GIORGIO PANARIELLO “IS” MONSIEUR JOURDAIN

 “I tried to be myself as much as possible, without letting the character take me over”, are the words of Giorgio Panariello.

Widely-famous Giorgio Panariello is trying his hand at theatre for the first time. This was Giampiero Solari’s idea, director and artistic director of the Teatro Stabile delle Marche, who thought The Bourgeois Gentleman by Molière would be ideal fo Panariello. Just like Monsieur Jourdain, the French play’s main character, the Tuscan comedian is trying to change his status, to pop his head into the “noble” aura of theatre: he does so in a mise en scène which Solari decided to take back to its original ballet-comedy features, adding, at the same time, all the typical ingredients of an Italian variety Show, “where popular elements are given by the actor’s body -says the director- just like in the commedia dell’arte genre which had a great influence on Molière”. This production (co-produced by the Teatro Nuovo in Milan) is arousing great interest everywhere, to the extent that from Ancona to Cesena, from Bologna to Rome and all the way to Messina, all the theatres where the show is going to be performed have already sold out all tickets.

In The Bourgeois Gentleman, Giorgio Panariello, wearing period costumes and a wig, has taken along part of the travelling troupe that performed in the Italian Lottery-TV show, two years ago: Tosca d’Aquino (Madame Jourdain), Carlo Pistarino (co-author of “pre-Molière” Panariello’s texts, playing the two parts of the philosophy teacher and the Great Muftì), and Andrea Buscemi, the Dantesque “brilliant reciter” during the above-mentioned Lottery show, now playing Count Dorante; a troupe that Solari decided to “mix” with the actors from the Teatro Stabile delle Marche, who just finished performing another play by Molière, Don Juan: Claudia Ceccarini (Lucile, Jourdain’s daughter), Beatrice Schiros (Nicole’s maid), Pietro Micci (Cleonte, in love with Lucile), Andrea Bartola (Covielle, Cleonte’s servant), Luigi Moretti (music teacher - tailor), Christian Amadori (dance teacher), and Andrea Caimmi (fencing teacher).

The live original music was composed by Pesaro-born Mario Mariani and is a refined blend of reinterpreted 17-th century elements. The magnificent set is a new creation by Sergio Tramonti  (who has been working with Solary for many years): red curtains cutting through spaces multiplied by a large rotary mirror which opens them up far beyond the sidelines.