Event

VIVA LA MAMMA

Viva la Mamma, or Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali is a mad-cap farce about opera singers behaving badly and stage mothers behaving even worse! Rehearsals are underway for the very serious opera Romolo ed Ersilia, but the unruly performers, and their even more unruly egos, prevent any actual rehearsal from taking place. The prima donna Daria insists that her part is too smallâeven when Luigia, the seconda donna (the second-most important soprano), the German Tenor and the Musician all insist that the prima donnaâs part is far too large. Luigiaâs domineering mother Agata (the âmammaâ of the title) arrives on the scene, and insists that her daughterâs part be bigger. Soon the Tenor and the Musician fume off, only to be replaced by Agata in the Musicianâs role and Dariaâs husband as the tenor. The stage manager, impresario and composer are helpless to quell the raging self-absorbed demands of the performers, so the police are called in to stop the chaos. Rehearsals finally begin, but are soon interrupted again by the announcement that the production has been called off. All of the performers sneak out of the theatre, in an effort to avoid having to repay all the money that has already been invested in the production.