Il Marchese del Grillo

The entertaining and acclaimed musical comedy from the famous 1981 film by Mario Monicelli, starring the great Alberto Sordi, is back at the Teatro Sistina.

On stage, an exceptional cast of 30 artists, including Max Giusti, masterfully performing again in the title role. The show, closing the theatre season, is directed by Massimo Romeo Piparo, accompanied by splendid original music by Emanuele Friello, with the extraordinary setting by Teresa Caruso.

The story presents a fascinating portrait of papal Rome in the early 1800s, among nobles, prelates, commoners and the French occupation, through the light-hearted and audacious protagonist Marquis Onofrio del Grillo, a powerful noble at the court of Pope Pius VII.

The man, considered a rebel by his conservative mother, spends his days lazing around, frequenting taverns, often mingling with common people and making jokes and pranks on everyone, even the Pope. One evening, the chance encounter with the drunken charcoal burner Gasperino, his lookalike, triggers another joke on his family. The marquis decides to take the man to his palace for an exchange of person, which, following a fake death sentence from the pope, allows him to redeem himself and gives a surprise ending.

Photo Antonio Agostini