The Giacomo Variations, starring Hollywood icon John Malkovich as the legendary lover Casanova, makes its Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre, June 7-9, for four shows only.
Based on the life of Giacomo Casanova, the Italian adventurer, writer and womanizer, The Giacomo Variations is a sophisticated fusion of theatre and opera and features a talented cast, breathtaking sets and costumes, and a live 35-piece Viennese orchestra, Orchester Wiener Akademie, playing Mozart‘s most beloved arias.
Born in 1725, Casanova traveled between Paris, Rome, Madrid, Berlin and St. Petersburg as gambling debts and erotic intrigues forced him to constantly and quickly change his location. By 1785, Casanova had finally settled down and was able to devote himself to writing down the story of his eventful life. His 1790 memoirs, Histoire de ma vie have become a classic of erotic literature.
The Giacomo Variations is Malkovich’s second foray into the world of opera. His first, and very successful collaboration, in 2008 with the same production and creative team, was The Infernal Comedy, which he continues to tour internationally. Malkovich (The Glass Menagerie, Dangerous Liaisons, In the Line of Fire, Being John Malkovich) is one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. His career began in theatre, in 1976, when Malkovich joined Chicago`s Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by Gary Sinise. He appeared on stage in New York in the early eighties before his film debut in 1984 as the blind lodger in Places in the Heart.
The music, provided by Casanova’s contemporaries, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, draws on the most beautiful arias from Don Giovanni, Cosí fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro. The Giacomo Variations is written by Michael Sturminger with musical concept by Martin Haselböck.
In The Giacomo Variations, Casanova invites the audience to witness a very personal retrospection on his life. While trying to impress Countess Isabella, the beautiful sister of his host Karl Emanuel Count von Waldstein, with his philosophical views on love, medicine, fashion, and cookery, he of course also has his eye on the nurse, the seamstress and the kitchen maid. A total woman lover!
Also while in Toronto, Malkovich will appear at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, as part of the In Conversation With… series, hosted by Cameron Bailey on Sunday, June 9 at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased via tiff.net.
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| Photo Courtesy of FLIP Publicity |
