Kennedy Center’s “Nine” the Musical Brings Broadway Stars Center Stage
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
August 6, 2024
In the 1960’s Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini burst upon the scene with his fantastical Italian movies and the fashion and film world went wild. Suddenly everyone wanted to go to Italy, eat pasta like Sophia Loren, wear Gucci designs, ride a Vespa and be as cool as Marcello Mastroianni. Heady days indeed. Nine the musical is based on Fellini’s iconic 1963 film 8 ½ that drew on his psychological and artistic struggles to repeat his early successes.
Steven Pasquale (Photo/Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
The story turns on Guido Contini (Steven Pasquale), a successful filmmaker and serial womanizer who has promised his producer, Liliane La Fleur, former owner of the Folies Bergères, another successful movie. Liliane (played by Broadway legend Carolee Carmello) wants a musical. The trouble is Guido, who harbors a messiah complex, hasn’t got a fresh idea for a script and is bereft of inspiration. In despair, Guido takes his adoring wife, Luisa (Elizabeth Stanley another of Broadway’s greatest stars) to the deluxe Fontana di Luna spa only to be hunted down by his mistress, Carla (Michelle Ventimilla). As his tortured childhood memories surface, he recalls his earliest introduction to the seductress, the lusty Sarraghina (Leslie Margherita from Broadway’s Zorro the Musical and Matilda the Musical)), whom he encountered on a beach near his parochial school. The adorable Charlie Firlik plays Little Guido as a boy. These flashbacks feature Guido’s Mother (film and stage star Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), his cinematic muse, Claudia Nardi (Shereen Ahmed) and other characters who peppered his life. The show’s title, Nine, comes from Little Guido’s ninth birthday.
Lesli Margherita and Company in Be Italian (Photo/Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Bringing it to the stage is another matter entirely. Having the seen the film version, which is better able to portray the paparazzi mania Fellini lived under (echoes of the hounding of Princess Diana) as well as the juggling act he maintained keeping his paramours secret from his long-suffering wife, I had a hard time trying to make the stage version as visceral as the film.
Steven Pasquale and Lesli Margherita (Photo/Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Bearing in mind this particular production is a visually condensed version of the Broadway musical, didn’t help matters either. Only recently did Kennedy Center give us the lavish Moulin Rouge in all its visceral Broadway splendor, and I suppose I expected the same lavish costumes as in the Moulin Rouge scene from the movie version of Nine, however, apart from two feathered and sequined dancers and Liliane in a red sequined gown, there’s none of that. The choreography in this iteration is delegated to the female ensemble clad in sexy black costumes. Oddly, Costume Designer Alejo Vietti allows for no costume changes for them. Choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler who also directs, grants them dance routines that find them surrounding the other characters in a constant swirling motion. If you’re satisfied with a storyline sung by a host of divas and one handsome divo, played by Steven Pasquale as the tortured Guido you’ll be well entertained. The score alone is electrifying.
Elizabeth Stanley and Steven Pasquale (Photo/Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Respectfully, this is not a full-on staged production with changing sets and fabulous costumes. I get that. It does have all 23 numbers backed by the brilliant Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. And though I’ve enjoyed and raved about many earlier “Broadway at the Kennedy Center” iterations, this one had me wanting to see the original Broadway stage version.
Charlie Firlik and Steven Pasquale (Photo/Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
With Sasha Hutchings as Asa Nisi Masa, Haley Fish as Diana, Georgina Pazcoguin as Annabella, Jenn Sese as Stephanie Necrophorus, Allison Blackwell as Mama Madellena, Paloma Garcia-Lee as Maria, Marina Pires as Sister Vicenza, Lucia Giannetta as Giorgia, Yani Marin as Camilla, Morgan Marcell as Norma, Kamille Upshaw as Leonor, and Dylis Croman as Dr. Ernst.
Through August 11th at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 2o2 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.