Rebelde (2004)

Rebelde (English: Rebel) is a Mexican teen drama and comedy telenovela produced by Pedro Damián for Televisa. It originally aired on Canal de las Estrellas from October 4, 2004, to June 6, 2006, and on Univision in the U.S. from March 21, 2005, to December 15, 2006 replacing Corazones al límite (2004). The series is a remake of the 2002 Argentine telenovela Rebelde Way, created by Cris Morena.

Set at Elite Way School, an elite private boarding school on the outskirts of Mexico City, the series follows a group of students whose personal conflicts and ambitions lead them to form a band. The main cast includes Anahí, Dulce María, Alfonso Herrera, Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni in her breakthrough role, alongside Juan Ferrara, Ninel Conde, Enrique Rocha, Tony Dalton, Angelique Boyer, Estefanía Villarreal, Karla Cossío, Zoraida Gómez, Jack Duarte, and Eddy Vilard. Héctor Gómez and Lourdes Canale also appear in supporting roles.

A distinctive feature of the series is its frequent use of Spanglish words and fresa slang, particularly among its upper-class characters. The actors portraying the band members performed as the real-life group RBD, which recorded much of the show's music, including the theme song "Rebelde". RBD became one of the best-selling Latin music acts, with more than 15 million records sold worldwide. The series was followed by a sequel, also titled Rebelde, which aired for two seasons in 2022 on Netflix.

Plot

The Elite Way School is a private boarding school with international prestige where high-class students receive a high level of education to be prepared for a great future. The school has a scholarship program for people with low financial resources who have an excellent academic level. However, few even graduate since they are persecuted by a secret society called "La Logia" ("The Lodge"), whose purpose is to conserve the purity of the privileged class. Among the students are Mía Colucci Cáceres (Anahí), Roberta Pardo Rey (Dulce María), Miguel Arango Cervera (Alfonso Herrera), Diego Bustamante (Christopher von Uckermann), Guadalupe "Lupita" Fernández (Maite Perroni) and Giovanni Méndez López (Christian Chávez). Six adolescents who, despite their differences, discover something that will unite them above all – their love for music.

Cast

Starring

Enrique Rocha as León Bustamante

Juan Ferrara as Franco Colucci

Ninel Conde as Alma Rey

Patricio Borghetti as Enrique Madarriaga (seasons 1, 3)

Leticia Perdigón as Mayra Fernández

Anahí as Mía Colucci Cáceres

Dulce María as Roberta Alejandra Pardo Rey

Alfonso Herrera as Miguel Arango Cervera

Christopher von Uckermann as Diego Bustamante

Estefanía Villarreal as Celina Ferrer

Karla Cossío as Pilar Gandía

Zoraida Gómez as Jóse Luján Landeros/Jose Lujan Colucci Rey

Jack Duarte as Tomás Goycolea

Maite Perroni as Guadalupe "Lupita" Fernández

Eddy Vilard as Teódoro "Téo" Ruiz Palacios

Angelique Boyer as Victoria "Vico" Paz

Rodrigo Nehme as Nicolás "Nico" Huber

Christian Chávez as Giovanni Méndez López

Michel Gurfi as Joaquín Mascaró (season 1)

Grettell Valdez as Renata Lizaldi (season 1)

Miguel Rodarte as Carlo Colucci (season 1)

Tony Dalton as Gastón Diestro

Héctor Gómez as Hilario Ortiz Tirado (season 1)

Nailea Norvind as Marina Casares de Colucci (seasons 2–3)

Derrick James as Santos Echagüe Robles / Santos Echague (seasons 2–3)

Diego Boneta as Rocco Bezauri (seasons 2–3)

María Fernanda Malo as Sol De La Riva (seasons 2–3)

Antonio Sáenz as Iñaki (seasons 2–3)

Allisson Lozano as Bianca Delight (seasons 2–3)

Viviana Ramos as Dolores "Lola" Arregui (seasons 2–3)

Ronald Duarte as Jack

Rafael Inclán as Guillermo Arregui (season 2)

Patsy as Inés (season 3)

Also starring

Felipe Nájera as Pascual Gandía

Pedro Weber "Chatanuga" as Pedro / Peter

María Fernanda García as Alicia Salazar

Manola Diez as Pepa

Xochitl Vigil as Rosa Fernández

Gabriela Bermúdez as Elena Cervera de Arango

Alejandra Peniche as Damiana Mitre de Ferrer

Lourdes Canale as Hilda Acosta / Profesora Hilda Bernard

Dobrina Cristeva as Yolanda "Yoli" Huber

Abraham Stavans as Joel Huber

Jorge Zamora as Maurice

Aitor Iturrioz as Esteban Nolasco

Tiaré Scanda as Galia Dunoff de Gandía

Roberto "Puck" Miranda as Cosme Méndez

Patricia Martínez as Luisa López de Méndez

Cynthia Coppelli as Mabel Bustamante

Salvador Julián as Carlos Velásquez

Liuba De Lasse as Catalina "Cata"

Yessica Salazar as Valeria Olivier (season 1)

Malillany Marin as Luz Viviana Olivier (season 1)

Gerardo Klein as Fernando Ferrer (seasons 2–3)

Lisardo as Martín Reverte / Octavio Reverte (seasons 2–3)

Lourdes Reyes as Julia Lozano (seasons 2–3)

Claudia Schmidt as Sabrina Guzmán (seasons 2–3)

Alfonso Iturralde as Héctor Paz (seasons 2–3)

Roxana Martínez as Milagrosa (season 3)

Miguel Ángel Biaggio as Javier Alanis (season 3)

Recurring

Eleazar Gómez as Leonardo Francisco Blanco (season 2)

Florencia del Saracho as Romina (season 2)

Special guest stars

La Quinta Estación as themselves

Lenny Kravitz as himself

Ricardo Montaner as himself

Tiziano Ferro as himself

José Ron as Enzo

Hilary Duff as herself

Awards and nominations

Elite Way School uniforms

Casual

Both girls and boys wear red sport jackets with matching ties, and long-sleeved white dress-shirts. Boys wear blue jeans and black dress-shoes with their jackets and shirts, while girls wear blue denim miniskirts and black knee-boots. Moreover, girls often untuck and tie up their white dress-shirts, exposing their midriff. Girls also wear regulation underwear: full-cut black briefs with matching sport-bras, as demonstrated by Mia in the series' pilot. In the last season, girls wear denim blue skirts with blue knee boots.

Alternate casual

In later seasons, some girls wear a different ensemble with their white dress-shirts: ochre plaid miniskirts and brown sport jackets, with black Mary Janes and white knee-socks.

Formal

Both girls and boys wear black sport jackets with matching ties, and long-sleeved blue dress-shirts. Boys wear black dress-slacks with matching dress-shoes, while girls wear dressy black miniskirts with matching knee-boots. Girls rarely tie up their formal dress-shirts.

DVDs

RBD

One of the topics that marked the success of the telenovela was the formation of a group named RBD (abbreviation for "ReBelDe"). The production of the series conceived the idea of the musical group to promote both the characters and the show itself. The project quickly surpassed the telenovela in success, so much so that it can now be considered as a separate concept (like Erreway from Rebelde Way in Argentina). The series served as a big promotion for the group because it reached all of Latin America, the United States, and several European nations. The group and the telenovela's Portuguese dub were highly successful in Brazil following their debuts in 2005, which prompted the producers to have the band re-record their first album in Portuguese. They would subsequently also re-record their second and third albums in the language. The show's success was so great that during the third season, the producers decided to lengthen the time of the episodes to one hour and a half, being the first telenovela with such duration.

Main songs

"Rebelde" performed by RBD.

"Sólo Quédate En Silencio" performed by RBD.

"Malas Intenciones" performed by Erik Rubín.

"Plástico" performed by Natasha.

"Sálvame" performed by RBD (Anahí in lead vocals with chorus singers).

"Nuestro Amor" performed by RBD.

"Aún hay algo" performed by RBD.

"Tras De Mí" performed by RBD.

"Este corazón" performed by RBD.

"No pares" performed by RBD (solely by Dulce María).

"México, México" performed by RBD (Only Anahí, Dulce María and Maite Perroni).

References

External links

Official website

Rebelde at IMDb

Episode summaries