Casanova play woos audiences

Giacomo Casanova seemed to embody the Romantic Age almost single-handedly. This real-life legendary Italian libertine, adventurer and writer, known for his extremely, shall we say, colorful life, has been frequently brought to the stage and screen.

To celebrate the 1,600th anniversary of the founding of Venice, the original Italian musical Casanova, based on Matteo Strukul's best-selling book Giacomo Casanova — La sonata dei cuori infranti, premiered in the city in December 2022, instantly becoming popular.

Following its success, the play finally ventured to China for a 10-performance run at the Shanghai Culture Square from Dec 20 to Saturday.

The story is set in the perilous year of 1755. Casanova, who has ended his life in exile, returns to his hometown of Venice. With his charming and dashing image, as well as sharp wit, he quickly becomes a favorite of high society and embarks on a romantic and passionate love affair with the noble Venetian maiden, Francesca.

However, the good times do not last long as Casanova finds himself entangled in a political conspiracy. In order to save his beloved Venice, he must engage in a thrilling showdown with the ambitious schemers.

"Casanova is a perpetual Peter Pan — never aging, always creating endless fun in the most clever ways. He is a magician, but more importantly, a fighter of life with countless followers," says Gian Marco Schiaretti, who plays Casanova.

Schiaretti is well-known to audiences for his outstanding performances in the musicals Notre-Dame de Paris and Don Juan.

According to his description, people often confuse the two roles of Casanova and Don Juan, but they are actually very different characters.

"Don Juan is a myth; we do not have actually typical geographical or historical or realistic literature that can describe the existence of Don Juan. Casanova is a real character we are telling onstage, a pretty important three years in the life of Casanova," Schiaretti says.

He explains that these two characters hold different attitudes toward women. Don Juan's traumatic past led to his darker side, whereas Casanova is portrayed as a genuine gentleman who loves women sincerely and is reciprocated in kind.

"Casanova, as you see onstage, also had various enemies, but more of a political nature. He is a highly respected individual with many talents. He brought numerous ideas to various important families across Europe," Schiaretti explains.

In addition, Casanova marks Schiaretti's return to the Italian musical stage after a 13-year absence during which he appeared in numerous international productions. He stated that the play captures Italian vibes, passion and culture.

"I think it is a great connection with who I really am inside and what I could actually express with the show.

"I'm really happy that I could be back in my country, and at the same time to be kind of an ambassador to promote Italian art and musicals in China," Schiaretti says.

The musical was composed and produced by Red Canzian, the bassist and composer of the legendary Italian band Pooh. As one of the key figures of the band, Canzian created 36 original songs for Casanova, most of which pay homage to Italian classical music while also incorporating elements of pop and rock.

"I was born in 1951, and during my youth, I grew up listening to famous bands like The Beatles. However, I was influenced by traditional Italian music from a young age, which I incorporated into my music composition," Canzian says.

In Casanova, Canzian also attempted to blend the style of popular music with the highly traditional opera art of Italy, "hoping to present to everyone the romance and charm of Venice".

Furthermore, he collaborated with the stage director of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Massimo Checchetto, to design over 30 scenes in the play. Checchetto first captured a series of real-life photos in Venice, which were then processed with special effects to re-create the 18th-century Venetian atmosphere onstage.

"Venice is like an elderly woman, fragile yet still enchanting and romantic. She carefully guards her secrets. My work is a declaration of love to such an incredible city," Checchetto says.

In addition to the moving music and exquisite stage design, the costumes of the actors also left a profound impression on the audience.

A total of 120 historical costumes appeared in the play, all designed by the award-winning designer Stefano Nicolao.

He has garnered awards and numerous nominations for films such as Marco Polo and Eyes Wide Shut. In order to reflect the essence and uniqueness of Venetian history and culture through his work, Nicolao devised a new concept for this play: while preserving the traditional silhouettes and tailoring techniques of the 18th century, he innovatively incorporated modern fabrics like denim to provide a fresh interpretation for classic characters such as Casanova, infusing the production with a contemporary flair.

The activities, battles, and performances of 21 actors on the surreal stage, coupled with the highly difficult transitions of scenes and costumes, vividly re-created the splendor of 18th-century Venice before the audience's eyes.

For Nicolao, there are many deeply resonant scenes in the play, but his favorite is the part where Casanova, after escaping from prison, attempts to murder the countess.

"Because in this scene, through choreography, we see the countess transformed into six dancers. Through this technique of splitting the character into multiple dancers and intense interaction, we can truly captivate the audience's hearts," Nicolao says.

Fei Yuanhong, the general manager of the Shanghai Culture Square, remarks that, "the classical charm of 18th-century Venice is conveyed very well". However, more significantly, the performance of this work also contributes to the direction of developing multilingual musical theater at Shanghai Culture Square by adding a new language production, he says.