Maybe you didn’t know it, but Mazatlan is the only beach resort in Mexico with a full-fledged opera house. And this opera house gets used. The venerable Angela Peralta Theater in the historic center of Mazatlan has a history stretching back to 1869. That was when an empresario named Rubio decided to build a first-class theater which would pro-vide an appropriate setting for touring companies of actors and musicians. One of the most famous persons ever to grace the theater’s boards was the internationally famous singer Angela Peralta, the “Mexican Nightingale,” who alas only rehearsed there. She never got to sing in the operas her company came here to perform, for the entire group of 80 singers and musicians contracted yellow fever on the way. In fact, they brought an epidemic of the disease with them, and among the hundreds who perished was Miss Peralta herself. Restored 10 years ago to its 19th-century splendor (but with modern amenities such as first-rate acoustics and air conditioning),

the theater today is a showcase for the performing arts just as Sr. Rubio intended it to be more than 130 years ago. For most of the last decade, the Angela Peralta Theater again has been the scene for many a touring artist or group of players to offer a performance of one sort or an-other. Also, the theater serves as a showcase for the budding talents of young people who study music or dance at the Municipal Center for the Arts (which used to be the Hotel Iturbide). It all comes to-gether during the last two months of the year in a celebra-tion of the arts known as the Mazatlan Cultural Festival. Some events are free. Tickets where required are available at the boxoffice, to the right of the theater entrance, on the pedestrian mall that runs along Calle Carnaval on the east side of the Plazuela Machado near Calle Constitucion. Occasionally during the festival, a theater performance or lecture in Spanish takes place. In the accompanying calendar, the Pacific Pearl has culled out those attractions that everyone can enjoy, no matter what language they speak.