INTERVIEW – MOSES PENDLETON & MOMIX

YESTERDAY AND TODAYScreen Shot 2016-06-01 at 22.59.16The first Italian debut took place in 1980 at Barclays Teatro Nazionale in Milan. After 35 years, the theater has hosted the world premiere of Momix FOREVER, Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 22.59.08

spectacular collage of choreographed by Moses Pendleton, the charismatic creator of the company. The show is not only a retrospective of famous pieces, but also the presentation of four new creations that Moses was able to enter into a continuous environment in which every new piece depends on the previous one and is linked to the one that follows it. Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 22.59.03“I like to share my day at the fixed time, where industry long walks during which I take pictures and inspirations, photographer, tour videos, record my thoughts and my emotions” momix“My mind needs precise timing to channel the emotions and suggestions of what I see. It ‘s like walking into a museum that presents a different work every day, something new that affects us immediately the attention and that, almost an alchemical process turns into a choreographic movement.

Momix, en los Teatros del Canal.

Momix, en los Teatros del Canal.

“” I’m looking, I explore, suddenly metaphors, stirring moving objects and creating new elements in the bodies of my dancers involved in elaborate choreographies that require a perfect physical and great athleticism ‘ DSC_4416rid“” my muse is nature. In Italy, for example, the beautiful fields of flowers in Tuscany and the peaks of the Dolomites “

http://www.rivistamusical.com/interview-moses-pendleton/

 

400 years ago…Did Shakespeare love the Circus?

MSNC_1Midsummer Night’s Circus a new musical written by Tobias Rossi and Simone Nardini with music and lyrics by Antonio Torella
accurately directed by Marco Bellocchio and inspired to
Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream.MSNC_44Like in Pippin or the new version of Godspell, the action takes place in a circus,
where elves, clowns, acrobats all together celebrate the circus life, spiced up from a brilliant cast of over forty performers, including young talents and hot stars
such as Michel Altieri (in the role of Oberon) Pietro Pignatelli (Aegean),
Giovanni Abbracciamento
(Lysander), and a great Titania
played by Simona Samarelli
MSNCShakespeare, Circus, Music, Colors, and an enthusiastic cast …
all work for this lovely version of a masterpiece, that probably Sir William himself may like.
May 13,14 at the Teatro della Luna of Assago

 

 

United to Dance equals Dance to Unite

Dance to Unite
One Way or Another
featuring live music from Debbie Harry.dbDance to Unite, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use dance as a vehicle to teach and to celebrate cultural diversity.The evening will be a celebration of artistic excellence and cultural diversity to benefit Screen Shot 2016-05-02 at 18.15.14Dance to Unite’s expanding free after-school dance and education programs.  This year, Dance to Unite proudly honors Jenny Morgenthau, who recently retired after 32 years as the Executive Director of the Fresh Air Fund.  As part of the celebration, students of Dance to Unite will perform to music icon and Blondie lead singer, Debbie’s biggest hits live.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 6pm at The World School Chelsea, 259 Tenth Avenue, NYC,

A swan lake…like you never saw before

Screen Shot 2016-04-28 at 10.51.04Put together the “Swan Song ” a vaudeville by Chekhov about an old actor in a
theatre after the lights go out, the eternal music of Tchaikovsky,
the genially irreverent choreography and direction by Fabrizio Monteverde
and a bunch of older, aching, curved dancers who want to live one more time the tragic love story
of Prince Siegfried and Odette/Odile. 14568The result is an amazing new version of one of the most celebrated ballet in the history The Swan Lake,
this time retitled Il Lago dei Cigni ovvero il Canto.Lago-dei-Cigni-02-1030x686 A contemporary ballet that ancient dancers remember and recreate with enormous love and pain.
From an amazing opening with all the dancers/swans lied down on ground covered with colored
cloths of the scene, while only their raised arms are moving as swan necks to the Odette’s
solo, first pure purity and then more and more disjointed and bloodless revealing physical stress and despair to an intense finale where topless Odette frees her body and her beauty to revive the lost youth.anteprima_20150119010513-1030x688Soloists  Roberta De Simone, Claudia Vecchi, Luca Pannacci and Siro Guglielmi, among all the artists of the Balletto di Roma certainly know how give to the audience some emotional, intense, unforgettable moments.
At Teatro Carcano till April 30thLago-dei-Cigni-03-1030x579

Welcome to a dream! Roberto Bolle takes the Scala into a magic garden.

Il Giardino degli Amanti (The Lovers’ Garden ) is a new creation at the La Scala Theatre, Milan that should be considered one of the first 2016 tribute to the 225th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s disappearance. quadro-1-2--rDirected from former dancer Massimiliano Volpini, whos previous collaboration with ètoile Roberto Bolle, led him to create solos, pas de deux and one lucky multimedia project and finally this new work, which sees the Roberto dancing with La Scala Ballet.

There is a party at the villa.
In the garden, a chamber orchestra plays Mozart’s wonderful quartets and quintets. 12 elegant guests dance and have fun.Their moves are modern and quite contemporary.
(I visioned some West Side Story jumpsand even a “let’s twist” attitude) .giardino-amanti2

Among then a beautiful couple

7e8061048f3704aa8f1a9f5367f9b5111The man blindfolds the woman and takes her to hidden places. Soon the the labyrinths of the maze are populated by Mozart’s Commedia dell’Arte iconic characters such as Figaro, Count Almaviva, Rosina and Susanna, Don Giovanni and Leporello, Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Ferrando and Guglielmo.3-11-550x375 The couple gets lost in the maze and will find himself at the end, transformed by the Queen of the Night (Marta Romagna) who is leading young people within this world and make their metamorphosis. I loved the remarkable Bolle’s solo, while is using his jacket as a dance partner among the intense pas de deux between Roberto and Nicoletta Manni wearing an amazingly beautiful aerial tutu.b92e7e3015cbb507b7ba80b807b07eeb                                    With lightness and irony this journey into Mozart’s nod to ‘700 also in the sets and Erika Carretta‘s costumes (from classical characters to insects, fairies or dragonflies) who likes to spam from some graphic black- off white , to shades of blue and turquoise, to multicolored outfits. Grand finale with Mozart himself taking the stage while playing the piano in flowered platform..
Here the next performances,
featuring Roberto Bolle, Nicola del Freo, Virna Toppi and Martina Arduino)
April 15th Arduino, Del Freo
April 16th Toppi, Bolle,
April 17th Toppi, Bolle,
April 19th Arduino, Del Freo.

The fabulous harmonies of the Marinetti Sisters

imageLe Sorelle Marinetti is the name of an Italian swing singer trio starring Nicola Olivieri, Andrea Allione and Marco Lugli, three males singers in travesti.The Marinettis grounded their repertoire on the hits of another singing trio, the Lescano, three sisters singing in the close harmony style of the Andrews Sisters, who rised to great popularity, After roaming Europe, they arrived in the 1930s in Turin, which was the heart of the Italian radio world, where they were discovered by a local talent scout. In no time, they sold 100,000 records and even Mussolini – Il Duce – was among their fans.
The new show is called La Famiglia Canterina created by Giorgio Bozzo,o featuring the guest singers Valentina Gullace, Jacopo Bruno and the band with Christian Schmitz piano, Adalberto Ferrari clarinet, and Francesco Giorgi, violin.With charm and catching notes the Marinettis dust some of the Lescano’s hits out such as “Ma le gambe”, “Tulipan, “Maramao”, “Pinguino innamorato”
Let me tell you, tthose girls rock! Actually those girls…swing!
April 7-10 at Teatro Gioiello, Turin

 

REMEMBER MY NAME! After 35 years FAME comes back.

FamePageFAME is back!
Fame, Saranno Famosi, the Musical
is coming to Milan
at Barclays Teatro Nazionale.
The electrifying show, inspired to the legendary movie that opened 35 years ago, provides an open look at the New York City’s High School of Performing Arts, where sweat and hard work are the key factors to a successful life as a performer.
The plot follows a group of students across the acting, dancing and music faculties from 1980-1984 as they learn to master their craft and grow up alongside each other, rising to the various challenges that face them.Fame-12-1
The new version, directed by Federico Bellone reserves to its audience a nice surprise: every evening 10 people from the public, will be hosted on stage as part of the Auditorium of Fame School.
For more info
http://www.teatronazionale.it/tutti-gli-spettacoli/fame-saranno-famosi

 

Destination: Cirkopolis. Cirque Éloize conquers Milan

Screen Shot 2016-02-18 at 08.23.47An amazing, long journey is taking away the audience of Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan.
The voyage is guided by the spectacular cast, music, lights, and visual effect created by the Cirque Éloize Cirkopolis, a nearly two hour show directed by Jeannot Painchaud and Dave St-Pierre. It starts off with a back projection of a dreary factory populated by a crowd of people in grey overcoats designed by Liz Vandal,
while an employer is constantly stamping documents at his office desk. It reminded me of a scene of the recent movie Anna Karenina as well as Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and the underground world of Fritz Lang’s  Metropolis. The amazing video screen by Alexis Laurence follow the action with an intense zooming through buildings or tunnels, giving us the feeling of moving through space. Cirkopolis is taking us to forests, machines, buildings and finally a black and white circus tent.The 10 member extraordinary cast of acrobats and dancers use ropes, trapeze, a Chinese pole, teeter-board German wheel  in a variety of different acts that are pretty astonishing to behold. Screen Shot 2016-02-18 at 09.35.49One of the most touching moment is a romantic and unexpected pas de deux with a male dancer and a woman dress on a hanger. The great music by Stefan Boucher and the active choreography created by Dave St Pierre follow and animate constantly the show, like a modern ballet interacting with the  balancing acts.
At Teatro Arcimboldi till February 24th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUMPING WITH DUUM

DOOM-A3.indd

 

 

 

 

Sonics are the actor/dancer Antonio Villella aka Serafino and eight extraordinary aerial acrobats.

 

                                   Their new show is called DUUM and pays homage to the imaginary
underworld of Agharta.duum-06-1030x664

Sonics will bring on stage some breathtaking aerial acrobatics trying to make the Duum, the jump towards the earth surface.Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 23.12.08
Duum is actually the sound of a jump. always invent new expedients searching for the right vibration, the secret that will make them leave the underworld forever.duum-sito-3

I loved the  show, the music and the costumes, created by Ileana Prudente and
Irene Chiarle

DUUM will be performing at Teatro Carcano in Milan till Sunday Jan 31th, then will take the Italian tour to Faenza, Bologna, Cividale, Tolmezzo, Sacile, Varese, Forlì.
Here You can check the full Duum Tour schedule.

 

 

HAPPY 90, JERRY !

Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90ladies-man-3_crop-300x319

 

Jerry Lewis, the eternal adolescent, awkward and elegant, knowing and naïve, exhilaratingly brash and painfully shy. His energy and unpredictability was always there, a threat and a promise.

March 16 is Lewis’s 90th birthday, an occasion MoMA is celebrating with a retrospective of some of his finest films, all presented in rare 35mm prints.

the_bellboy_cropped

 

Each program comes with a surprise: selections of outtakes, screen tests, home movies, and behind-the-scenes footage chosen by Robert Furmanek, Mr. Lewis’s personal archivist of many years.

 

Indian Cinema: a powerful tale and a sweet, fat, love story

dum1

From Febuary 12th till 19th  Spazio Oberdan in Milan, presents a selection of the
River to River Florence Indian Film Festival.

The opening day will give a tribute to two great Indian directors
Deepa Mehta
and  Sharat Katariya

water-1

 

Water. at 4,30pm
Directed by Deepa Mehta.
Set in 1938, when India was still a colony and Mahatma Gandhi was beginning its ascent. The little eight year old Chuyia is sent to live in a house where  the Hindu widows must live in eternal penance.Nominated at the 2007 Oscar.
Check the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RewNn2r2P3g


Dum Laga Ke Haisha
at 9,00pmdum
Directed by Sharat Katariya.
A funny story that revolves around the life of a small town couple. From overcoming his fear of the English language to dealing with an overbearing father, Prem discovers that his oversized wife, Sandhya, who he thought was a spanner in his business and life, will actually lead him to something cool.
Check the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ycJVEHq-w

Magic for the inner child within you

festival magia“Festival della Magia” a Festival of Magic hosted by comedian and magician Raul Cremona, brings to the stage some of the most interesting Italian magicians.
From Aldo Nicolini aka Uncle Potterfestival4, who mysteriously loses his head,

 

 

 

 

 

to the flamboyant Ottavio Belli festival magia 1who enchants the audience with daring disappearances  through blades of fire.
From Shezan who creates from nothing a dozen of lanterns,festival6
to the
14 year old Elisa Rossi playing her amazing Chinese rings,festival 2
to
Mirko Menegatti’s traditional games with the doves.festival5
The poetry of Clown Carillon opens and closes the show with a triumph of soap bubbles festival 10
while the great host Cremona performs some magic numbers.
A special applause to an irresistible comedian GianLuca “Felipe” Beretta, who plays a dumb viewer involved in some tricks.
“A show is not only for children, but also for the inner child
within any adults” Cremona said.Raul_Cremona_©_Efrem_Raimondi_100_Sito
Till January 6th 2016 at the Teatro Manzoni in Milan.
Here Info for time schedule and tickets

 

 

Will Prince Désiré wake up the princess Aurora who falls asleep for a hundred years?

Sleeping Beauty, a ballet masterpiece with the wonderful music of PI TCajkovskij
and the iconic choreography of Marius Petipa will enchant again Milan audience
thanks to one of the most famous ballet companies in the world,
the New Classical Ballet of Moscow IMG_0428                                                                             featuring Stetlitsa Evgenii and Olga Kifiak,
both first soloists of the Opera and Ballet Theatre of Kiev, IMG_0337                                                while the finale will bring some very special Guests such as
Puss in boots and White Cat, Cinderella and the Prince
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

IMG_3859The New Classical Ballet of Moscow is a young company with the aim of developing the great tradition of classical Russian ballet, but also seek new choreographic forms. The Ballet is made up of dancers from the best dance Academies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Perm, winners of international competitions among etoiles from the best theaters in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg.IMG_0082

A magical fairy tale not to be missed.
At Teatro Manzoni in Milan
January 7th, 2016 at 9.00 pm
For info and tickets http://www.teatromanzoni.it

RAPUNZEL Remember this name…..

Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 12.26.16Successful return of the beloved family show “Rapunzel” a musical inspired to the Grimm Brother tale, revisited by Alessandro Procacci, Davide Magnabosco e Paolo Barillari.
Great Cast starting with Lorella Cuccarini as the evil Gothel,Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 12.29.01Alessandra Ferrari as Rapunzel, while the role of Rapunzel child, is greatly performed by 9 years old Valentina Critelli the winner of a popular TV Italian kid contest
Ti Lascio una Canzone”.
A big applause for the flamboyant Giulio Corso Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 12.29.41as Phil, a young robber who is trying to escape the royal guards and sheltering refuge in an old tower, where he will find Rapunzel , a young girl keep imprisoned by a witchy aunt.Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 12.27.04There are a lots of new characters, like the two talking flowers, the
guard “Hound” who speaks in Grammelot
and the mirror “Spiegel”, which reflects
the conscience of Rapunzel and inner thoughts.
In addition to that I loved some cartoon animated outdoor sequences Great Idea! 
A memorable moment: a multitude of lanterns flying over the audience.
Rapunzel will perform at Teatro Arcimboldi till Jan 10th 2016 then touring all over Italy .
Here dates and venues

Welcome to The Hole! If you’re not in the hole…you cannot get out of it!

Milan. Over 16 years old Italians are going crazy for THE HOLE, a sexy, shameless, provocative and terribly funny 2 hours Club-Circus-Theatre-Burlesque-Cabaret show playing now at the Teatro LinearCiak, IMG_8219turned into a club with tables and chairs for eating some serrano ham
or sipping a drik while watching the show.

 Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 09.43.38 Out of the ordinary, then, it is the story that binds the amazing stage performance of extraordinary artists who animate it: an Rocky Horror lookalike Master of ceremonies (the brave Filippo Strocchi) exhausted by a life of excess, find true love WITH with Maria Dolores, a sweet rabbit!  He decides to put his head in place, proud to present to friends and to the world the new love. Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 09.40.55
The brazen hedonist organizes a big party at his villa to announce to those present and to the public, maintained by the sensual and governed by stalwart butlers ready to perform acrobatics and strip. The guests arrive and …what a croud. From two lesbo sexy acrobats
Screen Shot 2015-12-19 at 12.12.34
, to a Fellinian clown singer, to an incredibly horny beast-boy who dares to show off his male attributes, to a fatty flying Marilyn, to four hilarious waiters and their accurate acapella version of Italian hits, to…more and more.
Even the intermission is a very funny moment where performers mingle with audience, allowing and encouraging to take hot and provocative selfies.IMG_8214

 

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The foyer is home every night after a show, animated by dj-set of the same artists who perform in a big red mouth used as a console.IMG_8233

A big applause to the all cast and a due standing ovation to the fearless host Filippo Strocchi (who previously performed as the amazing Rum Tum Tugger in “Cats“)
Filippo knows how to entertain the audience with songs , lyrics and an intriguing charme.

For more info Teatro LinearCiak
sito_LC_TH

PINOCCHIO FOREVER

The magic of Walt Disney‘s animation has a masterpiece:
the story of the wooden puppet named Pinocchio created by the imagination of Collodi.pin118349large-700x350-1
The long-nose little hero, will be celebrated in occasion of the exhibition INFINITO PINOCCHIO (held at Palazzo Sormani from October 17 to December 30) a film festival of popular films dedicated to the worldwide famous puppet.
The festival spans the version beautifully done by Oscar Winner Roberto Benigni pinocchio benignito the the first film adaptation of Pinocchio, a black and white silent version dated 1911 tthat will be screened on Dec 26thwith live music by Francesca Badalinipinocchio silentMore info at

live Cavalleria and Pagliacci…not to be missed

Thursday, December 10th. It will be an amazing night for opera lovers.
It will happen in one of The Space Cinema, a  great chain of movie theaters                      all over the Italian territory, hosting two long waited live performances                                 from London Royal Opera House.
CAValleria P
I am talking off Mascani’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, two short works, each recognized as the masterpiece of its composer, are presented together in a new production of the award-winning Damiano Michieletto.marchiello dirige
Exaggerated and cheeky, tender and inventive, energetic and ironic: 40 years old Michieletto is considered the richest talent of Italian directors, who come and go between lyrical and dramatic theater.
The two masterpieces, set up as Sergio Leone westerns, will reveal their western soul.
The event, hosted by Director of The Royal Opera Kasper Holten, will see Damiano, the great sopranos Carmen Giannattasio and Eva-Maria Westbroek,                               his superb cast and the amazing production team         croc
explore the production, the tradition of verismo opera and why composers such as Mascagni and Leoncavallo chose to write gritty operas about real life as opposed to romantic fantasies.

To know the all venues and for more info www.thespacecinema.it