The beleaguered cast of Circo Rossini, a mythical, turn-of-the-century, Italian traveling circus, present their circo di sempre, striving to create moments of beauty and grace amidst a life full of hardship. Yet the acts are granted new meaning by the performers simultaneously singing Gioacchino Rossini’s sacred masterwork Le Petite Messe Solonnelle. The audience experiences a tension of symbols, imagining the Sad Clown, who begins and ends the show, as an “Everyman” striving to do the right thing, repeatedly failing, and begging for forgiveness.
This is Petit Cirque Solennel, an innovative new production under development by The Art Monastery Project. Integrating the sacred text of the solemn Mass and the passionate music of Rossini with a Sad Clown/Everyman’s story amidst the melodrama of the circus and the hard life of the traveling showman in the tradition of Fellini’s La Strada. The imagery of Petit Cirque Solennel exemplifies the struggle of human existence: our search for mercy amongst the hardship of this life and beauty amidst the squalor of the soul.
Although the acts unfold with their own theatrical integrity, the music lends a second, gripping, personal relevance: a contortionist struggles to fit into impossible strictures; the Strongman (tenor soloist) strains to lift his weight with a flourish, the Ringmaster (bass) frantically hustles and domineers; the Angelic Ingénue aerialist (soprano) finds only loneliness in distant adoration; and the Tatooed Diva (mezzo) is cast by a cruel world as a “fallen woman.” Rossini’s unusual instrumentation for piano and harmonium (whose sound already evokes the circus) is played by two “sisters” back-to-back in one dress: the Siamese Twins representing our tawdry efforts to transcend our mundane condition, yet whose artifice is tragically transparent. Finally, Rossini’s passionate choral numbers are sung and danced by the full cast, united in hope and despair, underlining our common desperation and impotence in the face of life.
Directed by Italy’s own Onofrio Colucci (“O”, “The Snow Show”), with Musical Direction by Christopher Fülling of the Art Monastery, Petit Cirque Solennel could begin pre-production in Fall 2008 and production in Spring or Summer 2009. Creation and rehearsals will take place in the Art Monastery. Both monastic practices and the rituals of daily life in a traveling circus will be implemented as a form of cohesion and discovery for the project.
Biographies
Onofrio Colucci
Director/Sad Clown
An Italian physical comedian, Onofrio Colucci studied theater with international artists Slavic Polunin and Anton Adassinski. For two years, he has been the featured clown in Cirque Du Soleil’s O at the Bellagio Theatre in Las Vegas. The Chicago Platforms called O "the most spectacular and inventive show in the world". Renowned for his special sensibility and expressive capacity, Steven Spielberg said of Colucci, "You are absolutely astounding!"; Harrison Ford said "He is so amusing than I couldn’t stop laughing"; and Liza Minelli: "Your heart is a sweet trap that holds us all suspended". Beginning his career as the 'lavish enfant' of the Nouveau Cirque, he has since performed on stages through the world in large international productions from the Olympic theater in Rome to the Town of the Slavic’s Snowshow.
Michelle Sargent
Dramaturg/Aerialist
An American aerialist living in Berlin, Michelle Sargent has performed as a soloist and in circuses, most recently finishing a long-term run with Cirque Hawaii. Sargent holds a degree in voice and physical theater from the California Institute of the Arts in LA, where she also studied Javanese dance and trained in trapeze fixe, corde lisse, and tissue at the Circus Center in San Francisco. She has worked with Aerosmith, Grotest Maru, film composer Danny Elfman, and director Peter Sellars.
Nicholas Isherwood
Bass soloist (Ringleader)
American Nicholas Isherwood is one of the leading singers of early music and contemporary music in the world today. He has worked with musical greats from Joel Cohen to Gennadi Rozhdestvensky in prestigious venues around the world from La Scala to Vienna Konzerthaus. Operatic roles run the gamut from Antinoo in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with Boston Baroque to Lear in Hosokawa’s Vision of Lear for the Munich Biennale. He has recorded 48 CDs and appeared in three films. His book The Techniques of Singing will be published this year by Bärenreiter Verlag. He has been visiting professor of singing at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Notre Dame, and the Ecole Normale de Musique, as well as teaching master classes in venues such as the Paris Conservatoire, Salzburg Mozarteum, Milan Conservatory, and Stanford University.
Christopher Fülling
Music Director/Tenor Soloist (The Strongman)
An American tenor now living at the Art Monastery, Christopher Fülling has appeared as a soloist and recorded with numerous ensembles and productions throughout the United States and Europe, including not only Baroque and Classical repertoire, but also several modern works. He holds a BA in anthroplogy from Princeton, and MFA in opera directing and voice performance from California Institute of the Arts in LA. He has also music directed and starred in theatrical pieces including several spectacles with Berlin-based physical theatre troupe Grotest Maru.
Contact: Info (at) ArtMonastery (dot) org
