose it Jim Carnahanone of Broadway’s casting directors. “I haven’t seen his face in the 18 years I’ve been here. “Now he knows me,” says the actor.
But the nights go by and he is still unable to go out to replace the Argentine ambassador, Raul Estrada Oyola, without the general public hearing the English language in the Buenos Aires dialect that he has practiced so much in his mind. It had nothing to do with what he was used to in the theater: appearing in every show, receiving applause from the audience. In more modest settings, of course. Which is better, the head of a mouse or the tail of a lion? “This change is good for me. It’s like going from being the main striker at Racing Santander to being a substitute player at Real Madrid. Trust that at some point you will take the step and move from the bench to starting. “I see it as an important leap.”
This Sunday is Kyoto’s last performance on the Lincoln Center stage. Bush will celebrate his farewell from the stage. De la Lombana will once again remain between the boxes, unless expected. Bush will return to Spain, where several projects await him. De la Lombana will follow his own path in New York. I’m a little closer to the big stages, after a fall in which I reached the edge.