«Rinnovarsi o morire»: il teatro di Garinei e Giovannini dalla rivista satirica e di attualità politica alle favole musicali (1944-1954)

Abstract

This article offers an original examination of one of the most significant phases in the theatrical production of Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini, currently regarded among the leading authors of twentieth-century revues and musical comedies. The period under investigation extends from their early years (1944–1946), marked by the staging of satirical revues and politically topical shows, to the creation of their rhymed musical fairy tales (1952–1954), through which the two authors initiated a process of renewal within light musical theatre. It is indeed evident that in Attanasio cavallo vanesio (1952), Alvaro piuttosto corsaro (1953), and Tobia la candida spia (1954), Garinei and Giovannini progressively introduced formal and structural elements that would lay the groundwork for the consolidation of a genre with far more clearly defined characteristics: the musical comedy. This study therefore pays particular attention to the innovations accompanying the transition from one theatrical form to another. Specifically, it examines the depoliticization of the scripts, the gradual introduction of choreographic direction—borrowed from the most celebrated Broadway productions following Garinei and Giovannini’s overseas tours—the strengthening of the previously tenuous narrative thread that structured the revues, and the development of characters endowed with increasingly complex psychological depth.