Video

Snapshots from the direction of Ferdinando Ceriani

There's another change! Our open-air theater is undergoing a full renovation. Beatriz and I decide to move to the “pit.” A new challenge for the set-up and disappointment for the kids, who had grown fond of the Sala delle Colonne. To lift their spirits, we come up with a show—featuring singing and acting—entirely dedicated to Brecht and his cinematic adaptations. We have 45 students dancing at the same time. The impact is remarkable. We discover unexpected singing talents, have to censor some of the girls’ overly revealing outfits, and even go so far as to have Kurt Weill’s “Salomon Song” performed live on the accordion! The auditorium was packed with friends and distinguished guests, including the Peter Pan Association, to whom we dedicated the three evenings. And it was during those three performances that Beatriz and I realized, after doing the math, that we had reached the ten-year mark!

Adaptation and direction: Ferdinando Ceriani

Collaboration on staging and choreography: Carla Ferraro

Assistant director: Alice Guidi

Music: Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, John Kander

May 23-25, 2011, 9:00 PM

LUISS Guido Carli, University Gardens, Viale Pola, 12 - Rome

Gangsters, shootouts, criminals, loan sharks, prostitutes, and torturers are just a few of the characters that populate this descent into the “underworld” of metropolitan cities, into their dark, disturbing, underground slums where the vices of humankind nestle and swarm, and where the rules are subverted and turned upside down like in a sort of carnival party. And the party kicks off in a cabaret of dubious repute, the Kit Klap Club (which, with its name and music, evokes Bob Fosse’s film Cabaret). Here, a troupe of penniless comedians and unlikely dancers (not to mention the orchestra!) stages, between one shootout and the next, the stories of some of the most notorious criminals from the underworld. It’s a whirlwind of episodes livened up by dance, music, and songs by Kurt Weill, as well as Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story) and John Kander (Cabaret). In a plot with unpredictable twists and turns, where we had fun blending Bertolt Brecht (The Threepenny Opera, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui) with Raffaele Viviani, we’ll follow the adventures of Mack the Knife and his gang, the misdeeds of Arturo Ui, the corruption of Chicago’s business world, the cruelty of Mr. Peachum, Jenny of the Slums and her “escorts,” the rival romances of Polly and Lucy, the thugs of the Spanish Quarter, and the impoverished lives of Neapolitan beggars. Chicago, London, and Naples provide the backdrop for this show, which is a playful tribute to Expressionist drama as well as the great tradition of American music hall. This project has allowed the students to explore not only acting but also singing and dancing, marking another step in a journey that, over nine years of workshops, has led us to tackle some of the most significant moments in the history of world drama.

Students | Key Players

• Elisabetta Abelardi
• Lucrezia Alberti
• Gabriella Ambrosino
• Marianna Antenucci
• Flavio Bernardini
• Giacomo Bucciarelli
• Miriam Bulbarelli
• Barbara Canini
• Bruno Catania
• Alexandro Capogna
• Valentina Cascapera
• Giulia Ceccarelli
• Francesca Elena Cifone
• Simone Corbisiero
• Giovanni Cordì
• Ilaria Diotallevi
• Filippo Di Iorio
• Giuseppe Di Paola
• Gianluca Fasano
• Carlo Maria Ferrero
• Andrea Gagliano
• Alessandra Gesualdi
• Luisa Giurato
• Mariachiara Gramegna
• Giuseppe Guglielmino
• Anni Jin
• Giuseppe Labate
• Cristiana Lucentini
• Leonello Marraccini
• Teresa Mattioli
• Giulia Mazzara
• Umberto Milano
• Claudia Monti
• Simone Oddo
• Margherita Pennetta
• Alessandra Petrosino
• Diana Pezzella
• Antonio Rinaldi
• Daria Rizzotto
• Giulia Rosato
• Luca Sigot
• Fabio Massimo Silvetti
• Alceo Smerilli
• Giovanni Visaggio