ROSSINI FLAMBÉ is a sparkling sequence of songs on themes ranging from Mediterranean cuisine to love. The antecedent is the improbable and fortunate discovery of a manuscript of young Gioacchino Rossini, lost somewhere in Romagna, where he lived in his youth. The story revealed takes on the tones so congenial to the author’s imagination: love, music and food. We find ourselves in a restaurant run by two brothers who are “twins” but do not look at all alike which also employs two kitchen assistants and a sommelier. The difficult choice between a menu linked to traditional regional cuisine, and one that is more attentive to contemporary health requirements is the starting point for the clashes between the two brothers, who find their co-workers either allies or enemies. In reality, it is not so much a question of digestibility because whoever wins the culinary dispute will probably also win the heart (and dowry) of the handsome twin. But every story has an ending, and sometimes, fortunately, an unexpected one. The singing cooks introduce the themes of the songs through the explanation of recipes and ingredients of Italian cuisine, alternating them with short stories and comic stage actions. The actors sing and play kitchen utensils, casseroles, pots and cutlery, wear masks showing grotesque expressions and recalling another world-famous Italian tradition, the Commedia dell’Arte. From scene to scene, the unbridled cooks draw the audience into a whirlwind of unforeseen situations, love skirmishes, spite and culinary disasters, successes and triumphs of taste and pleasure.
ROSSINI FLAMBÉ is a show for young and old that tells of Italy and its flavours and sounds, which unravels the passion for life and its pleasures as a characteristic trait of the Italian popular culture. It is the story of a quest for happiness and conviviality, a hymn to love and taste, to good food and the pleasure of sitting together around a big table. The musical repertoire is inspired by the relationship between food and love with sweet and salty songs about love in the kitchen, seductions at the table, describing moods that alternate between melancholy and laughter. Starting from the sounds of Italian popular music, Antonella Talamonti (a historical collaborator of Giovanna Marini) composed for this work original music and arrangements that alternate with Rossini’s most famous ouvertures.
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