The Italian hit musical comedy
Rugantino, set in 19th century papal Rome, is showing at the New
York City Centre from Thursday through Saturday - fifty years
after its historic debut at Rome's Sistina theatre.
"Suitcases are packed. They are at the airport.
International gates," the show's director, Enrico Brignano, told
ANSA last week.
Composed by Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini, Rugantino
debuted at the Sistina theatre December 15, 1962 and has
undergone numerous revivals since then - most recently by
Brignano himself at the show's home, the Sistina.
"At the time the leads were Nino Manfredi, Aldo Fabrizi,
Bice Valori, Ornella Vanoni," Brignano said of the original.
"We hope that the Americans remember something (about it).
In any case, New York City Centre can be found on Google and we
expect everyone - Americans, Italian Americans, tourists, the
curious….".
Brignano's version of Rugantino lands on Broadway after
extraordinary success in Rome, with box office sales of 12
million euros over the two last seasons.
"Garinei didn't have time to see me in these shoes,"
Brignano said.
"But in recent years we had made agreements for me to
interpret it. Now there is the excitement of taking an entirely
Italian show to America, the famous 'Made in Italy', which
speaks of our country, of a Rome from 1830, of love and death,"
Brignano explained.
Rugantino "was the first show I ever saw in the theatre, in
1978, with Nino Manfredi. It was right here on the stage of the
Sistina. But I would have thought one day to be there too. But
today I say that if we have
once worked here, then you can not live without it. Not even if
it is an exhausting theatre, because you can't get in or out of
the Sistina. You can't find parking. To get the dressing room,
my mother has to arrive in the afternoon."
"It took me 20 years to arrive from Dragona, there was so
much traffic. But this stage is different," said Brignano,
quipping about his career path from the neighborhood in Rome
where he is from.
Brignano is already working on his next show, which will
also debut at the Sistina on January 27, 2015. Created from
scratch, the work remains nameless.
"The title is always a little like shoes. Which shoes
should I put on? How can you decide beforehand?" Brignano joked.
"We asked to choose it at the end of the season but the
SIAE insisted that it's needed before," he said, mentioning the
Italian royalties clearinghouse for copyrighted material.
Brignano also has plans to take off his director's hat
after Rugantino and put on his costume as a performer and
entertainer. Or, as he says, "of the fool who says apparently
meaningful things".
This time, Brignano will be talking about current events.
"After a show on my mother, one on my father, one on
relatives and on family outings, now I will talk about us
Italians, of our follies and phobias. I will ask whether we are
really in evolution, or whether we're slaves of cell phones,
pixels, smiles and tattoos".
Music and images in lead roles, too, with a maxi-screen
taking a whole scene, because, he concludes "today we are what
we see".
Asked whether he'll be making a return to the small screen
- television - Brigano said, "The TV is there. I have a 50 inch
one in my livingroom. Beautiful and comfortable because it takes
up a corner where no one ever knows what to put: a television or
a fireplace? I have turned on the television to a channel that
transmits a fireplace". (ANSA)
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