Unmissable

The new theatrical season in Florence, autumn events

After the summer break the Florence theatres will reopen with a rich programme of shows, concerts, and operas. Here are the most interesting events starting in the fall, with unmissable classics and shows that are brilliant, funny, avant-garde, and have an international flair.
opera di firenze
This modern opera venue is home to a beautiful symphony season. The first show will be La Rondine by Giacomo Puccini with a new production by Denis Krief who directed the sets and costumes (17 - 25 October). After that will be La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini, directed by Bepi Morassi, set in a Swiss ski resort of the ‘30s (18 - 29 November).
For dance, the curtain will open on Sleeping Beauty, the famous and beloved ballet by Tchaikovsky (7 December - 18 January). The Christmas concert is entrusted to the Orchestra, the Choir and the Maggio Boys’ Choir directed by Lorenzo Fratini (21 December), while the Year-end Concert, directed by Fabio Luisi, is dedicated to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (31 December). An opera will bring Fabio Luisi to the podium once again, to tackle the great score of La Favorite by Gaetano Donizetti, performed for the first time in Florence in the original French version and in the setting of the Grand Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, directed by Ariel Garcia Valdes (22 February – 3 March). The three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Gluck will be celebrated with the performance of Alceste, with sets and costumes designed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, and conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli (21 – 31 March).
TEATRO DELLA PERGOLA
The first event of the autumn reopening will be an evening dedicated to the great Tuscan choreographer based in Florence, Virgilio Sieni, who presents his new creation, Diario di Vita. For one night only, 11 dances will be performed to live music by Eivind Aarset, a Norwegian guitarist with a unique musical vision (11 October). World-renowned names in Italian theatre appear this season: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, directed by Michele Placido, is Professor Ardeche in L’ora di ricevimento by Stefano Massini (21 - 27 November), Leo Muscato directs Massini’s adaptation of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose (28 November to 3 December), Carlo Cecchi stars in Pirandello’s Henry IV (12 - 17 December), Gabriele Lavia directs and stars in The Father by Strindberg (16 - 21 January), Alessandro Preziosi stages Massini’s Van Gogh (6 - 11 February), Stefano Accorsi and Marco Baliani come to the theatre with Lo cunto de li cunti by Basile (20 – 25 February), Gianmarco Tognazzi and Elena Sofia Ricci star in Miller’s Broken glass, directed by Armando Pugliese (6 – 11 March), and Sergio Rubini and Luigi Lo Cascio tackle Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (23 - 29 March).
TEATRO VERDI
The Verdi theatre, which celebrates its twentieth season in 2017-2018, opens the festivities with The War of the Roses with Ambra Angiolini and Matteo Cremon, directed by Filippo Dini (3 - 5 November).
The season continues with more shows inspired by films and musicals. Rocky horror show, with Claudio Bisio in the role of the narrator, is scheduled at the Mandela Forum (7 - 11 November). In January, Raul Bova and Chiara Francini star in Two, directed by Luca Miniero (18 - 21 January). Then Lorella Cuccarini returns in the musical The Ice Queen, from Puccini’s Turandot (26 - 28 January). A live theatre show based on the 80s cult film Dirty Dancing comes to the Verdi Theater (8 - 11 February). Then Claudia Cardinale closes the season with Ottavia Fusco, bringing Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple to the stage from March 15 to 18 (15 - 18 March).
TEATRO PUCCINI
This season’s delightful programme begins with Sabina Guzzanti in Come ne venimmo fuori. Proiezioni dal futuro (27 and 28 October). Francesca Merloni and Gianmarco Tognazzi bring Guardiana to the stage with the original music performed on the piano by Remo Anzovino (24 and 25 November). Three actors in the international theatre company based in Berlin, the Familie Flöz in Teatri Delusio, with the help of sophisticated costumes and well-designed sound and well-designed, bring to the stage 29 characters and give life to a complete drama (19 - 21 January). Silvio Orlando returns to the stage to close the season with the beautiful performance to which his acting gave great credit, La Scuola by Domenico Starnone, directed by Daniele Luchetti (6 - 8 April).