A decades old Catalan musical may be ending its run, but its message still resonates today

As the curtain rises on the musical “Mar i Cel,” it begins with an introductory history lesson.

It’s the year 1609, and the king of Spain, in Madrid, issues a royal decree to deport the so-called Moriscos, the Spanish Muslims forcibly baptized and converted to Christianity.

For centuries, medieval Spain had large Muslim and Jewish populations. But during the Inquisition, these religious minorities were aggressively persecuted. An estimated 300,000 Moriscos were expelled, and tens of thousands were executed.

That sets the stage for the actual story of “Mar i Cel,” which means “sea and sky” in Catalan, and begins 20 years later somewhere on the Mediterranean Sea.

Today in Barcelona, Spain, the beloved musical that’s had a few runs over the past three decades is back in stages for a fourth, and perhaps final, time. The current production has been running since September 2024 and will end this July.

The tale is about a Muslim pirate and a Christian woman who fall in love during Inquisition-era Spain. But the story also tackles the darker issues of bigotry, deportation and cycles of violence — something that some say may be more relevant than ever today.

As a huge ship enters the stage at the beginning of the musical, the expelled Moriscos have now become pirates. They climb ropes and swing from mast to mast, in a whirlwind of acrobatics.

Their captain, Saïd, is vigorous, mercurial and reckless. He scolds one of his subordinates for dreaming of a better life, one with money and a family.

“We’re not sweethearts, but warriors,” he tells him.

Meanwhile, below deck, prisoners beg for water and pray to their Christian God.

Devout Blanca is the heroine of the love story, with Saïd as its hero.

The name of the performance, “Mar i Cel”, is a metaphor for their forbidden love at the center of the story.

The original play was written in the 1800s by Angel Guimerà, a key figure in the renaissance of Catalan culture. The popular musical came along a century later, in 1988, put on by the theatre company Dagoll Dagom, with music by composer Albert Guinovart.

“I put all my soul and all my energy, my passion [into it],” Guinovart said.

He was only 25 years old then and said he didn’t even like musicals much.

But he enjoyed “The Phantom of the Opera”, which became an inspiration for him.

“I identify my soul and my sensibility about music with that kind of music — very lyrical, very melodic, with a classical touch also,” he explained. “But the spirit of the melody, I think, is what is more important for me.”

He never could have imagined how popular “Mar i Cel” would become.

Over the years, more than 1 million people have seen it, with versions in Spanish and German.

In Catalonia, generations have grown up with its songs — even some of the actors in the latest revival, like soprano Clara Renom.

She said she first went to see “Mar i Cel” 10 years ago on a high school field trip. And it was a turning point that made her want to become a singer.

Renom plays Saïd’s mother, who he recalls when telling Blanca about his childhood.

During this emotional scene, Blanca learns about the suffering of the Moriscos who were expelled from Spain.

“During rehearsals, we would all cry a lot, singing was hard,” she said. “We couldn’t fathom the injustice [that had happened].”

In the musical, Saïd’s story awakens Blanca to a harsh truth: She’d been taught to fear the Moriscos, but her own people were guilty of heinous crimes against them.

Renom said that things haven’t changed all that much in the world today. Tragedies continue, like in Gaza, children are being separated from their mothers and are dying.

Right now, the future of “Mar i Cel” remains uncertain, because after 50 years, the Dagoll Dagom theatre company is shutting down.

But Renom said she’s hopeful.

“I believe we’ll see ‘Mar i Cel’ again,” she said. “‘Mar i Cel’ is a legend, it’s the history of Catalonia.”