The Musical in Naples
Although definitions of musical genres can get
blurred, much of the time they do let us know what to
expect. Thus, in Italian, la lirica means what in English is
called "opera"; that is, a longer, usually serious, bit
of musical drama in which even dialogue is sung or, at
least, "talk-sung" in a style called recitativo. And so
forth through various historical genres such as
"Neapolitan comic opera," "operetta" and, more recently,
"musicals."
Indeed,
the English term "musical" has come to be used
increasingly over the last few decades in Italy, in
general, and Naples, in particular, to describe a kind
of musical drama not native to Italy, a form that
employs the American idiom of jazz-pop-and rock-based
music and rhythms to move a story along in a combination
of songs and spoken dialogue. Obviously, the term is
used to refer to original American musicals, but now is
used, as well, for original productions in Italian as
well as Neapolitan dialect.
The
first Italian musical was billed as "...worthy of
comparison with the great American musicals..."
and was a 1953 film called Carosello Napoletano (a film version
of a stage production). It was directed by Ettore
Giannini and featured a young Sophia Loren in the cast.
The music was so American that it even included a
Gershwinesque clarinet solo à la Rhapsody in Blue.
It was only the second film in color ever made in Italy,
and it won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival of 1954.
It didn't have much of a plot, but was rather one long
variety piece, an excuse to tell the long history of the
city through updated versions of Neapolitan song. One
scene featured 'O
sole mio being sung in the rain! (Get it? I
thought so.)
All of
this is as natural as New York having a fine symphony
orchestra (a European invention). There is nothing
unusual about cultures borrowing from one another.
Indeed, musical globalization (I am trying to
avoid the term "syncretism" because I'm not sure
what it means) is moving swiftly along, as anyone knows
who has heard Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Orchestra or the new
Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles, or even picks
up a CD (as I have done recently) called Planet Soup, which
has a track of someone playing John Coltrane's "Giant
Steps" on a slide alp-horn accompanied by a chorus of
those Tibetan monks who can sing two notes at the same
time. (OK, I made that one up.)
A more
recent Neapolitan musical was C'era una volta...Scugnizzi, based on
the lives of Neapolitan street kids ("Scugnizzi")
incarcerated in the juvenile detention center on the
little island of Nisida in the waters off of Bagnoli.
The song lyrics and dialogue are in Neapolitan dialect,
and the stage musical is based on a 1987 musical film by
Nanni Loy. Scugnizzi has been a perennial favorite since
it opened.
I see
from a cursory glance at posters along the street that
there is a musical now running called Edith Piaf, based
on the life of the great French singer. It bills itself
as a commedia
musicale. That term is a translation of
"musical comedy." They may be consciously avoiding the
Anglicism "musical" for some reason, but maybe we don't
want to overanalyze these things. I see another poster
advertising the musical Chiara di Dio, based on the life of
St. Claire.
The most interesting musical going at the moment
is Napoli 1799,
combining Neapolitan history and the ever-popular
travail of star-crossed lovers. The historical event is
the republican revolution of 1799 that briefly overthrew
the Bourbon monarchy. The "Romeo and Juliet" in this
case are Riccardo (the royalist son of a count) and
Stella (the peasant girl and republican revolutionary).
Twelve original songs are by Gianfranco Gallo. The work
claims to be "relevant" (meaning that since there are
wars going on, an anti-war piece such as Napoli 1799 has
something to say); at one point, it features a backdrop
display showing the number of civilians killed in wars
over the past two centuries. Much of the music is
text-centered in the recent tradition of the Neapolitan
cantautore —
singer/songwriter; that is, important lyrics are intoned
to somewhat anonymous tunes that are not meant to be
stand-alone melodies in themselves.
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