(2000 - 2002)
After spending months researching into Brazilian theater in the early 20th Century, Grupo Galpão decides to recreate in “Um Trem Chamado Desejo” the hard everyday life of a Theatrical Company at the time, perennially short of success and of resources. The musical comedy “Um Trem Chamado Desejo” was directed by one of the members of Galpão, Chico Pelúcio. Within the action the creative team inserted a short motion picture entitled “Scenes from a Marriage,” an indication of the rise of the cinema and the resulting decrease of theatrical audiences around the 1930s.

The decadent Companhia Alcantil das Alterosas is on the verge of bankruptcy, but they insist on a repertoire of musicals received with indifference by the sleepy Belo Horizonte of the late 20s and early 30s. The main reference for the members of the company is the musicals performed then in the theaters of Rio de Janeiro; their audience is the conservative and still young inhabitants of the recently inaugurated new capital of the state of Minas Gerais. The roots of these old actors and clowns close to retirement are in the circus and other itinerant groups of rather questionable quality, but the mystic of stardom also attracts to the company younger members of a small romantic middle class with artistic pretensions. The fate of this precarious company and their members is the subject of the musical comedy "Um Trem Chamado Desejo."

Feeling depressed and without perspectives after yet another unsuccessful production, the manager of the company brings to their members what seems to be good news: their redemption lies in joining the cinema, which had begun to attract impressive crowds at the time. They all decide to embark into this new adventure full of hopes and dreams until they find out, on the opening night, that the producer had replaced them with a cast of famous actors from Rio de Janeiro. Possessed by a righteous fury, the members of the Companhia Alcantil das Alterosas take advantage of a technical problem that interrupts the projection to take over the stage and perform live the script they all knew so well. With the triumphant comeback of the theater, the actors renew their hope, proclaiming the immortality of theater and the sheer pleasure of being onstage.
The story of "Um Trem Chamado Desejo" was conceived by the members of Grupo Galpão themselves under the guidance of the director Chico Pelúcio. They outlined the characters and their relationships and then called the acclaimed playwright Luís Alberto de Abreu to write the script. Tim Rescala was called to write the songs for this musical, arranged by musical director Fernando Muzzi. The movie shown within the play was written by Marcelo Braga de Freitas over an argument developed by Grupo Galpão and was directed by André Amparo. The creative team also featured Márcio Medina who designed the scenery and costumes.