El Zorro, la espada y la rosa (The Sword and the Rose) is a Spanish-language telenovela based on Johnston McCulley's characters. Telemundo aired it from February 12 to July 23, 2007. This limited-run serial shows the masked crusader as a hero torn between his fight for justice and his love for a beautiful woman. Telemundo president Don Browne called this show "without doubt the best production offered on Hispanic television in the United States today."[1]
It was the network's most successful series of 2007[2] and its biggest seller in international syndication.[3]Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has asked Telemundo to produce a sequel.[4]
Plot summary
The melodrama loosely follows the retcon of Zorro from the 2005 novel by Isabel Allende, yet also uses the major characters from the 1950s Disney series. It shows a fantastic, ahistorical version of colonial Los Angeles full of romance, royal intrigue, and witchcraft, even polygamy. The city is populated with gypsies, slaves, clerics, cannibals, conspirators, rebellious Indians and Amazon warriors, along with Spanish settlers, soldiers, pirates and mestizo peasants.
The hero, Don Diego de la Vega, adopts the secret identity of Zorro, the masked avenger. Instead of being a Spaniard, however, Diego is now a mestizo born in the 1790s to a white father, Don Alejandro de la Vega, and his wife, a Native American warrior named Toypurnia, who was given the name Regina when she married Alejandro.
Diego learned his acrobatics and fencing skills in Spain, under the tutelage of a great sword master. Remembering the injustices he saw as a child, he returned to his family's California hacienda. Now he lives as both a nobleman and a vigilante, fighting imperialist oppression. He is backed by the brotherhood of Zorro, a secret society called the Knights of the Broken Thorn.
Since this is a telenovela, much of the drama focuses on romantic melodrama and family intrigue. Here, Zorro falls in love with a beautiful young widow, Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada. She arrives in California with her sister Mariángel Sánchez de Moncada and her father, Fernando Sánchez de Moncada, the newly appointed governor—and villainous dictator—of Los Angeles.
The hero must challenge a host of evildoers, branding them with the distinctive Zorro "Z" – made from three swift scratches. The story arc focuses on mysteries concerning Esmeralda's long-lost mother and the man whose atrocities changed Diego's life forever. Their resolution threatens to shake the Spanish Empire.
In this story Don Diego is sexually active. Much of the show spotlights the two sisters whom he allegedly impregnates outside of wedlock. One of these women is Esmeralda, who winds up imprisoned, starved and tortured. The other, Mariángel, plots to steal the de la Vega fortune
From Telemundo's promotional copy:
"At heart, Zorro is not different from other men in his need to love and to be loved, his desire to fall in love and form a family, and his ambition to find the ideal woman. Will he obtain them?"[5]
The opening sequences show a shot of Diego looking at his mask. "Tú y yo estamos enamorados de la misma mujer," he says. The epigram translates to: "You and I are in love with the same woman."
Episodes
Episode 1 The series begins with showing Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada being forced to marry a wealthy old man by her father. The groom dies at the altar immediately after the marriage in completed. She then leaves for Los Angeles with her violent father Don Fernando, half-sister Mariángel, beloved aunt Almudena and her father's hunchbacked accountant Olmos.
In Los Angeles, Don Diego de la Vega, alias Zorro, spends the night with the local judge's daughter before leaving with one of the Judge's journals. From the journal he discovers the future arrival of a governor, Don Fernando Sánchez de Moncada. Elsewhere in the hacienda his aunt María Pía de la Vega, is horrified to learn her former fiancé, Fernando, is going to return.
Months later on the night of the welcome party for the new governor Esmeralda, choosing not to go to the party to pretend to be a loving daughter, runs into Zorro near the city prison. Their medallions got tangled and the two are forced to look into each other eyes, immediately feeling the spark.
Episode 2 Zorro and Esmeralda fight off the soldiers, escape and then separate. But they have accidentally switched medallions. Once Zorro realizes this he returns to look for Esmeralda as Diego.
In the party three couples meet each other; Diego's father Alejandro and Almudena are reacquainted, Fernando and María Pía experience an awkward face to face again moment, and Mariángel and the local police commander Montero are introduced and straight away attracted to each other.
Two Indian siblings, Yumalay and Jacó, realize that the new governor is the same man who murdered their family years ago. Including their sister, Regina, who was also Diego's mother and Alejandro's wife. Three Roma called Jonás, Azucena, and Renzo discuss Esmeralda and her mother, Sara Kalí. Unbeknownst to Esmeralda her mother, who she knew as Mercedes, is still alive and has been locked up in the local prison ever since she gave birth to Esmeralda.
Episode 3 Esmeralda tells her aunt about the night's adventures while taking a bath. Once her aunt has left her room Zorro appears from the window. Esmeralda and Zorro soon end up in a passionate kiss and change medallions. Once Diego returns to his Zorro-cave he reflects on his feelings towards Esmeralda, while Esmeralda does the same in her home.
Fernando arrives home, disturbing Mariángel and Montero, who are locked in a passionate embrace. Both of them hide before he can see who it was. Mariángel is seen by Olmos, who is seen by Fernando. Since Olmos is in love with Mariángel, he lies to Fernando and casts suspicion upon Esmeralda. Following Fernando goes to Esmeralda's room and cruelly beats her.
Almudena doctors Esmeralda's wounds received from Fernando's beating. Esmeralda reflects that her father has inflicted deep emotional scars over the years. She does not understand why he hates her so much. Almudena tries to explain it with saying her father has suffered a lot in his life, but Esmeralda points out that he doesn't treat Mariángel the same way. Almudena is the only person who cares about her.
The gypsies find a way to communicate with Sara Kalí with the help of a rat. They tell her they've finally found her daughter and discover she is being held in the dungeons of the prison wearing an iron mask.
Esmeralda overhears her aunt and Fernando discussing and discovers he is not really her father. She returns to her room, now understanding why he hates her so much. Esmeralda picks up her medallion and remembers what she was told about her destiny. She realizes that her mother may still be alive. While taking a walk the next day she is approached by Azucena and Renzo.
Episode 4 Azucena and Renzo kidnap Esmeralda and take her to the Traveller camp and the Roma present her with flowers. When Diego learns of Esmeralda's plight, he sets out to rescue her as Zorro.
Yumalay and Jacó try to kill Fernando, but instead Jacó is killed. Fernando chases after Yumalay and briefly catches up with her. She spooks his horse with magic and flees. Fernando swears that they must find her so that he can find out why she wants to kill him. He declares that he will kill all of those savages.
Olmos tells Mariángel that he feels guilty about the events of last night. Mariángel threatens to tell her father of Olmos stealing money from him should Olmos say anything about what really happened.
Fernando is furious that Esmeralda has been abducted — furious with Esmeralda. Alejandro arrives and suggests that they form a search party. Fernando is less than enthusiastic.
Cast
Main cast
Christian Meier as Don Diego de la Vega \ Zorromain hero, known as the Zorro, Don Alejandro's son, Regina's son, Almudena's stepson, Mariangel's ex-husband, Esmeralda's husband
Marlene Favela as Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada main heroine, Mercedes' daughter, Fernando's stepdaughter, Mariangel's half-sister, Almudena's niece, Ricardo's ex-wife, Don Diego's wife
Vilma Vera as Hermana Carola sister of Almudena, aunt of Bernardo and Diego
Arturo Peniche as Fernando Sánchez de Moncada antagonistic protagonist, later good. Governor, Mariángel's father, Esmeralda's stepfather, in love with Maria Pia
Osvaldo Ríos as Don Alejandro de la Vega Military General, Don Diego's father, Esmeralda's father-in-law, Almudena's husband
Erick Elías as Renzo Roma, in love with Esmeralda, later with Ana Camila
Héctor Suárez Gomís as Capitán Anibal Pizarro Military Captain, Ricardo's accomplice, villain, in love with Catalina
Andrea López as Mariángel Sánchez de Moncada not capable of love, second most evil villain, obsessed with Don Diego, Ricardo's lover
Harry Geithner as Comandante Ricardo Montero de Avila Military Commander, enemy of "Zorro", most evil villain, obsessed with Esmeralda, Mariangel's lover
Jorge Cao as Padre Tomás Villarte priest, mentor of Zorro, secretly in love with Maria Pia
Natasha Klauss as Sor Ana Camila Suplicios troubled nun, in love with Renzo
César Mora as Sargento Juvenal Garcia sergeant, very fond of alcohol. This character is based on the Sergeant Garcia from Disney's 1950s television series.
Luly Bossa as Almudena Sánchez de Moncada sister of Fernando, aunt of Esmeralda and Mariángel, wife of Don Alejandro
Raúl Gutierrez as Olmos Berroterran de la Guardia hunchback, Fernando's secretary, villain, in love with Mariangel
Andrea Montenegro as María Pía de la Vega sister of Don Alejandro, in love with Fernando
Ricardo González as Bernardo mute, manservant of Don Diego
Ana Bolena Meza as Sara Kalí / Mercedes Mayorga de Aragon mother of Esmeralda, Fernando's ex-wife
Adriana Campos as Yumalay / Guadalupe - Toypurnia / Regina de la Vega Indian, in love with Don Alejandro / Deceased wife of Don Alejandro and mother of Don Diego.
Zorro began filming on November 8, 2006, in Bogotá, Villa de Leyva and Cartagena, Colombia.[6] Telemundo and RTI Colombia developed the show with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), while CPT Holdings is listed as copyright holder. Venezuelan screenwriter Humberto "Kiko" Olivieri, a fan of Disney's Zorro, developed the story.[7] Cardinal Olivieri, a supporting character on the show, has the same last name.
Telemundo aired this novela with English subtitles on the default closed captioning channel, CC1. The network normally broadcast translations on CC3, which is not available on many older TV sets. It also expanded two weeks of March episodes to 90 minutes and several episodes in May were extended to 75 and 90 minutes.
On June 22, Telemundo announced Zorro is in its final chapters.[8] After the July 23 finale, La Esclava Isaura expanded into its time slot.[9] This series is also known as Zorro: La Telenovela and Zorro: La Novela.
Changes
The originally-announced storyline began with Don Diego as the protege of a great English knight, Sir Edmund Kendel.[10] He returns home to California to find his land under dictatorship, then taking up Zorro's mantle.[11] When the show aired, it was the Moncada family that arrived in California, with Esmeralda having become a rich widow.
Theme song
Beyoncé and Alejandro Fernández performed "Amor Gitano" ("Gypsy Love"), a flamenco-pop track commissioned by Sony for the series. According to the label's translation, Fernández sings, "I'm your gypsy, your pilgrim. I'm your thief, I'm going to love you even if they tear my heart out."[12] Since Beyoncé does not speak Spanish, she sang the lyrics phonetically. The single hit number one on Spain's singles chart.
International airings
Zorro averaged 635,000 core viewers during March 2007 on Telemundo. The audience jumped 28 percent from February in the network's key demographic, Hispanic adults from age 18 to 49.[13] Overall, the show has had Nielsen ratings of around 0.6, with a 1 share. The network considered expanding the serial's run,[14] but decided against it.
Zorro has been sold to broadcasters in 43 countries.[15] Telemundo and Sony split the international rights, with Sony holding the rights for Latin America.[16] On February 26, 2007, the show started airing in Colombia on Caracol TV.[17]
In Romania, Zorro debuted on Acasa TV on March 5, 2007. The pilot episode aired with hard English subtitles in the USA on Universal HD. It premiered in Argentina on March 26, 2007, on Telefé.
In Spain, the telenovela aired on Antena 3TV weekdays at 16hrs from Monday 27 April 2007 where it achieved moderate success in the tough "second Primetime" afternoon slot.
The Mask of Zorro is a 1998 American swashbuckler film based on the fictional character Zorro by Johnston McCulley. It was directed by Martin Campbell and stars Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stuart Wilson. The film features the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins), escaping from prison to find his long-lost daughter (Zeta-Jones) and avenge the death of his wife at the hands of the corrupt governor Rafael Montero (Wilson). He is aided by his successor (Banderas), who is pursuing his own vendetta against the governor's right-hand man while falling in love with de la Vega's daughter.
Arturo Peniche is a Mexican telenovela actor who became popular in Latin America during the 1990s. He is the brother of actor Flavio Peniche, who appears in the telenovela La Traición.
Zorro is an American action-adventure Western television series produced by Walt Disney Productions and starring Guy Williams. Based on the Zorro character created by Johnston McCulley in his 1919 novella, the series premiered on October 10, 1957, on ABC. The final network broadcast was July 2, 1959. Seventy-eight episodes were produced, and four hour-long specials were aired on the Walt Disney anthology series between October 30, 1960, and April 2, 1961.
Zorro is a 2005 novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende. Its subject is the American pulp hero Diego de la Vega, better known as El Zorro. He first appeared as a character in Johnston McCulley's novella The Curse of Capistrano (1919). His character and adventures have also been adapted for an American TV series, other books, and cartoon series.
Héctor Suárez Gomís is a Mexican actor and former singer. Formerly known as Héctor Suárez Jr. and Héctor Suárez hijo, he is the son of Héctor Suárez, who was also an actor and of Pepita Gomís a television host.
Fernando Colunga Olivares is a Mexican actor best known for his work in Mexican telenovelas.
Amor en silencio is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa in 1988. Its first broadcast was in Mexico in 1988 and then made its debut in Latin America, Europe, Asia and, in a unique situation, it was broadcast in the United States by Telemundo during primetime. It can be said that this is the only Televisa telenovela that was never shown on Univision. Back then Telemundo got the rights to Amor en silencio and Pasión y poder, the latter one got picked up by Univision in 1993 as daytime programming.
Marlene Favela is a Mexican actress and model. In Mexican television, as of 2013 she was best known as Esmeralda in the TV show Zorro, La Espada y la Rosa.
"Amor Gitano" is a Latin pop duet recorded by Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández and American singer Beyoncé. The song contains a mixture of cultures, mostly influenced by the language of Fernández, that is Spanish, and Beyoncé's pop and R&B influences. Along with Jaime Flores and Reyli Barba, Beyoncé wrote the song, while Rudy Pérez and Beyoncé herself produced the song. "Amor Gitano" serves as the theme song of the telenovela El Zorro and it was released on February 12, 2007, during the premiere of the episode of the telenovela.
La Traición (Betrayed) is a Colombian-American telenovela co-produced by United States-based Telemundo and RTI Colombia. Telemundo debuted this serial on January 7, 2008, replacing Madre Luna. This show is also known as Betrayed.
Zorro is a musical with music by the Gipsy Kings and John Cameron, a book by Stephen Clark and Helen Edmundson, and lyrics by Stephen Clark. It is inspired by the 2005 fictional biography Zorro, the first original story of the pulp hero Zorro, written by Chilean author Isabel Allende. It also contains numerous references to earlier Zorro-related works, especially the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro. The original musical did a trial run tour which proved to be successful, and led to a transfer to the West End.
Zorro: Generation Z is a British-German animated series that began in 2006. Former Marvel Studios development executive Rick Ungar developed the original series in association with BKN International, BKN New Media, G7 Animation, and Pangea Corporation. The programming deal and concept for the new series was developed by Ungar, G7, and Pangea and underwritten partially by a master toy license with Brazilian toy company, Gulliver Toys. What made the show unique were the plethora of Pangea-designed high tech gadgets and the conceit of having the young Zorro ride his motorcycle named after his horse, Tornado.
Los Parientes Pobres is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa in 1993. Lucero sang the main theme and it was an airplay hit in all Latin America. It was never released as a single, but it appears in the special album Lazos de Amor and her Lucero album known as Veleta.
Andrea Lopez is a Colombian actress. She is best known for her antagonistic roles in telenovelas. She is best known for her role as antagonist Mariángel Sánchez de Moncada in Zorro: La Espada y La Rosa (2007).
Fernando Lúpiz is an Argentine fencer and actor. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. He later became known for playing Zorro on stage.
Amorcito Corazón is a Mexican telenovela produced by Lucero Suárez for Televisa, and aired from August 29, 2011 to June 10, 2012. It is a remake of the Venezuelan telenovela Trapos íntimos, produced in 2002.
Qué bonito amor is a Mexican telenovela produced by Salvador Mejía Alexandre for Televisa that aired on Canal de las Estrellas from October 22, 2012, to June 2, 2013. It is based on La Hija del Mariachi, produced by Colombian's RCN Television and written by Mónica Agudelo in 2006–2007. Production of Qué bonito amor officially started on August 9, 2012. In the United States the telenovela aired on Univision from April 15, 2013, to October 4, 2013.
De que te quiero, te quiero (stylized as "De Q Te quiero, Te quiero" in its logo; English Title: Head Over Heels is a Mexican telenovela produced by Lucero Suárez for Televisa. It is a remake of Carita Pintada, in 1999, a Venezuelan telenovela written by Valentina Párraga. On Monday, July 1, 2013, Canal de las Estrellas started broadcasting De Que Te Quiero, Te Quiero weekdays at 6:15pm, replacing La Mujer Del Vendaval. The last episode was broadcast on Sunday, March 16, 2014, with El Color de la Pasión replacing on Monday, March 17, 2014.
Angélica is a Mexican telenovela produced by Ernesto Alonso for Televisa in 1985. It is an original story by Marissa Garrido and directed by Sergio Jiménez.
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