It will be a Traviata “without filters”, as the director dares to define it Lorenzo Lenzi, the one that will be staged by the Sicilia Classica Festival, next January 4th, at 9pm, in the splendid setting of the Politeama Theater in Catanzaro.
Rich in references to literature – from “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas to the lesser-known “Teleny” by Oscar Wilde – and to art, the young Lenzi’s direction aims to tell the Paris of 1850, where beyond romanticism there also exists “the squalor of a society that buys entertainment, love and people”.
“This is the intent of our show – explains the director himself – to dignify a story that has nothing fairy-tale about it, but which deals in a raw and real way with civil hypocrisy, prostitution and violence”. A façade world that is also told by the “living tableaux” that will be projected on stage, such as Delacroix’s “Basket of Flowers”, in which flowers and statues of pure beauty welcome a daily life made up of idleness and breakfasts in the garden, but which then they give way to the nudes of William Etty or the bacchanal painted in Ensor’s “The great judge”.
“We are very happy,” he adds Nuccio AnselmoArtistic Director of the Sicilia Classica Festival – to propose a Traviata of the era, but not of tradition, with a very particular reading rich in references and details, and with an exceptional cast in which the soprano Desirée Rancatore stands out in the role of Violetta , and the tenor Alessandro Scotto di Luzio in the role of Alfredo”.
The other singers are also of a high level: Giovanni Palminteri in the role of Giorgio Germont, Gabriella Aleo in Flora Bervoix, Francesco Cascione in the role of Baron Douphol, Maria Mellace in Annina, Alex Franzò in the role of the Marquis D’Obigny, Francesco Ciprì in Gaston, Angelo Michele as Doctor Grenvil, Luigi Lombardo in Joseph, Francesco Di Prima in the role of Flora’s servant e Francesco Laino in the role of Commissioner.
The artistic cast is completed by the Calabria Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mediterranean Lyric Choir, Orchestra Conductor M° Francesco Di Mauro, Choir Master Alistar Sorley. Scenes from the Sicilia Classica Festival, costumes by Fabrizio Buttiglieri, choreography by Stefania Cotroneo, Stage Director Clementina Cecereartistic director Nuccio Anselmo.