For those who love basketball and for those who love theater it is an event not to be missed. On Thursday 2 April, at 9pm, on the stage of the Francesco Cilea theater in Reggio Calabria, the journalist and storyteller Federico Buffa will bring to the stage “Otto Infinito – Life and death of a Mamba”, an emotionally charged story dedicated to the basketball legend Kobe Bryant. The show traces the life, career and human and sporting legacy of the Los Angeles Lakers champion, intertwining words, music and images in a powerful and evocative narrative journey that begins on the basketball court and ends elsewhere. Alongside Federico Buffa, a live musical component enriches the scene: Alessandro Nidi on piano, Sebastiano Nidi on percussion and Filippo Nidi on trombone. The direction is signed by Maria Elisabetta Marelli, while the visual component is handled by Francesco Poroli.
The Cilea event is organized by Peppe Piromalli’s Officina dell’arte in synergy with Progetto Touring, and will offer the public an experience that goes beyond theatre, capable of uniting sport, emotion and culture in one great story. A story that will be even more beautiful at the Cilea theater «because – explains Federico Buffa – Reggio Calabria is one of the fundamental stages of our show. In fact, Kobe lived in Reggio Calabria as a child, he played for the first time in his life in this city with the number 8 shirt (for 10 years he did so with the Los Angeles Lakers), because in a game between boys he scored 63 points, because the events of the Bryant family in Reggio Calabria are funny. There are many stories that I will tell only in Reggio Calabria, as happened in Pistoia, Rieti, Reggio Emilia. The other Italian places where Kobe lived before returning to the USA.”
From Black Jesus to Black Mamba, an incredible journey into the world of basketball, which is not just sport, told as only Buffa can tell. «Basketball is the common point that unites many stories. I have been to the USA 105 times and there were periods in which I went 5 or 6 times in the same year – says Buffa -. I grew up in the USA and I no longer recognize myself in these USA, also because I like everything about the USA: the art, the landscapes of the West, the culture of the collegiate world. When I went to the States for the first time I was a student and I was already sick of basketball, when I returned to Italy I was terminally ill. I remember the first time I went to Los Angeles as a student at UCLA, I walked into the gym and saw Wilt Chamberlain, who had come to train. He had arrived in his car from Bel Air, where he lived. He was over 40 and kept fit by playing with the younger ones and dominating them. The following year Magic also arrived… and it was a crescendo. The reckless love I had for the greatest game in the world became uncontrollable. And once the basketball virus has entered you, it never leaves you for life. And so today I try to celebrate basketball through its great priests.”
One thinks of Kobe Bryant but if he closes his eyes he sees Michael Jordan.
«And vice versa. The passing of the baton between the two occurs in a different way than usual. Kobe does not call MJ on the phone, but the first verbal contact between the two took place in December 1997 in Chicago during a game. Pippen and Shaq are out with injuries and the Bulls win easily. But on the pitch the two begin to talk to each other. Kobe asks technical things and Michael answers everything. At the end of the game the interviewer asked Jordan if he hadn’t talked too much with that rookie and he replied: “I asked Magic and Larry and they talked to me.” Here the great basketball is passed down among the greats. Jordan had recognized Bryant and passed the baton to him.”
What will fans see at Cilea?
«Both components. For Kobe’s first three titles I was there on the sidelines commentating on the NBA Finals. In those three finals, I saw something that could only be seen by being on the pitch. For example in the final against the Pacers, when Jalen Rose made a bad foul on Kobe after the Lakers were winning 2-0 in the carriage. Kobe’s ankle keeps him out and the Pacers win (2-1). In game 4, Kobe’s look said it all. Shaq’s sixth foul came in overtime and the game seemed over for the Lakers. But Kobe didn’t agree: “I’ll take care of it now,” he told his teammates during a time-out. He plays three full minutes, and at the age of 21 he performs the miracle of Indianapolis. And that’s where he tells the whole world that the Lakers can build a dynasty around him.”
How much has basketball changed since you told it?
“Very, very much. It was obvious that the 3-point shot was going to change the game. And the great coach Larry Brown was a Cassandra: be careful, with this shot everything changes, it will no longer be our basketball. And he was right.”
Are Iverson and Barkley the greatest not to win an NBA ring?
«I would also add Stockton and Malone, and maybe Gary Payton. These are the greatest to have never won an NBA title.”
From the Finals to the theater…
«The NBA Finals are the essence of basketball, pure emotion. Superior to everything and beyond having been lucky enough to be able to comment on them. Between the 2014 Germany-Argentina World Cup final and game 6 of the 1998 Finals I won’t even start.”
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