Broadway comes to Festa
by Arthur Cola Festa Italiana 2016 launched on Friday, July 22 with weather promising to be a typical blazingly warm summer day, but a mist helped to quell the severity of the temperatures. This gave way on Saturday to relentless liquid sunshine, but even that didn’t dampen the creativity, energy and celebration of Italian culture and its influence on the American landscape. As usual, the Fine Arts exhibit, which this year became two tents, was filled with artisans, craftsmen, photographers, sculptors, artists, jewelry makers, and authors, of which I was one. In a little corner of our small tent, I was nestled with the display of my now eight novels. The publication of Book Three (Torn and United Hearts) of my Doonagore Theft Trilogy, having been printed just before Festa began, crowned the display. The table was filled from end to end. I nestled in surrounded by the Michelangelo of wood craft products, Peter Gustin of Rustic Furnishings (one might call him “Pietrangelo”. Then, there was the female version of Raphael, Maria White of Maria’s Art, who focused on painting scenes of Italy and America on glass Christmas ornaments, and her daughter, Angela, who was working at the potter’s wheel creating works of art from mounds of clay. Little did we realize as Saturday rolled around that a new talent brought to Festa from the Big Apple itself, New York City, would change those raindrops falling on the heads of artists and visitors alike, if not literally then certainly symbolically. That would change when fellow author Paul Salsini, who had just finished his Tuscan series with the introduction of his new book titled “The Fearless Flag Thrower of Lucca,” stopped by our tent to ask if I’d like to see a new show at Festa. So off we marched with umbrellas in hand, but without singing or dancing in the rain, to the Miller Lite Stage. Given what we were about to see, such singing would have been most appropriate. The two young brothers were introduced as Will and Anthony (willandanthony.com). From that point on, those brave souls who sat with raindrops bouncing off heads,
Will & Anthony performing. (Times photo by Paul Inzeo)
umbrellas or poncho hoods were in store for a treat which would indeed make them oblivious of any weather condition. From classical Broadway songs from such hits as “South Pacific” to current ones like “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” starring, as they called him, Harry Potter, they belted out song after song with power and emotion, tenderness and genuineness. It was, of course, Daniel Radcliffe who played the young wizard at Hogwarts in that new version and now has broken onto the film and Broadway scene. This they pointed out later in their banter, which was endearing and helped to connect them to the audience both on that wet Saturday night and their next performance on a harshly sunny Sunday afternoon, which I also attended. For me the most piercing of heart and soul Broadway renditions were those from not only those two shows but ones which struck me, at this time in our national scene, with feelings which sent chills up and down one’s arms, as I noted must have been happening to those seated around me as well. When Anthony sang “There’s a Place for Us” from West Side Story, I, for one, began to think about how many of our ancestors from Italy and across Europe, Africa and Asia may have sung those very thoughts. America was that place for so many, even into our present history. And what a contribution
Will and Anthony Nunziata with Paul Salsini (second on left) and Arthur Cola (far right). (Photo provided by Arthur Cola)
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they would make to who we, as a nation, would become. Along those lines was a song by Will from a play especially dear to me. He told a story about Mary Martin and her “Peter Pan” production. Well I just happen to remember that show well. As a boy, I met the actor Cyril Ritchard, who played Captain Hook. He would become a friend until his death in Chicago during a performance at which my wife and I were his guests. Thus when he sang “I knew a place…” from the song “Never Neverland,” I once again was taken to those days of our childhood when we dreamed our dreams of who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do on the world stage. Then came Anthony’s rendition of “Impossible Dream” from Man of LaMancha. That too touched one’s heart for it spoke to one’s soul. The young singer with such tenderness and building power pierced through the dampness of the evening and into the hearts of the audience. If listeners didn’t respond to those words he sang, referring to the bearing of impossible sorrows and fighting for the right, then they were not in earshot of his brilliant rendering. And if they didn’t, just for a moment, think about what our ancestors walked into and what they dreamed when they came to America, then perhaps their hearts were just out of touch with their own history and that of America. But not all of their Broadway songs were heart rendering. Some were outright funny, and some were raucous as well. When they followed up their story of how they first entered show business at college when Will was cast as Judas and Anthony as Jesus in the Boston College production of “Godspell,” I thought I’d leap from my seat. The energy and fun coming from that stage as they sung that fast paced, no…rapid pace… no speed of sound pace was so intense that, if we were in a traditional theater, it would have rocked the house. Surely those raindrops were now dancing off the bench seats and heads of the audience. But Broadway was only a part of their act. Songs by Billy Joel, and brother groups such as the Beach Boys, also illuminated the stage as did the tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. Their arrangement of “What Kind of Fool am I” and “Who Can I Turn To?” were heartfelt and touching. Then came the Italian songs. Such fun and joy as they told stories of visiting their grandmother Nunziata on Staten Island was great fun and certainly brought to my mind those youthful days when my grandmother also pinched our
cheeks and said something in Italian meaning how beautiful and handsome. When they performed “Funiculi Funicula’” and “O Sole Mio”, the energy flowed from that stage and made our hearts pump not only faster but with tapping feet and hands clapping. For me, the song that had the greatest impact was “The Prayer.” Will and Anthony rendered a beautiful version. Again for me, it penetrated my heart because of their description of how their grandmother would listen to it each night before she died. I began to think of the heartbreak within our own nation. Our grief over the gruesome murders of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and attacks on so many others in blue came to mind. Added to that were those images of terror attacks in Nice in France, Brussels in Belgium, Germany, Istanbul Turkey, San Bernardino Calif., Orlando Fla., and all over the world. The horror and sorrow that followed made their singing of its message all the more powerful for me. Doesn’t our nation need prayer? Don’t we pray for comfort and resolve to bear these sorrows? Don’t we need to pray for the strength to act upon the problems from which these horrors come? But just as these thoughts filtered in my mind, they went into a song which asked for all people to reach out and touch someone’s hand, for then we can open any door. Now isn’t that true? Isn’t that what we do at Festa? We reach out and welcome all. We share our traditions with joy and love. Yet we never lose the reality of being Americans. Their encore song, which was a mash-up of “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “Come on get happy” certainly brought us to the missing sun that rainy day and which shone with brilliance on Sunday lighting up our Festa, our hopes, our dreams and who we are as Italian Americans. It served to demonstrate with brilliance and vitality in music, humor and song that our future can be bright. Will and Anthony, the twin brothers of song, brought all of that and more to me and I think to those in their Festa audiences. We would be lucky to have them back again next year. But after their gig as the headliners with the New York Pops Orchestra Christmas show at Carnegie Hall this coming December, that might be a challenge, and yet one which is worth facing. * * * Editor’s note: Arthur Cola is a retired educator and author of eight adult novels ranging from Renaissance Mystery Thrillers to an Italian Christmas tale to the legendary story of King Arthur to Irish and Italian themed tales of immigration in pre-civil war America. He has been a Festa volunteer in its early days and a part of the Fine Arts Cultural area of Festa for 10 years. He is also a member of the ICC who has presented his tales at Festivals from Milwaukee to Chicago to New York to Boston to Philadelphia among others, Villa Nova, Loyola Chicago, Holy Trinity, and Xavier Universities, the New York Italian American Museum, Italian Joint Civic Committee of Chicago, National Italian American Foundation, and libraries, book clubs, schools and churches. His books are available on Amazon.com and Kindle.
THE ITALIAN TIMES