Pinocchio (badly) seen by the Cat and the Fox. Andrea Camilleri and Ugo Gregoretti reinvent Collodi at the Teatro Massimo. Scheduled for 2,3,5 April: in the role of the puppet Pinocchio the musician Piotta.
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Tired of the bad reputation to which they have been condemned by Carlo Collodi, the Cat and the Fox ask that, through a trial, their position in the tale of Pinocchio be rehabilitated. This is the starting point for Pinocchio (mis)seen by the Cat and the Fox, the multimedia opera written and performed by Andrea Camilleri and Ugo Gregoretti, as the Fox and the Cat, which offers an unusual point of view on the events narrated in the Pinocchio fable.
The show will be staged at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on Saturday 2 April at 11.30 a.m., Sunday 3 April at 11.30 a.m., and Tuesday 5 April at 9.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m., as part of the programmes “Il Massimo in famiglia – musica da ascoltare, vedere, narrare” and “0-18 – Musica per crescere fin dalla culla”. Libretto by Andrea Camilleri and Ugo Gregoretti, music by Lucio Gregoretti, direction by the Shorofsky collective, supervision by Francesco Prisco, sets and costumes by Alessandra Traina. Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Massimo, conductor Michele De Luca, chorus master Pietro Monti.
Set in a courtroom populated by animals, the mise-en-scène consists of the continuous interaction between the stage and a large screen from which appear Professor Ugo Gatto (Gregoretti) and Doctor Andrea Volpi (Camilleri) who try to convince those present of their good faith. A new commission by the Fondazione Teatro Massimo of Palermo, in co-production with the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania and the Orchestra sinfonica nazionale della Rai of Turin.
On stage, a courtroom hosts the trial: an Orango judge and two lawyers enliven the story by calling some of the animals in the book to testify, including Dr. Corvo, Dr. Grillo, the Serpentone, Dr. Civetta, the Faina, and the Lumaca. The protagonists’ testimonies follow one after the other, until a decidedly unprecedented Pinocchio enters the scene: dressing the puppet’s shoes, once he has grown up and become an adult, is the Roman musician Piotta who, in rap time, recounts his exuberant version of events.
On the screen, the presence of Andrea Camilleri and Ugo Gregoretti acts as counterpoint to the stage action, sometimes supporting it, sometimes disturbing it. With the use of digital animations and reference to contemporary elements, the show retraces some salient moments of Collodi’s fable. Similarly, environments and suggestions are constructed in which the Cat and the Fox act. In this continuous dialectic between stage and screen, fiction and reality, truth and lie, a cheerful and visionary crescendo comes to life, destined to culminate in a rousing surprise ending.
Tickets: 5-10 euros