At first I thought the crucified figure in the background was supposed to represent Azucena's mother. That would've made far more sense to me because of the long shadow she casts over the entire proceedings. Alas, there was no way I could convince myself the charred body was meant to be that of a female.

I'm gratified to hear that you didn't find the conventions off-putting. I like to think that we're all sophisticated enough when it comes to genre that these shouldn't pose a challenge. (If you can enjoy both Sharknado and Up on their own terms, how much harder to accept everyone singing for twenty minutes before they can die?) But then I remember how, for example, one friend's introduction was Rosenkavalier and he kept saying of the page, "But it's a woman!" Yeah, it's drag, get over it.