RetroVision Theater's Black Box Theatre Wednesday Recommends Pinocchio

Hey NYC theatergoers, looking for something drastically theatrically different this weekend? Perhaps some European theater wrapped in a circus like atmosphere, with a splash of fairy tales from the old country? How about if we could suggest a comedic dramatic production of Pinocchio produced via a hidden dark metaphoric enigmatic driven plot that will keep you riveted throughout the play and engaged in conversation for the rest of your evening?

Well, we got just the ticket for you, as the Italian Theatre Company Teatro Del Carretto opened at La Mama Theatre in the East Village Thursday last with their macabre adaptation of Italian author Carlo Collodi’s vintage tale of the super snout lying toy boy wannabe. Astoundingly directed by Maria Grazia Cipriani and designer Graziano Gregori, they expertly reweave this harmless child’s bedtime story into an adult’s late night reason for self-reflection.

The first of this twenty-five-scene production opens with poor Pinocchio on the receiving end of a sadomasochistic training session designed to garner Pinocchio’s compliance to perform and accept the dark fate of his own making.

Throughout the telling of the tale, the original story line is messaged and enhanced with non sequential dreamlike states of reality that speaks to a play within a play that is playing a very clever trick on Pinocchio and the audience alike. With an especially creative set design, staging, lighting, special effect and sound engineering, the viewers is transported into Pinocchio’s horrid dilemma and find themselves laughing less and wishing the dumb toy boy well.

We should mention, this production is performed entirely in Italian but for those that are linguistically challenged as are most Americans you will get it, trust me.

Here is what you need to know:
The Place
La MaMa
Opened
January 10, 2008
Closing
January 27, 2008
The Shows
Thursday - Sunday at 7:30pm
The Price
$20

The Number
212-475-7710
The Cast:
Giandomencio Cupaiuolo, Elsa Bossi as Fata, Elena Nene Barini, Nicolo Belliti, Carlo Gambaro, Giacomo Pecchia, Giacomo Vezzani, Jonathan Bertolai
The Author
Carlo Collodi
The Director
Maria Grazia Cipriani
The Production Company
Teatro Del Carretto