MAMMA MIA!

MAMMA MIA!

May 10, 2025 | CULTURE, CULTURE, MUSIC, MUSIC

Mamma Mia!

You will think: movie? No: theatre.

The musical Mamma Mia is back at TAM!

 


Notably, this is the 25th year since the debut of this musical in London’s West End.

25 Super Trouper Years!

A return to Teatro Arcimboldi Milano. 

A return for Mamma Mia! And a return for us too.

I already told you about Cats. 

By now you know: I adore musicals!

By now you know: I receive fantastic birthday presents, and the tickets for Mamma Mia at the Arcimboldi Theatre were another spectacular surprise!!!

Mamma mia!

 

I breathed in the joyful atmosphere even before the curtain went up as I watched the other people, there were all possible generations: from tiny little girls with puppets in their hands and ballet shoes on their feet, to gentlemen who despite the difficulty of walking leaning on their cane reached their seats.


Kids, families, couples, groups, and then them: all wearing a pink t-shirt showing the words the bride’s friends around the bride, wearing a tulle tutu tucked over her jeans, blindfolded with a silk scarf and unaware of what was about to happen.

I found it a really nice way to organise a hen party.

Then came ‘the orchestra’ … a very modern, digital version.

On the two mega screens on either side of the stage the words started to flow and the magic began.

At first I was even moved. Beautiful. Everything was perfect.

Did you also have the chance to see any of the versions of Mamma Mia that took turns on stage?

Do you like Abba songs? Which is your favourite?

How many times have you seen the movie?

Mamma Mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you? 🙂

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Dec 21, 2024 | ART, ART, MOVIES, CULTURE, CULTURE, MOVIES

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

I went to the cinema with Monica thinking I would be moved but actually I got angry.

You can find the review on the blog Matavitatau and incredibly this time Nick was more lenient than me.

Of course: The room next door has a lovely part.

Everything concerned to the visual sphere represents perfection, starting with the colours used in a sublime as well as communicative way

In an interview, set designer Carlota Casado  mentioned Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings among the references.

If you look at her paintings:
Oriental poppies
Ladder to the moon
Jiimson weed white flower

you can get a clear idea of the range of greens that I particularly admired.

The costumes, which we could call outfits, by Bina Daigeler are a riot of colour, style and quality.

Every single detail is meticulous, even I quote: ‘the coffee machines.’

The settings are fabulous: New York at its most magical and a house that represents the perfect blend of architecture and nature.

The set is Casa Szoke, designed by the Aranguren+Gallegos Arquitectos studio  near Madrid, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and located on the slopes of Mount Abantos in the forest of La Herrería. 

As if that were not enough, the furniture elements are well-known design pieces and the painting People in the sun by Edward Hopper becomes an integral part of the narrative as well as the visual.

And Almodòvar completes the representation of beauty by quoting James Joyce: The Dead from Dubliners

The snow falling faintly through the universe, and faintly falling, upon all the living and the dead.

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s first English-language film and his intention, I would say successful, was to make it as American as possible.

But then there is the verbose part, let me use the term, the dialogues in my opinion are that much excessive that they break the balance of everything else.

And there are a number of unfinished elements.

I will not go into the profile of the protagonist, nor into the euthanasia issue, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But remaining on the mere portrayal of the illness and the physical and psychological suffering, perhaps because I have unfortunately experienced it from my side, I could not help but get nervous.

An exclusive death.

Real life, however, is quite different.

Did you enjoy it? Did you find the ending unsettling or inspiring?

KEEP CALM AND POTA

KEEP CALM AND POTA

Apr 13, 2024 | ART, ART, CULTURE, CULTURE, WOMEN, WOMEN

Keep calm and pota!

Don’t say you’re not already smiling thinking to Keep calm and pota.

I immediately lit up, also because Keep calm and pota is curated by Piöcc’s Café.

Café! A coincidence, or rather, I would directly say a sign.

A sign that I immediately grasped when I contacted the Teatro Centro Lucia in Botticino Sera.

Yes, you read that right: theatre.

Elena kindly explained that their artistic direction in recent seasons has been proposing a review of dialectal comedies from the Brescia area entitled ‘Èl bel del dialet a teàter’.

As I have already mentioned, I am very fond of dialect. 

Keep calm and pota is therefore a dialect comedy, and Cafè di Piöcc a theatre company.

Elena also helped me contact the director: Manuela.

In two words: a revelation!

Quoting Queen Agatha:
A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues make a proof.

Keep Calm, Coffee and Friendship. 

The founders of the Café di Piöcc are three friends who meet in the parvis of the cathedral church in Montichiari.

Money is tight and friends watch the gentlemen eat pastries and drink wine, but they can only afford water from the fountain: the Café di Piöcc then, that is, the poor man’s café.

At Cafè di Piöcc, stories, gossip and historical facts are told.

From these tales, one of the first theatre companies in Brescia was born in 1970, a troupe that was also the subject of a university thesis.

Manuela joined the company, gradually performing various tasks: props girl, prompter, actress with a small part, assistant director.

Until one evening in the rehearsal room she picked up a book from which an envelope came out with a letter that no one had ever seen.

Destiny, magic, what would you call it?

In this letter, Beppe Boschetti, one of the three founding friends, had expressed his wish to leave the company in Manuela’s hands.

A story made up of people, a long journey made up of extremely remarkable theatre works such as I tre innocenti (The Three Innocents), inspired by news events, or Semplicemente donna (Simply Woman): a red chair and 49 changes of clothes representing the stages of life up to menopause.

And yet settings and periods vary while the common denominator remains the titles that are idioms, e.g. Petost che peji l’è mei insi or Ogné come la sàpes stada.

All the way to Keep Calm and pota.

Pota is the word that unites Brescia and Bergamo, an intercalary that, pronounced with the typical accent, is always very nice.

The author had the intuition to combine pota with the expression keep calm, linking up with Freud’s truth, the female Ego interjecting itself with the Super Ego, and communicating a message: love wins.

Speaking of messages, the Cafè di Piöcc also collaborates with the municipality of Montichiari for social work with the Legality in short project. 

It can therefore be said that Cafè di Piöcc keeps calm but is unstoppable!

Many many compliments and a special thanks to Manuela Danieli.

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

Feb 10, 2024 | ART, ART, CULTURE, CULTURE

Vigevano Biennial: the very moment I saw the first video introducing it, I felt a great sense of gratitude.

Arianna Forni, the creator and curator of this artistic and cultural project, during the last interview explains that she was inspired while visiting an artist’s exhibition in Vigevano, and fell in love with the Sforza Castle after about 45 seconds.

I want to point out this not so much with pride, but to remind those who, like me, live there and sometimes do not consider its value that much.

Who is Arianna Forni? Her bio is very rich, but among the many things I like to mention in particular her blog: The Greatest Coat.

On her home page, you can also find R.E.M.‘s  Loosing my religion and to me this a sign.

Music aside, Arianna with her words takes us on an artistic journey through art and with art. 

Alongside Arianna Forni, artistic director of all the side events: musical and otherwise, an artist capable of embodying the perfect fusion of music and painting: Andrea Fumagalli, Andy. 

The Vigevano Biennial has the patronage of the Municipality of Vigevano and 

of the District of Pavia 

and will be held from

8 April to 31 May, so be warned.

In the meantime, I suggest you not to miss the artists’ presentations on the Biennale Vigevano whispers of arts social pages. 

AFMetastrategy produces a crescendo of stories containing calls for artists, calls for partners, calls for endorsement and presentations of all the artists who will participate.

Truly the Castello Sforzesco and the Piazza Ducale are the place where step by step the dream becomes reality, or rather, turns into Art.

REBEL REBEL

REBEL REBEL

Jan 7, 2023 | CULTURE, CULTURE, MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Rebel Rebel is the picture disc I received as a gift from Elisa Mirko and Diego.

Elisa had already given me the Oh bej oh bej pictures as a gift.

Mirko had already given me the logo as a gift.

They both love David Bowie, as I do and as a large large percentage of humanity does, I think.

These days mark two dates, of which I like to remember more the first: his birthday.

David Bowie made history, and I won’t add “of music” because The White Duke is forever art, genius, style and communication that never stopped obliterating barriers.

Some have referred to Rebel Rebel as the anthem of glam, but I believe its unmistakable riff has the power to immediately captivate anyone who listen to it.

The Riff

Dsus2 E

e|———–0——–(0)——————|

B|——(3)—–3–2—0-0—–2–0——–|

G|——(2)————1-1———–1—–|

D|——-0————(2)—2———–2–|

A|—————————————–|

E|–(3)————————————|

Polly also agrees.

Video Player

Instead, this is the version at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London, on July 13, 1985.

Yes, I know, I always take you back to the 1980s, Rebel Rebel however is part of the 1974 album Diamond Dogs and at that time I was still unaware of it.

The image on the picture disc is part of the cover of Diamond Dogs signed by Guy Peellaert on the MoMA website the full version censored by RCA.

The album is steeped in references to George Orwell’s 1984.

Paradoxically, if you will, to look through the lens, I point you to this exhibition at the State Archives in Turin. 

America Dreams Rights show David Bowie on the U.S. tour promoting Diamond Dogs through Steve Shapiro’s shots.

It is very sad to think that almost fifty years have passed and yet we have not made much progress in terms of rights, or even in terms of dreams.

May be we are not Rebels enough, aren’t we?

COFFEE KISS

COFFEE KISS

Nov 26, 2022 | ART, CULTURE

Coffee kiss 咖啡之吻 is the “nickname” of Johnson Tsang’s artwork as the author himself explains on his blog. 

Some people called this work Coffee Kiss 咖啡之吻. I do think it is a great suggestion!

I think so too, and speaking of suggestions, thanks to whoever pointed me to Coffee Kiss: Chito a.k.a. @cala.mistro, if you still don’t know his drawings do it now because they are brilliant!

But if Coffee Kiss is just the nickname, what is the original title of the artwork?

Yuanyang II

Yuanyang is a species of water birds literally known as Mandarin duck. Because “Yuanyang” always appears in pairs, it is adopted as a symbol of conjugal love in Chinese, as Johnson Tsang explains.

Yuanyang II was displayed at Hong Kong International Airport with the following motivation:
with Hong Kong’s historical background, local culture embraces Chinese traditions as well as impacts from the West. In fact, inclusion has long been the major characteristic of local culture. Yet, Hong Kong people are no copycats. We infuse the external impacts with our own creativities. Yuanyang, a local drink which mixes milk tea and coffee, reflects Hong Kong’s unique fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. I hope to represent Hong Kong culture’s organic vitality in the West Kowloon Cultural District with this sculpture.
Johnson Tsang Cheung Shing 2012

Surely the organic vitality of Hong Kong is well represented, but at this point a further question arises: Yuanyang “local drink”?!

Yet weren’t we talking about ducks?

Actually, the name Yuanyang has many facets: as we mentioned, it is the Chinese name for mandarin ducks, which historically were believed to mate for life.

The popular association of yuanyang with romance arose during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

In his Changan poem: poetry written in an antiquated form, the seventh-century poet Lu Zhaolin wrote that lovers “wished to be mandarin ducks more so than immortals.” 

However, the Aix galericulata during the breeding season stay in couple often for many seasons, but not forever, after all, you know, times change… laughing

Yuanyang are also the beautiful rice terraces beyond the clouds, perfectly described by Si parte dopo il caffè. 

In Mandarin, yuanyang is then used when eating hotpot: “Yuanyang Pot “a double-tasting pot in which you can enjoy both spicy and non-spicy soup, divided into two parts. And the name relates precisely to the two halves joined, as in an inseparable pair.

Finally, to close the circle and return to Coffee Kiss, in Hong Kong yuanyang is a beverage: milk and coffee tea also known as Yuan Yang Cha 鸳鸯 in Mandarin, Yin Yang, Yun Yueng, Yin Yong, Yin Yeung or Yuenyueng tea 鴛鴦  commonly used among young people.

There are many transliterations, but the common denominator is unique and corresponds to a very popular drink and refers to how coffee and milk tea are a perfect match!

What do you think?

Coffee Informer explains the recipe, who wants to try it?

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