Cuban Theater Digital Archive

Play script (English)

TOP DRAWER: Stories of dysfunction and redemption, is a poignant musical memoir that recounts a life of privilege and secrets, an autobiographical journey from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to the old city streets of Havana, Cuba. On a mission to re-discover her family’s heritage, writer and performer Adelaide Mestre seeks out her deceased father’s piano, now residing in the Bulgarian embassy in Havana, and chronicles her life growing up in an eccentric family with her father, a gay, Cuban, manic-depressive concert pianist and her mother, a strong willed, opera singing, Park Avenue socialite. In story and song, with sentiment and humor, she shares memories of loss and struggle, but also a love of music and family that with forgiveness and understanding becomes a story of triumph and hope.