Opinião 50 years after…

Abstract

On the 11th December 1964, the musical Opinião directed by Augusto Boal premiered at the ‘Teatro Arena’ in Rio de Janeiro. The show was considered a protest against the socioeconomic situation in Brazil and became a reference to what would be known as protest music against the regime, which established itself in Brazil in March that same year. In this text, we will attempt to analyse how this show substantiated the various social and political demands at the time, and how it became an aesthetic and political paradigm. At the same time, we will compare the original production with a re-interpretation of the spectacle in 2014, organized by the Moreira Salles Institute, with the participation of the group Casuarina and the singer Joyce. The aim is to understand how, fifty years after the coup d’etat and the show Opinião, Brazilian music and art not only reflect that historical moment, but also its role in the contemporary socio-political context.