This is the unprecedented musical about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera that's coming to Italian theaters.
The art and life of the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo comes to the stages of the main Italian theaters through the unprecedented musical Frida, my love , a proposal that rediscovers her figure through a sensorial and visceral journey through her biography alongside Diego Rivera.
The play, written by Italians Andrea Ortis and Gianmario Pagano and produced by MIC International, was presented at the Mexican Embassy in Rome with the cast, directors, and screenwriters in attendance.
"The staging combines the three arts of the musical—dance, singing, and acting —as if the stage were a living body, with costumes that function as skin and music that ranges from Mexican folk tradition to contemporary and electronic, even embracing silence as an essential part of the musical language," explained director and performer Andrea Ortis on Monday.
The musical "Frida, My Love" will bring the life of Frida Kahlo to the great theaters of Italy, with a sensory staging that blends dance, singing, and acting, inspired by her Mexican roots.
The musical will premiere on October 21 and 22 in the small town of Avellino, kicking off a tour of Italy that will include some of the country's most prestigious venues.
Among them, the Brancaccio Theatre in Rome, where it will be presented from November 12 to 23, after passing through Milan (October 30 - November 2) and Florence (November 7-9), and before closing the year in Turin, from December 4 to 7.
Conceived after two years of research and in direct collaboration with Mexican institutions such as Frida Kahlo's 'Casa Azul' and the Diego Rivera Museum , the work proposes an emotional journey that reflects the artist's multiple transformations, as well as her intimate relationship with pain, identity and beauty.
According to its creators, the musical is presented as "an act of sincere storytelling" that respects Kahlo's biography without turning it into fiction, but allowing for creative freedom in the visual, musical, and scenic aspects.
Cast of the new musical "Frida, mi amor", a proposal that rediscovers her figure through a sensorial and visceral journey through her biography alongside Diego Rivera, this Monday at the Mexican embassy in Rome. The musical will premiere on October 21 and 22 in the small town of Avellino (south), kicking off a tour of Italy that will include some of the most prestigious venues in the country. EFE/ Claudia Sacristán Valle
"We work alongside the highest cultural authorities linked to Frida with the firm goal of not reducing her figure to a mere consumer product ," Ortis said.
As for the music, composer Vincenzo Incenzo described it as "restless, like Frida's soul," constantly moving and deeply inspired by the ancestral roots of Latin American culture.
The cast is led by Sicilian actress Federica Butera in the lead role , while Ortis plays Diego Rivera.
They are joined by the famous Drusilla Foer, the female alter ego of the Italian actor Gianluca Gori, who embodies the 'Catrina', a symbol of death in Mexican culture , "not as an end, but as part of the cycle of life."
Frida Kahlo. Mexican Ambassador to Italy, Carlos García de Alba Zepeda, during the presentation of the new musical "Frida, My Love." (Claudia Sacristán Valle/EFE)
The creators emphasized that their intention was not to "colonize" the Frida myth, but rather to explore it with respect and depth : "It is not about glorifying or romanticizing her figure, but rather approaching her humanity, her art, and her context with authenticity," they stated.
During the project presentation, the Mexican ambassador to Italy, Carlos García de Alba Zepeda, hailed the initiative as another example of the "powerful and rich culture" of Mexico and Italy, and noted that the two countries share "150 years of diplomatic relations where culture and art have been the backbone and guide of our shared history of friendship and empathy."
Clarin
