Act I Summary

Don Jose is a proud, excited, expectant father. His wife is about to give birth to his first child. He desperately wants a son. When his son is born, he will teach him to ride horses, shoot, drink, and take him to a whorehouse. The midwife rushes in to congratulate him on the birth of a brand new baby girl. Don Jose is disgusted. He throws his cigar on the ground and stomps on it. He walks off to get drunk, disappointed that another woman has been born into this world, another woman who other men's sons will covet and pursue and try to rape. He will protect her virginity with his gun.

A chorus of four Beautiful Senoritas enters, singing a song: they are the beautiful senoritas with maracas in their souls. They are always ready for amor. They are...