Moving Out (2015)
Moving out, a theatrical play with arias and duets is Riccardo Riccardi’s second commedy in English. It follows his work Il testamento (The Will), and also follows the design of
Il testamento: spoken theater interspersed with parts that are sung.
SINOSSIMoving Out brings Italy and United States together, both in its subject matter and in its music.
On
stage, two faces of immigration confront each other: a mature woman who
moved to the U. S. from Italy many years ago, and her niece, who has
just arrived in the Big Apple. On the one hand, memories of the past
and a nostalgia for one’s roots; on the other, the challenge of
realizing her dreams in America, the land of opportunities –as
envisioned by the collective worldwide imagination. The innermost
feelings of the two women are described with lightness and irony, and
the contrast between aunt and niece finds a common thread in their
enduring love for Italian cuisine.
Most of the texts are sung in
Italian—as with traditional opera—but some are sung in English because
“Moving out” filters musical ideas from America through an operatic
lens—the lens of Italian opera.
