a text by F. Scialdone e F. Pannullo interpreted by Fatima Scialdone
the musics by M. Simeone and J. Von Gartner are performed
by the pianist J. Von Gartner
The show narrates the story of RIA ROSA, stage-name of
Maria Rosaria Liberti, who was born in Naples in 1899 and died in New York in 1988. An
outstanding interpreter of Neapolitan songs, she entered the show world in 1915 (she was
just 16) performing as a "sciantosa" at the Sala Umberto of Naples, one of the
most famous and prestigious "Café Chantant".
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Due to her extraordinary qualities (mainly a dark,
powerful and very dramatic voice), managers and authors of renown disputed over her for
the most famous "Piedigrotta" editions. In 1922, she moved to New York where she
devoted herself - first with Nicola Maldacea and then with a theatrical company of her own
- to the production of expressive Neapolitan music, performing also in some very special
"sceneggiate" (Neapolitan melodramas), like ’E pentite (The arrepented
ones), a tale of the Neapolitan single mothers’ drama.
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Her life was spent in an endless commuting between Naples
and New York until 1937, when she eventually established herself in America after a last
trip to Italy upon Mtro. E. Tagliaferri’s death. For him, she sang one last time
Chitarra nera (Black guitar), a composition he left unfinished.
Ria Rosa boldly laughs at men, she does not want to be a slave to love, she fights for equality between men and women. These claims can make us smile today, but in those years they made quite a stir and we should credit this neapolitan artist with the courage to promote a sort of "anti litteram" feminism, satirizing and amusing at the same time. Her register varies continuously from the "proto-feminist" comic character to a melodic singer with a deeply felt repertoire.
Ria Rosa’s story is told by Fatima Scialdone,
actress-singer endowed with the required figure and voice, in a very pleasant show in
which she does a fine job, changing often costume and "genre", ranging from
vaudeville to neapolitan melodrama and from Café Chantant to variety.
Italian | French | Spanish | German
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the trailer of "Ria Rosa diva eccentrica from Italy"