The Teatro Manzoni is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in the northern Italian city of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, located on the Via Manzoni. Opened in 1870 it was originally called the ''Teatro sociale di Milano'', before being renamed after

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

following his death in 1873. It was originally located on the Piazza San Fedele. A growing reputation led to celebrated actors such as Eleonora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt appearing there. In the twentieth century it remained a key venue until it was destroyed by Allied bombing in August 1943 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The theatre moved to its current location and was rebuilt to designs by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alziro Bergonzo, opening in 1950. The first manager of the relaunched theatre was the

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...

Remigio Paone Remigio Paone (1899–1977) was an Italian journalist, theatre producer and director. During the 1920s he was an associate of Luigi Pirandello, and took over the management of Sem Benelli's acting company when it was close to financial collapse. ...

. In 1978 ownership was acquired by

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

's Fininvest, with artistic control passing to Luigi Foscale.

Selected performances

* '' Henry IV'' (1922) by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

* '' Assunta Spina'' (1927) by

Salvatore Di Giacomo Salvatore Di Giacomo (12 March 1860 – 5 April 1934) was an Italian poet, songwriter, playwright and fascist, one of the signatories to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals. Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for ...

* '' The Duchess of Padua'' (1942) by Oscar WildeEvangelista p.xciii

References

Bibliography

* Berghaus, Günter. ''Fascism and Theatre: Comparative Studies on the Aesthetics and Politics of Performance in Europe, 1925-1945''. Berghahn Books, 1996. * Evangelista, Stefano. ''The Reception of Oscar Wilde in Europe''. A&C Black, 2010. * Lane, David. ''Berlusconi's Shadow: Crime, Justice and the Pursuit of Power''. Allen Lane, 2004. Theatres in Milan Theatres completed in 1870 1870 establishments in Italy {{Italy-theat-struct-stub