Actors are born, the musical Otello competing in Colleferro

Yesterday I spent a very pleasant evening of music and dance with the show Otello - the Musical during the Amateur Theater Grand Prix that is taking place in Colleferro.

Each region presents the show that won the regional review and last night it was Calabria's turn with its partner 'A rule of art' from Lamezia Terme.

On stage young people between 12 and 31 years old who have chosen a particular edition of William Shakespeare's Othello. In fact, the show was a musical written by Fabrizio Voghera, who had worked with Riccardo Cocciante on the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

A difficult work for a joyful summer evening that prompts us to reflect on life, friendship and achievement, so much so that Iago has become the symbol of betrayal and competes with Judas in wickedness. Concepts that you hardly want to tackle on a hot Sunday evening.

Yet, time flew by and the 19 boys of the company sang and danced like true masters of the scene. Even if every now and then someone let his young age shine through in some glance.

The show went on without intermission and time flew by as the crescendo of emotions was palpable among the audience. All very good and two champions: Iago and his wife Emilia.

At the end of the show, the curiosity to understand more of the company brought me behind the scenes to ask some questions. I met Tiziana De Matteo, a young singing teacher who is the founder of the company. 'The theater company was born from the singing school and had chosen this show by finding it on Youtube. We started testing a month before the pandemic and then a bit at a distance trying to meet every time the red areas turned white'.

The lyrics and music were perfect and guided the audience through the growing pathos of the opera, but the real surprise was the choreography that accompanied the whole show: 'the boys did it. I gave the basic ideas of what they had to express on stage and the boys chose the movements'. A round of applause to all of them!

I could not help but ask about the story of Andrea Mariano (Iago) and Alice Materrazzo (Emilia) and to my surprise I was introduced to a young 17-year-old boy, who is attending musical high school, and an 18-year-old girl who is finishing high school and dreams of going to America to specialize in the music sector.

This review of amateur theater is making me discover companies with incredible stories wrapped in poetry. Anyone who decides to dedicate part of their life to rehearsing for short-lived shows is a special person. A person who lives life through the lens of art to give joy to all of us.

Thanks to all of them and also to the municipality of Colleferro, which hosts the national event in the events of Colleferro European Capital of Space, and to Fiammetta Fiammeri of the FITA - Italian Amateur Theater Federation - who wanted me on the jury.