entry Dec 2009, add photo Sept 2021
The Sannazzaro Theater
The
Sannazzaro Theater is on the premises of the old
monastery of the Fathers of the Spanish Mercedarian
order. It is next to the church of Our Lady of Mercy
(originally called the Chapel of Sant’Orsola) on via
Chiaia, still the main pedestrian path leading from
the Royal Palace over to the western seaside and the
Villa Comunale. After the ups and downs of monastery
closures, reopenings and reclosures in much of the
19th century in Italy, the premises were finally and
completely secularized and opened as the Teatro Sannazzaro
on Dec. 26, 1874 with a presentation of La petite Marquise
by French playwright Henri Mehilac. For many decades,
the theater was one of the leading theaters in the
city, hosting names of international renown such as
Eleonora Duse and virtually all well-known Neapolitan
actors, from Eduardo
Scarpetta to the De
Filippo theater troupe.
The
theater went into a decline in the 1930s, was turned
into a cinema (the fate of many theaters in post-war
Naples. See this link
to the Bellini Theater) and was finally reborn as a
theater in 1971 thanks to the efforts of actors Nino Veglia and Luisa Conte,
husband and wife, mainstays of the Neapolitan theater
tradition for many years. The theater has since been
successful and is now permanent home to the ‘Luisa
Conte’ Theater Company directed by Lara Sansone, grand
niece of the actress for whom the company is named.
Their
current effort (Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010) stars Sansone in
a presentation of Café-chantant
Forever. It is a tribute to a particular
genre of musical entertainment once very popular in
Europe and especially in Naples (see this link).
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