Inside Brachetti’s chambers
Only one artist is able to gather all these celebrities on stage: Arturo Brachetti.
From Michael Jackson to Magritte’s man, through Neo from “Matrix” and Walter White from “Breaking Bad”, Cinderella, Pavarotti, Freddie Mercury, Beyoncé and Fonzie. Only one artist is able to gather all these celebrities on stage: Arturo Brachetti. “Solo” is the title of his latest show that, after opening to rave reviews in Paris and France, arrives tomorrow at the Arcimboldi, halfway through an Italian tour that has sold out most of its stages (in Milano too new encore performances have been added up to the 20th).
“Solo” because the “master of quick-change” is practically alone on stage, but also because Brachetti has no real rivals in his transformist shows. “With ‘Solo’ I’m back to the one man show. With me there is only Kevin Michael Moore, who is my shadow, a rational part of me that tries, in vain, to keep my feet on the ground” says with his usual verve Brachetti “in fact there are 15 people in the company and we turn with two 18-meters trucks because putting on such a show is really complicated! After all, it is designed and packaged for international audiences. After Italy we will be back on tour throughout Europe, but we are already planning China and more”.
Brachetti is the number one also because his shows are not limited to offering a series of eclectic transformations, but they also weave real stories that involve the public. The show (which does indeed feature some of his flagship acts, but is 80 percent new with as many as 60 characters) lasts 90 minutes, without intermissions and with continuous surprises “Perché, quando si entra nel mondo della fantasia, non si può interrompere il viaggio onirico” spiega sornione l’artista che nello spettacolo regala anche momenti di sand painting, ombre cinesi e spettacolari manipolazioni di luci laser. “Because when one enters the world of fantasy, one can not interrupt the oneiric journey,” explains the smirking artist who, during the show, also offers moments of sand painting, shadow puppetry and spectacular manipulations of laser lights. “The common thread is a lovely little house, the home of the heart, with many rooms, each one dedicated to a world: from childhood fairy tales to TV series to the world of music. Which gives me the opportunity to become Peter Pan, Aladdin, Snow White or Shrek, the Beatles, Elvis Presley or Edith Piaf and, again, Batman, Murder She Wrote, Baywatch, Spock and his crew.” Employing state-of-the-art videomapping, with music of Fabio Valdemarin, costumes by Zaira de Vincentiis, light design by Valerio Tiberi. In the story there’s also space for an ‘Italian wedding’, in which Brachetti plays all the characters by himself. “It is a tribute to Italy,” he concludes. “It is almost inevitable to go around the world and do something Italian.” This number, which lasts 5 minutes during which the 5-6 characters go through 25 changes of costume, takes place in a kitchen where there all the ingredients of the wedding are: it is all typical of an Italian comedy f the ’50s. After all, it the Italian settings that are more exportable, the one remembered abroad. And it is a number that, despite all the past years, no one still dares imitating!
