MALAGA, Spain – At 59 years of age and with a long career in Spain and the United States under his belt, Antonio Banderas feels that the Teatro del Soho, his theater project due to open in his home city of Malaga, is the “most important thing” he has ever done, including his Hollywood success.

“This is the project of my life, but it’s not a grave, ok? It is a cradle where we are going to raise a beautiful child,” Banderas said on Thursday during the presentation of “A Chorus Line,” which he co-directs and stars in.

It will raise the curtain for the first time at the Teatro del Soho.

The choice of “A Chorus Line” is not coincidental. Created and originally directed by Michael Bennett when it first opened in 1975, it tells the story of a group of Broadway dancers auditioning for a chorus line, the group of backing dancers in a piece of musical theater.

Banderas said Bennet gave these often forgotten characters a voice.

“It democratizes all those who have no voice and breaks down the barriers of the show to meet you face to face with life, some dreamers with a great capacity for sacrifice in search of excellence.

“This musical fits perfectly with my own life and relationship with theater,” Banderas added.

“We live in a time of maximum technology in which it seems that whatever is not recorded does not exist. I love the ephemeral element of theater, which is confined to memory.”

The play is due to run until January 26, a provisional date for now, which coincides with the day after the prestigious Goya awards for Spanish cinema, scheduled to take place in Malaga in 2020.

“A Chorus Line” is due to tour other Spanish cities like the capital, Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.

Banderas will play the role of Zach in the Malaga production, but his substitute Pablo Puyol, who is also from Malaga, will play the character on the road.

“I have not prepared the character, I have prepared myself. I have taken a beating this summer. Every day we warm up for an hour and a half so that we can go on stage sweating and tired, because this is an audition,” he said.