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How Anne Frank inspired a musical about Mexican-American immigrants

JL;DR SUMMARY Josefina López's play "Real Women Have Curves," now a Broadway musical, draws inspiration from Anne Frank's diary, capturing the struggles and dreams of a young Mexican-American girl working in a Los Angeles sewing factory in the 1980s. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityJewish HistoryAnne FrankImmigrationFeminismTheaterMexican American ImmigrantsJosefina LópezReal Women Have CurvesBoyle Heights

Places mentioned

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
"Frustrated by the pressures in their lives high dressmaking quotas, men at home who demand they act as perfect daughters and wives, American society that defines a narrow beauty ideal  the women strip to their underwear and dance together as an act of defiance. When I imagine this scene, I think about tenements in the Lower East Side, or the husks of old textile factories in Montreal."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"Real Women Have Curves, which is now a Broadway musical. The show tells the story of a Mexican-American girl in 1980s Los Angeles who works at a sewing factory and dreams of attending college."

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Retrieved 2025-04-12 05:31:19 UTC
Curated 2025-04-12 08:30:39 UTC