Antonio Banderas' musical Gypsy and a play about the 1936 coup d'état sweep the Talía Awards.

The Talía Awards , awarded by the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts (AAEE) , held their third edition this Monday, in which the play 1936 swept the board with six awards - out of the six nominations it had - and the musical Gypsy , by Antonio Banderas , won all four awards for which it was nominated.

Specifically, Gypsy took home four statuettes: Best Actress in Musical Theater ( Marta Ribera ); Best Actor in Musical Theater ( Aaron Cobos ); Best Musical Theater Show; and Best Musical Direction, collected by composer Arturo Díez , who thanked Banderas for his fight to ensure that musicals are "absolutely live."

On the other hand, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Antonio Banderas , who received a standing ovation for his speech in which he praised the importance of theater.

"A stage is a very small place where very big things happen. These days, when lies travel from one place to another without any shame, theaters are a refuge for truth, a place for many ways of seeing and interpreting reality while paying tribute to a single, objective, and unquestionable truth. A wonderful ritual in which we can laugh, cry, be moved, or reflect together, and where human intelligence, the intelligence we celebrate here today, does not predominate," he asserted.

Before her speech, Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo thanked her for her dedication to the performing arts. "You have dedicated your time and your wisdom. You are a role model for us," the president praised. The award presentation was preceded by Blanca Paloma , who performed the song " Resistiré ."

The Fernán Gómez Theatre, Madrid's Cultural Centre, hosted the gala, which lasted just over two hours and kicked off with a performance paying tribute to Lina Morgan and her legendary hit "Gracias por venir" . The president of the AAEE, Cayetana Guillén-Cuervo , presented the gala and at the beginning addressed her mother and actress Gemma Cuervo , who was in the audience, and thanked her for her generation "having changed things".

"They opened doors and windows, tore down walls, prejudices, and overthrew prejudices. And they also won the rights and freedoms we now enjoy," he said, before extending his thanks to José Sacristán and Emilio Gutiérrez Caba , who were also in the audience.

The gala was attended by the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz , and the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí Grau , among other personalities.

One of the most notable awards was the Talía for Best Text Theatre Show, which was received by 1936 , which tells the story of the military coup d'état of July 18, 1936, which led to the Civil War, for Spain.

The production won the Talía Award for Best Authorship of Textual Theatre, an award collected by Juan Cavestany and Juan Mayorga , who called for "working for peace." " 1936 is a play about a war that should never have happened. Thinking about a war that should never have happened is our way of working for peace," he stated.

1936 also won the Talía Award for Best Stage Direction. Although its winner , Andrés Lima, was unable to attend the gala, he left a message dedicated "to all those who suffered during the war, to those who were persecuted, tortured, and murdered." "I want to dedicate 1936 to the 114,000 missing persons and their families who continue searching for them in mass graves or in any ditch," he said.

A few words shared by actor Juan Vinuesa , winner of the Talía Award for Best Leading Actor, who played Franco in 1936. "I dedicate this to all the people who are searching for a family member because remembering isn't dividing; remembering has more to do with recognizing, and I believe it's the only way we can walk together toward the future, living together," he said upon receiving the award.

The play also won awards for Best Lighting and Best Supporting Actor ( Antonio Durán ). Also in the theater category, Amparo Pamplona won the Talía Award for Best Supporting Performance for Nada .

Another of the great stars was Aitana Sánchez-Gijón , who won the statuette for Best Leading Actress in a Text Theatre for The Mother . "What a year," celebrated the actress, who recently received the Honorary Goya Award.

Lyric and dance

In the Lyric category, the Best Lyric Performance went to La Rosa del Azafrán ; the Best Female Performer went to Marina Monzó for Marina ; and Ángel Ruiz was awarded Best Male Performer for La Rosa del Azafrán . He dedicated the award to Gaza and "all the children who are massacred by that murderous state of Israel."

Among the presenters was singer Marwan , who emphasized that he is the son and grandson of Palestinian refugees and asked the audience not to forget Gaza. "I ask you to put pressure from all corners of this country to stop the sale of weapons to Israel," he said before presenting the Talía Award for Best Original Music to Alberto Granados for A Monster Calls .

In the dance category, the Best Dance Performance went to Afanador , by the Spanish National Ballet , which also received the Talía Award for Best Choreography. Patricia Guerrero and Manuel Liñán received the awards for Best Female and Male Dance Performance, respectively.

The Talía Award for Best Company Work went to Teatro Kamikaze , which asserted the sector's responsibility to "defend, now more than ever, the values ​​of equality and freedom threatened by the wave of reaction advancing in Europe and the United States." "We cannot mention these values ​​without committing ourselves to the genocide in Palestine or the war in Ukraine," stated one of the representatives of Teatro Kamikaze.

Special awards

The 2025 Talía Extraordinary Award from the Autonomous Community of Castile and León went to Emilio Gutiérrez Caba . "I was born in September 1942, just as the Stalingrad offensive began. Today we are still at war. I am living in difficult times, and we will surely live in even more difficult times, but we must be united and fight," he declared. Along with him, actresses Helena Pimenta and Ana Garcés also received the award.

Actor Telmo Irureta was also among the winners at this event, receiving the Special Award for Social Change and Inclusion in the Performing Arts, sponsored by ONCE. "I am committed to continuing to work, educate, and make people uncomfortable in order to resonate with our audiences and advance the normalization of diversity," he stated.

Another special award went to Mina El Hammani and Ricardo Gómez for Young Talent. The actor remembered Juan Margallo , who passed away on March 2nd. The Best Latin American Performing Arts Show went to Discurso de asesor (Prom Speech ), a collective creation by the Yuyachkani Cultural Group of Peru.

"The discourse of colonialism and extermination is repeated not only in the global south, but also in contemporary history," commented a member of the group, who explained that the work speaks to Peruvian independence from the Spanish crown. "It sadly proves that the independence of invisible communities—peasants and Indigenous people—has not changed until now," he explained.