SPECIAL EDITION COSTUME DESIGNERS SKETCHES MAY 2018 € 12 / $ 15 IVAN ISSUE 2 STEFANUTTI THE ART OF DRAWING THE COSTUME IVAN STEFANUTTI Photo by Piccinni and Sandra Raccanello. La Bohème 5 IVAN STEFANUTTI n a foggy night in December, on Christmas Eve… beneath the rooftops of Paris live some youngsters shivering from the chill. They are by no means rich, indeed they don’t know how they are going to pay the rent, but no matter, they are byoung, they are artists, or at least they believe themselves to be. The neighbourhood too is not the most salubrious. Streets, po - pulated by bands of young hooligans, dubious women of all ages, and sailors in search of a good time. This is the Paris of the banlieues. You don’t need to move far from the centre to find it, you just turn the corner. The young lovers hugged in their threadbare overcoats don’t need to be wealthy or well dressed. They are goodlooking and chic in essence. As in a timeless legend. Told like this it has the feel of a French film of the interwar years. And it is precisely this misty mood cloaked in black and white 6 La Bohème IVAN STEFANUTTI La Bohème Photo by Piccinni and Sandra Raccanello. 10 La Bohème IVAN STEFANUTTI La Bohème Marcello Schaunard, musician. Musetta La Bohème 11 IVAN STEFANUTTI ADRIANA LECOUVREUR “T HE THEATRICAL COSTUME IS OF THREEFOLD IMPORTANCE : IT DELINEATES WITH GREAT DRAMATIC EFFECT THE PSYCHOPHYSICAL NATURE OF THE CHARACTER , IT ENHANCES THE FIGURE OF THE PERFORMER , IT MAKES THE PERFORMER FEEL COMFORTABLE IN WEARING IT , FACILITATING THEIR GETTING INTO THE ROLE . T HESE REQUISITES ARE NOT ALWAYS ADEQUATELY MET , AS IN EFFECT IVAN STEFANUTTI IS CAPABLE OF DOING . I FIND HIS TASTE , PARTICULARLY REFINED AND ON POINT , VALID AND RESPECTFUL TOWARDS AUTHORS AND ARTISTS . HIS ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN THE DESIGN AND BUILD OF COSTUMES IS A MARK OF GREAT RESPECT , OF LOVE FOR HIS WORK AND TRUE GREATNESS AS AN ARTIST ” Fiorenza Cedolins in “Adriana Lecouvreur” 30 Adriana Lecouvreur IVAN STEFANUTTI Adriana Lecouvreur 32 Adriana Lecouvreur IVAN STEFANUTTI In Falstaff colours and geometries symbolically intermix. The opera is about two ways of seeing life that are in opposition, both of them full of shortcomings. On one side, the world of a man who is corpulent and self-important yet genial and candid at heart. A man who has earnt his bloated belly and is proud of it. A world of curves and rotundity, like the ruddy casks that inhabit the hostelry and which are used for different purposes depending on their size. In parallel, in the neighbouring houses everything is cramped and angular with colours that are cold and acid, like their inhabitants. And if the doors of the Fords’ house are tall and narrow, where to cross the threshold you have to squeeze through sideways, in the Garter Inn you stroll in by way of a red roly-poly barrel. In order to further highlight the overlapping of colours all the pursuit scenes in the Ford house take place surrounded by large sheets hung out to dry, dyed in bright neon shades. The baritone Sergio Vitale in the role of Sir John Falstaff 36 Falstaff IVAN STEFANUTTI Photos by Amati-Bacciardi Photographers FALSTAFF Music by Giuseppe Verdi. Direction, sets and costumes by Ivan Stefanutti. Teatro della Fortuna, Fano. 2013. In Falstaff i colori e le geometrie si mescolano simbolicamente. L'opera tratta di due modi di vedere la vita che sono in opposizione, entrambi pieni di difetti. Da un lato, il mondo di un uomo corpulento, geniale e sincero di cuore. Un uomo che ha guadagnato la sua pancia gonfia e ne è orgoglioso. Un mondo fatto di curve e rotondità, come le botti rubiconde che abitano l'ostello e che vengono utilizzate per scopi diversi a seconda delle loro dimensioni. In parallelo, nelle case vicine tutto è angusto e angoloso con colori freddi e acidi, come i loro abitanti. E se le porte della casa dei Fords sono alte e strette, dove per attraversare la soglia devi spingerti di traverso, nella Garter Inn passi attraverso una botte rossa in poliuretano. Al fine di evidenziare ulteriormente la sovrapposizione di colori, tutte le scene di inseguimento nella casa Ford si svolgono circondate da grandi fogli appesi ad asciugare, tinti in brillanti sfumature al neon. Falstaff 37 IVAN STEFANUTTI FALSTAFF Pistola Bartolfo Alice Ford Meg Page 38 Falstaff IVAN STEFANUTTI FALSTAFF The Fairies Falstaff 39 Babylonian Guard O C C U B A N Babylonian Guard, sketchs IVAN STEFANUTTI CARMEN Photos by Nicola Boschetti CARMEN Music by Georges Bizet. Direction, sets and costumes by Ivan Stefanutti. Teatro Sociale Rovigo, 2010 48 Carmen IVAN STEFANUTTI Clown Carmencita Clown women Clown Torero IVAN STEFANUTTI Carmen 51 IVAN STEFANUTTI IL CONTE DI LUSPShoEtosM by VBisuUalARrt GTriesO te Giulietta 58 Il conte di Lussemburgo IVAN STEFANUTTI The carnival DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG (T HE COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG ) Music by Franz Lehar. Direction, sets and costumes by Ivan Stefanutti. Festival Internazionale dell’Operetta, Trieste. 1998 Il conte di Lussemburgo 59 IVAN STEFANUTTI Angela Didier 60 Il conte di Lussemburgo SIMON IVAN STEFANUTTI SIMON BOCCANEGRA Music by Giuseppe Verdi. Direction, sets and costumes by Ivan Stefanutti. Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, 2011. Photos by Attila Juhász BOCCANEGRA IVAN STEFANUTTI Simon Boccanegra Simon Boccanegra 74 Simon Boccanegra IVAN STEFANUTTI Simon Boccanegra Black friar Simon Boccanegra 75 IVAN STEFANUTTI Simon Boccanegra From left: Paolo, Adorno, noble counsellor. Amelia 76 Simon Boccanegra IVAN STEFANUTTI Simon Boccanegra From left: People’s counsellor, Adorno, Fiesco Amelia Simon Boccanegra 77.