L’Amico Fritz directed by Simona Marchini, sets and costumes designed by Ivan Stefanutti for the 1991 centenary edition

On December 2014, on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of Pietro Mascagni (December 7, 1863) the Teatro Goldoni  presented L’Amico Fritz, one of Mascagni’s most famous theatrical works. The choice was to revive the historic production staged in 1991 at the Teatro La Gran Guardia in  Livorno for the centenary of the first absolute performance (Roma, Costanzi Theater, 31 October 1891). The staging, signed by the actress-director Simona Marchini and by the set and costume designer Ivan Stefanutti,  was greeted since its debut from public and critics and can be considered one of the productions of greater success of  Goldoni’s Mascagni project.
It is to remember, in addition to the successful recovery in 2002 (documented by a live recording released on DVD) the re-proposal made by the Teatro dell’Opera of Roma in 1995, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the author’s death.  A faithful version to the intimistic and twilight atmosphere of Mascagni’s score, well cared in the acting details by  Simona Marchini and aimed to commemorate, through the elegant pictorial taste of scenery and lights, the influences Tuscan and Macchiaiole on music and drama: an Alsazia almost ‘maritime’ and labronica, reshaped through the poetic realism of paintings by Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega.