OTELLO
Verdi e Shakespeare
Il Festival Verdi compie 25 anni e pone al centro di questa speciale edizione il tema del rapporto di Giuseppe Verdi con William Shakespeare. “Parlare di Verdi per noi italiani è come parlare del padre” scrive Massimo Mila. A sua volta Verdi, nelle sue lettere, chiama il sommo drammaturgo inglese “papà Shakespeare”, rivelando un legame che va molto oltre l’incontro tra due grandi uomini di teatro. Il programma del Festival vuole offrire l’occasione di approfondire questa relazione, declinandola al presente.
Macbeth (1847 e 1865), Otello (1887) e Falstaff (1893) sono le tre opere di Verdi che attraversando il XIX secolo ne hanno seguito l’evoluzione. Entrando nella profondità della psiche, hanno proiettato in avanti la drammaturgia verdiana, anticipando temi e forme che saranno propri del decadentismo e dell’espressionismo.
Tra le fonti letterarie che lo hanno ispirato, da Schiller a Hugo, è con Shakespeare che Verdi raggiunge gli esiti drammaturgici più compiuti. Così insieme al Gala Verdiano, imperniato su Luisa Miller e Rigoletto, e alla Messa da Requiem, che testimonia la profonda ammirazione per Manzoni, fulcro del Festival sono le nuove produzioni di Otello e Macbeth (1847), realizzate nei laboratori del Teatro Regio, il riallestimento di Falstaff e i percorsi tracciati da Ramificazioni. Stimolante e imprescindibile l’intreccio con il Verdi Off, festival nel festival che celebra la sua X edizione, portando il teatro fuori dal teatro incontro a pubblici sempre nuovi.
Vi aspettiamo per vivere ogni giorno l’emozione unica della musica di Verdi nelle terre del Maestro.
Giuseppe Verdi
Dramma lirico in quattro atti su libretto di Arrigo Boito, da William Shakespeare.
Edizione critica a cura di Linda B. Fairtile, The University of Chicago Press e Casa Ricordi.
Prima rappresentazione il 5 febbraio 1887 al Teatro alla Scala di Milano.
Dates
Teatro Regio di Parma
Friday 26 September 2025, 8.00 pm
Sunday 5 October 2025, 3.30 pm
Saturday 11 October 2025, 8.00 pm
Sunday 19 October 2025, 8.00 pm
Under30 Rehearsal Saturday 20 September 2025, 3.00 pm
Rehearsal Monday 22 September 2025, 3.30 pm
Running time 2h 40′, with one intermission.
Cast
| Otello | FABIO SARTORI/YUSIF EYVAZOV (5/10)/ BRIAN JAGDE (11/10) |
| Jago | ARIUNBAATAR GANBAATAR |
| Cassio | DAVIDE TUSCANO |
| Roderigo | FRANCESCO PITTARI |
| Lodovico | FRANCESCO LEONE |
| Montano | ALESSIO VERNA |
| Desdemona | MARIANGELA SICILIA |
| Emilia | NATALIA GAVRILAN |
| Un Araldo | CESARE LANA |
Direttore Roberto Abbado
Regia Federico Tiezzi
Scene Margherita Palli
Costumi Giovanna Buzzi
Luci Gianni Pollini
FILARMONICA ARTURO TOSCANINI
CORO DEL TEATRO REGIO DI PARMA
Maestro del coro Martino Faggiani
CORO DI VOCI BIANCHE DEL TEATRO REGIO DI PARMA
Maestro del coro di voci bianche Massimo Fiocchi Malaspina
Nuovo allestimento del Teatro Regio di Parma
Spettacolo con sopratitoli in italiano e inglese
scene Teatro Regio di Parma
attrezzeria Teknostage srl, Lorenzo Paoli, Rancati
costumi SlowCostume
calzature Fenice
trucco e parrucco a cura di Costume Art Lab
parrucche Audello Teatro Srl
contenuti video Spellbound Luca Brinchi, Daniele Spanò
effetti speciali Creasfx
sopratitoli a cura di Enrica Apparuti
traduzione inglese a cura di Elizabeth Parker
assistente alla regia Giovanni Scandella
consulente alla drammaturgia Fabrizio Sinisi
assistente alle scene Marco Cristini, Matilde Casadei
assistente ai costumi Ambra Schumacher
assistente al maestro del coro Claudio Cirelli
direttore di scena Ermelinda Suella
assistente alla direzione di scena Irene Carera
maestri collaboratori di sala Andrea Severi, Gianluca Ascheri
direttore musicale di palcoscenico Federico Folloni
altro maestro di sala e palcoscenico Cesare Alberto Chioetto
maestro collaboratore di palcoscenico Claudia Zucconi
maestro collaboratore alle luci Melissa Mastrolorenzi
maestri ai sopratitoli Enrica Apparuti, Marco Rimicci
direttore di produzione Ilaria Pucci
direttore allestimenti scenici Andrea Borelli
direttore di palcoscenico Giacomo Benamati
scenografo realizzatore e consulente agli allestimenti scenici Franco Daniele Venturi
capo costruttore Massimiliano Peyrone
responsabile macchinisti Massimo Gregorio
responsabile elettricisti Simone Bovis
responsabile attrezzeria Monica Bocchi
responsabile sartoria Lorena Marin
personale tecnico, amministrativo e di palcoscenico del Teatro Regio di Parma
Synopsis
Act I
Port of Cyprus, end of XV century. Otello, a Moor converted to Christianity, has become commander of the fleet of the Venetian Republic and governor of Cyprus. He has just won victory over the Turks in battle but has to face a terrible storm be-fore returning to port. The Cypriots watch from the shore with baited breath, andonce the danger has passed they prepareto celebrate Otello’s triumph. The crowdand the sailors light a bonfire in celebration while Otello prepares to meet his wife, Desdemona. Amongst the joyful people is Jago, Otello’s flagbearer, consumed with the desire for revenge against his superior for having chosen to promote Cassius to the rankof Captain over him. To achieve revenge, Jago exploits the jealousy of Roderigo, a Venetian nobleman secretly in love with Desdemona, by offering to help him lureher away from her husband. Once the wine begins to flow, Jago forces Cassius to get drunk and pick a fight with Roderigo. During the fight, Roderigo injures Officer Montano and at that moment Otello appears and with authority brings order back to the situation. He demotes Cassius and orders him to leave. Once the crowd has dispersed, Otello and Desdemona are finally alone and exchange tender expressions of love.
Act II
Cassius has fallen into disgrace. How will he get back into the good graces of Otello? This is an ideal situation for Jago who is weaving his plot against Otello: he suggests that Cassio’s best plan to ingratiate him-self with Otello is to convince Desdemona, who is about to enter the garden, to inter-vene with her husband on his behalf. Jagois thoroughly enjoying his own evil geniusand proclaims his belief in the supremacy of the devil of whom he himself is an instrument. In fact, the plan is well thoughtout: while Cassio confers with Desdemona, received with affection by the women andchildren, Jago throws suspicion on theirmeeting, denying any ulterior motive behind it thus insinuating even more doubt. When, shortly afterwards, Desdemona approachesher husband in order to plead the cause of Cassio, Otello is testy and nervous. She tries to calm him down using a handkerchief that her husband had given her as a love token. Nervously, Otello pushes her away and the handkerchief falls to the ground where Jago snatches it up before his wife, Emilia, confidante of Desdemona and already suspiciousof her husband’s ulterior motive can prevent his taking possession of it. Meanwhile the women leave giving Jago the chance to work on Otello, persuading him that he had heard Cassio fantasising about dallying lovingly with Desdemona. He makes Otello aware of the handkerchief that he had given Desdemona insinuating that he had recuperated it from Cassio. At that point Otello’s jealous rage explodesand the two men unite in a hymn to revenge invoking as witness the whole of creation which until a short time previously had seenthe projection of Otello’s all encompassing love for Desdemona.
Act III
A Venetian ambassador, Lodovico, has arrived in Cyprus and time is running out for Jago’s plot. He assures Otello of Desdemona’s infidelity with overhelming proof from Cassio. Desdemona goes to Otello to beg for pardon for Cassio, but her pleas simply enforce Otello’s agitation and he begs his wife to soothe his brow with the handkerchief he had given her. Desdemona can not find the handkerchief for obvious reasons and Otello repels her violently. Finding himself alone, Otello laments what is happening to him as being the worst thing that can befall a man and he vows before heaven that, if the woman was guilty, death would be her punishment. However, he needs a decisive element of proof. Jago arrives with Cassio and the two converse in a lively manner. Otello and Jago have agreed that Otello will listen unseen to the conversation but Jago places himself at such a distance that Otello can only hear certain compromising fragments of conversation and never realises that the two men are dicussing Bianca and not Desdemona. Cassio describes to Jago the finding of a mysterious handkerchief in his quarters and shows it to Jago who makes certain that Otello sees it. This was the proof that Otello needed and he and Jago agree to kill both Desdemona and Cassio that same night. Lodovico is in Cyprus to give Otello the orders of the Doge for him to return to Venice nominating Cassio his succesor in Cyprus. This was the last straw for Otello as he took the news as a personal defeat and his perceived humiliation causes him to attack Desdemona in front of everyone. Lodovico in horror and astonishment leaves the scene and the crowd retreats scandalised. Otello falls to the floor in a dead faint and Jago stands triumphantly over him.
Act IV
While Emilia prepares her for the night, Desdemona awaits Otello and intones the sweet song of the weeping willow which one of her mother’s servants used to sing. She falls asleep and when Otello arrives, he awakes her with a kiss before telling her that he is about to kill her explaining the motive. His ears are deaf to the cries of innocence of his wife. Otello tells Desdemona that he has killed Cassio and that her turn is near. At that moment Emilia enters to tell them that Cassius has killed Roderigo but she finds a situation of horror before her eyes: Desdemona is dying, killed by Otello. Together Cassius and Montano reveal the betrayal of Jago who has escaped followed by the guards. It is too late, Otello finally understands his grave error and throws himself on his sword and draws his dying breath as he kisses Desdemona one last time.
