The imposing Gothic portal of the Notre-Dame cathedral stands at the center of the scene while Gregorian chant rises from the silence. With these suggestions the curtain opened on the show “La corte deimirali”, curated by the “Compagnia Marvan” directed by Mariangela Bonanno with the direction of Valerio Vella and the extraordinary participation of the singer Marco Vito. The magic of the theater has transformed the stage of the Vittorio Emanuele into the festive and colorful Parisian square, populated by the iconic characters born from the pen of Victor Hugo and featured in the famous musical by Riccardo Cocciante.
In the two acts of the show proposed in the Music and Dance season of the Ente Teatro – and conceived, according to the director Vella himself, as a “ballet opera” – the choreographies of Mariangela Bonanno, Alice Rella, Giorgia Di Giovanni, Domelita Abate, Jo Prizzi, Gianluca La Spada, Desirèe Trovatello, Gianni Berta and Francesco La Vecchia brought back to the public the events of the famous novel published by Hugo in 1831: the poignant love between the deformed Quasimodo and the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, the oppression perpetrated by the archdeacon Frollo, the clamor of the “Festival of Fools” and the darkness of the “Court of Miracles”, against the clear backdrop of a Paris at the end of the 15th century divided between the social fear of the “different” and popular redemption.
The artistic operation of the homage to the musical, as well as to the two now cult Disney films, carried the risk, it must be said, of further blurring the contours of what is now a classic of universal literature, interposing further interpretations between the original and the eminently balletic version proposed by “Marvan”. The risk seemed to have been averted in the end, attending the “premiere” on Friday evening: the stage performance of the all-Messian dance company was narratively coherent and fluid, as was Vella’s punctual direction, although some choral scenes appeared uneven in the management of the spaces and in the synchronicity of the choreographic lines. Giuseppe Licitri in the role of Quasimodo and Mara Pulitano in that of Esmeralda were particularly convincing, but Marco Mondì’s Clopin, Maurizio Russo’s Febo, Alberto Guarnera in the role of Frollo and Ilaria Raffa in the role of Madellaine were also up to the task.
The contribution of the Sicilian singer Marco Vito is notable, who has now boasted a close artistic collaboration with Cocciante for twenty years, becoming the protagonist of a splendid interpretation of “Il tempo delle cathedrali” at the beginning of the second act. Also good was the performance of singer Denise Truscello, an incisive interpreter of some famous themes entrusted to the character of Esmeralda and of the song “Voilà” by Barbara Pravi, which appeared a few years ago at Eurovision and which turned out to be, perhaps, the least successful choice of the entire performance. And again the excellent performances of the dancers Denise Truscello and Sharon Tartaro and the dancer Kostantin Hryhor’ev, Carmelo Alati in the role of the head of the jugglers and in that of the acrobats Gianni Berta and Francesco La Vecchia.
The costumes designed by the tailoring Xanto of Palermo, Harmony and Majoca are magnificent and the video mapping by Mario Bruno and the lights by Danilo La Rosa are excellent. The grand finale was full of applause, with two further and appreciated performances by Denise Truscello and Marco Vito.