“It is a wonderful theatre, musical, dance and multimedia show in Calabrese with subtitles in English written, directed, sang and danced by one of our former teachers, Marisa Buffone. After long and very selective auditions, she put together a dance, music and theatre group of the highest caliber.
The music is all taken from the rich folk tradition of Calabria, the play from the personal family story of her immigrant mom's family and the dances from the best Tarantella traditions of that region. The talent, freshness, energy and enthusiasm displayed by the dancers, actors, musicians and singers is truly unprecedented for our local community theatre scene. I invite you all to support Marisa in her efforts by attending the show and seeing if it possible to invite her to your school for a performance. The fact that the play is mostly in dialect should not prevent your students from enjoying the experience, also because the play is simultaneously translated with surtitles and accompanied by very suggestive images on a screen at the back of the stage. You do not need to be Calabrese to enjoy this. Please make every effort to attend and call as many relatives and friends as possible.” Luca Buiani. Coordinator of Italian Studies
ArtWorld Studio Productions is pleased to announce the Revival of Tarantella the Musical, a sort of Italian Riverdance meets Les Miserables, Made in Canada!...a performance of Southern Italian folk music, song, dance. In 2007 ArtWorld Studio Productions, together with La Mama ETC of New York NY, produced Tarantella. It premiered in Toronto and New York (Off-Off Broadway) at La Mama Theatre as a musical theatre production and in Luminato as a Musical Cabaret. In 2008 Tarantella was produced in Toronto under the leadership and sponsorship of prominent and generous members of our community. Since then the company has produced numerous performances of Tarantella, as an original cultural-anthropological Drama, Cabaret, Musical and Dance version, a celebration of life expressed through the southern Italian traditional music, song and dance of the Tarantella and Pizzica in its original integrity.
Highlights of Tarantella are the exciting diverse forms of the dance of the tarantella and pizzica, expressed through magnificent free style group, duet and striking solos, in which tradition meets pop and classical. Extraordinary is the pizzica tarantata, an ancient female healing dance still practiced today in the deep south of Mediterranean Italy - the speed and rhythm of this beat facilitates the expulsion of the tarantula’s venom, the venom of social, psychological and physical oppressions. Tarantella offers traditional music and ballads that have experienced a revival in Europe, in particular among young people. Thanks to also to Alan Lomax for the musical research he did in Italy in the 1940’s,
The performance will feature internationally renowned and acclaimed musicians such as Claudio Vena. founder of Quartetto Gelato and musical director of The Stratford Festival. Other prominent musicians of Tarantella have been the likes of Bill McBernie, Silvio Simone, Nuno Cristo, Larry Lewis, Ernie Tollar, Nate Hiltz, Tarantella will also feature original ballads and authentic period costumes. Dramatic dialogue will be in English, Italian and local Southern Italian dialect with opera like surtitles in English.
The story is set in the South of Italy in the 1940s. An eighteen-year old girl and a twenty- year old boy have shared a bond of love for two years. Every day Paolo climbs the mountain where Caterina lives with her wealthy and respected landowning family. Their love is as innocent and real as the feeling of hope that followed the liberation of Italy from the darkness of WW2. The excitement of the unknown and a sense of good things to come are in the air. But everything seems to be changing too quickly, and an unexpected series of events, choices and missed opportunities, change the young lovers’ lives forever
The innovative aspects in Tarantella will facilitate and entice all audiences to participate in this interactive theatrical experience. The performance will transcend all language barriers and move towards the understanding and enjoyment of a true social-cultural experience. Tarantella runs at approximately 90 minutes.
Since 2007 a Tarantella Cabaret Concert and Dance version of Tarantella has been performed for Galas and Fundraisers such as the Bridgepoint Annual Fundraiser at the Four Season’s Hotel in Yorkville, for The italian Heritage Day at the 16000 audience BMo Stadium, The City of Richmond Hill, Oakville. Mississauga etc. Other performances of Tarantella Cabaret Concerts versions have been presented around the city and greater Toronto area , in New York and the open piazzas of Italy.
"Fantastic family fun!"