| Nine | |
|---|---|
 OriginalPlaybill | |
| Music | Maury Yeston |
| Lyrics | Maury Yeston |
| Book | Arthur Kopit |
| Basis | |
| Productions | 1982Broadway 1984 US national tour 1996West End 2003 Broadwayrevival |
| Awards | 1982Tony Award for Best Musical 1982Tony Award for Best Original Score 2003Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical |
Nine is amusical initiated by and with music and lyrics byMaury Yeston and a book byArthur Kopit. Based on the film8½, it tells the story offilm director Guido Contini, who is dreading his imminent 40th birthday and facing amidlife crisis, which is blocking his creative impulses and entangling him in a web of romantic difficulties in early-1960sVenice.
Conceived and written and composed by Yeston as a class project in theBMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in 1973, it was later adapted with a book by Mario Fratti, and then with another book byArthur Kopit. The originalBroadway production opened in 1982 and ran for 729 performances, starringRaul Julia. The musical won fiveTony Awards (includingBest Musical) and has enjoyed a number of revivals.
Afilm adaptation was released in 2009.
Guido Contini, a famous Italian film director, has turned forty and faces double crises: he has to shoot a film for which he can't write the script, and his wife of twenty years, the film star Luisa del Forno, may be about to leave him if he can't pay more attention to their marriage.
Luisa's efforts to talk to him are drowned out by voices in his head: voices of women in his life whom he has loved ("Overture delle Donne").
In an attempt to find some peace and save the marriage, they go to a spa near Venice ("Spa Music"), where they are immediately hunted down by the press with intrusive questions about their marriage and Guido's imminent film project, which he has not told Luisa about ("Not Since Chaplin").
As Guido struggles to find a story for his film, he becomes increasingly preoccupied, his interior world sometimes becoming indistinguishable from reality ("Guido's Song"). His mistress Carla arrives in Venice, calling him from her hotel room ("A Call from the Vatican"). His producer Liliane La Fleur, formervedette of the Folies Bergeres, insists he make a musical, an idea which veers off into a vivid fantasy ("The Script / Folies Bergeres"). All the while, Luisa watches, the resilience of her love being consumed by anxiety for him and a gathering dismay about their life together ("My Husband Makes Movies / Only With You").
In Guido's imagination, he encounters his mother bathing a nine-year-old boy—his own young self ("Nine"). The vision leads him to re-encounter a moment on a beach with Saraghina, a prostitute to whom he went as a curious child, sneaking out of his Catholic boarding school St. Sebastian, to ask her to tell him about love. Her answer, to be yourself ("Ti Voglio Bene / Be Italian"), and the dance she taught him reminds the forty-year-old Guido of the consequences of that night—punishment by the nuns and rejection by his mother ("The Bells of St. Sebastian"). Unable to bear the adults, the little boy runs back to the beach to find no one.
Back into the present, Guido is on a beach once more. With him is Claudia Nardi, a film star and his muse, who has flown in from Paris for him; however, she does not want the role. He is enraged by her rejection. Claudia loves him but wants him to love her as a person and not a "spirit", which he cannot do. She calls him "My charming Casanova!", thereby involuntarily giving Guido the inspiration he needs ("A Man Like You"). Claudia lets him go ("Unusual Way"), Guido has an idea for a movie set on the Grand Canal and cast with every woman in his life ("The Grand Canal").
During the filming of the movie, Carla races onto the set to announce her divorce and her delight that they can be married, only to be rejected by Guido in his fixation on the film. Luisa is enraged and saddened by his use of their intimacy and her words as a source for the film. Guido keeps the cameras rolling, capturing the desolation of the women he loves ("Cut, Print!").
The film is dead. Carla leaves with a broken heart ("Simple"). Claudia sends a letter from Paris to say that she has married. Luisa ends their marriage ("Be On Your Own").
Guido is alone and directionless, contemplating suicide ("I Can't Make This Movie"). As the gun is at his head, he is interrupted by his nine-year-old self telling him it is time to grow up and move on, and Guido surrenders the gun ("Getting Tall"). The women return, this time to let him go, with the exception of Luisa ("Reprises"). Guido feels the aching void left by the only woman he will ever love. In the 2003 Broadway production, as the boy leads the women off, Luisa steps into the room on the final note, and Guido turns toward her.
Originally conceived as a male/female cast, many of the changes into a mostly all women cast were created in a workshop that rehearsed in the upstairs theatre at theNew Amsterdam Theatre in the Fall of 1981. For their participation, the workshop cast was given a small percentage of the show for a limited amount of time. Kathi Moss was the only cast member of the original Broadway cast that did not participate in the workshop (Pat Ast played the role of Saraghina in the workshop).
After nineteen previews, theBroadway production, directed byTommy Tune andchoreographed byThommie Walsh, opened on May 9, 1982, at the46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 729 performances. The cast includedRaul Julia as Guido,Karen Akers as Luisa,Liliane Montevecchi as Liliane,Anita Morris as Carla,Shelly Burch as Claudia,Camille Saviola as Mama Maddelena, Kathi Moss as Saraghina, Cameron Johann as Young Guido, andTaina Elg as Guido's mother. Rounding out the cast were Christopher Evans Allen, Jeanie Bowers, Stephanie Cotsirilos, Kim Criswell, Kate DeZina, Colleen Dodson, Lulu Downs, Louise Edeiken, Laura Kenyon, Linda Kerns, Nancy McCall, Cynthia Meryl, Rita Rehn, Dee Etta Rowe, Jadrien Steele, Frankie Vincent, Patrick Wilcox, Alaina Warren Zachary. Raul Julia played Guido for one year, from May 9, 1982, to May 8, 1983. (Bert Convy replaced Julia while he was on vacation for two weeks, beginning January 10, 1983.)Sergio Franchi starred as Guido for 330 performances, from May 9, 1983, to February 4, 1984, the date the production closed; composerMaury Yeston added a Franchi-style ballad, "Now Is the Moment", to the lovely Italian-sounding score.[1] Other replacements wereMaureen McGovern and then Eileen Barnett as Luisa,Wanda Richert as Carla,Priscilla Lopez as Liliane, andBarbara Stock as Claudia. Once the original boys reached the required height for their roles, they were replaced by Derek Scott Lashine as Little Guido, Jeffrey Vitelli (also the understudy for Little Guido),Braden Danner, and Peter Brendon. The musical won five Tony Awards, including best musical and threeDrama Desk Awards, including Best Music, Best Lyrics, and Best Musical. Anoriginal cast recording was released bySony and was nominated for a Grammy Award. A Broadway revival was mounted in 2003.
The original plans were for the Broadway show to continue even as the National tour commenced. However the new producers (James Nederlander andZev Buffman) made the right offer for the road show, and the Broadway production was closed so that the whole Broadway cast could go on the road withSergio Franchi as the headliner.[2] Nineteen cities were originally planned, but several venue changes were made during the tour. The most prominent was the canceling of aBaton Rouge venue so that show could serve for the Grand Opening of theLos Angeles Civic Light Opera season. This was to accommodate the cancellation ofOn Your Toes afterLeslie Caron (the star) was hospitalized due to a hip injury.[3] When the decision was made to close the road show after the San Francisco shows, Louisiana fans were upset that an alternate date had not been created for them. (Sergio Franchi was extremely popular in Louisiana.)[4] The reviews were generally very favorable, although a DC reviewer lamented some production changes (although admitting that they had not viewed the original Broadway production).[5] The production venue was changed from a spa to a railroad station, principally to accommodate the volume of scenery that needed to be transported from location to location.[6] The other change lamented in DC was the lighting. One review of the Florida production acknowledged that the grey railroad station with light-studded arches may have been "even more surreal than its creators may have intended."[7] In contrast, the San Diego reviewer expressed admiration for Marcia Madeira's "flattering light design" and declared "Nine" to be "wonderful to watch."[8]
On June 7, 1992, the largest production ofNine to date was presented in concert inLondon atRoyal Festival Hall withJonathan Pryce, Becky Norman, Elizabeth Sastre,Ann Crumb,Kate Copstick,Meg Johnson andLiliane Montevecchi. 165 people were in the cast, including male characters, as originally conceived. The production was directed byAndrew MacBean and a recording of the concert (withElaine Paige stepping in as Claudia) was released byRCA Victor.
On December 12, 1996, a small-scale production directed byDavid Leveaux and choreographed byJonathan Butterell opened at theDonmar Warehouse, where it ran for three months. Performers includedLarry Lamb (Guido Contini), Ian Covington (Young Guido),Sara Kestelman (Liliane La Fleur),Clare Burt (Carla),Eleanor David (Claudia), Susannah Fellows (Luisa),Jenny Galloway (Saraghina), Ria Jones (Stephanie Necrophorus),Dilys Laye (Guido's Mother), Kiran Hocking (Our Lady of the Spa). Other cast members included Emma Dears, Kristin Marks, Tessa Pritchard,Sarah Parish, Norma Atallah and Susie Dumbreck.[14] It was designed byAnthony Ward.[15]
In 2003, theRoundabout Theatre Company produced a Broadway revival with director Leveaux and choreographer Butterell. It opened on April 10, 2003, at theEugene O'Neill Theatre, where it ran for 283 performances and 23 previews and won two Tony Awards, includingBest Revival of a Musical. The cast includedAntonio Banderas as Guido,Mary Stuart Masterson as Luisa,Chita Rivera as Liliane (all receiving Tony Award nominations),Jane Krakowski as Carla (winning the Tony),Laura Benanti as Claudia, andMary Beth Peil as Guido's mother. Replacements later in the run includedJohn Stamos as Guido,Eartha Kitt as Liliane,Rebecca Luker as Claudia, andMarni Nixon as Guido's mother. Yeston replaced a waltz dance from the original Folies Bergere number with a showstopping Tango Duet for Banderas and Rivera, a revival cast recording was released byPS Classics.Jenna Elfman was hired and advertised to join the cast as Carla at the same time that Stamos and Kitt were joining the production. A few days before the opening it was announced she needed more rehearsal time and that her understudySara Gettelfinger would take over temporarily.[16] Elfman never did join the company and Gettelfinger played the rest of the run.
The European premiere ofNine opened inSweden, at theOscarsteatern,Stockholm, September 23, 1983, withErnst-Hugo Järegård (Guido),Siw Malmkvist (Luisa), Viveka Anderberg (Claudia), Suzanne Brenning (Carla), Anna Sundqvist (Saraghina), Berit Carlberg (Liliane La Fleur), Helena Fernell (Stephanie), Maj Lindström (Guido's Mother), Moa Myrén (Lady of the Spa),Ewa Roos (Mama Maddalena), Lena Nordin[17](Maria). Other cast members included Monica Janner, Marit Selfjord, Berit Bogg, Ragnhild Sjögren, Solgärd Kjellgren, Ann-Christine Bengtsson, Siw Marie Andersson, Anna Maria Söderström, Susanne Sahlberg, Vivian Burman, Hanne Kirkerud, Susie Sulocki, Annika Persson, Charlotte Assarsson, Anna-Lena Engström, and Kim Sulocki (Guido as a child).
The Australian premiere ofNine was staged inMelbourne at theComedy Theatre in 1987.John Diedrich produced, directed and starred as Guido Contini. As Luisa Contini,Maria Mercedes's portrayal received critical acclaim and nominations forBest Actress in a Musical at the MelbourneGreen Room Awards and the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Awards .Maury Yeston after attending the Sydney opening night proclaimed thatMaria Mercedes was the definitive Luisa Contini. The cast also included a youngTina Arena, the Australian singer, songwriter and actress who went on to have an international recording and performing career. Other cast members includedNancye Hayes (as Liliane La Fleur),Peta Toppano as Claudia,Caroline Gillmer as Sarragina, Jackie Rees,Gerda Nicholson, Kerry Woods, Anna Lee, Sally Anne Bourne, Alana Clark, Sally Clark,Alison Jiear, Donna Lizzio, Cammie Munro, Marie-Jackson, Sharon Jessop, Alix Longman, Lisa O'Dea, Anne Sinclair, Janice Torrens, Penny Richards, and Mimi Rubin. A cast recording of the Australian production was recorded for Polydor and later released on CD by the TER record label. It won theARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack or Cast Album.
The Argentinian premiere ofNine (1998) won several ACE Awards includingMejor Musical. Performers includedJuan Darthes (as Guido),Elena Roger, Ligia Piro, Luz Kerz, Sandra Ballesteros and Mirta Wons.
The musical premiered inGermany at theTheater des Westens in 1999 inBerlin.[18]
The musical played in Malmö, Sweden atMalmö Opera in 2002 with Jan Kyhle (Guido),Marie Richardson (Luisa),Sharon Dyall (Claudia),Petra Nielsen (Carla), Marianne Mörck (Sarraghina),Lill Lindfors (Liliane La Fleur),Annica Edstam (Stephanie), Victoria Kahn (Gudio's Mother).
A Dutch production ofNine opened in an open-air theatre inAmersfoort in June 2005. Directed by Julia Bless, the production starred René van Zinnicq Bergmann, Frédèrique Sluyterman van Loo, Marleen van der Loo, Kirsten Cools, Tine Joustra, Veronique Sodano, Aafke van der Meij and Donna Vrijhof. The Dutch translation was by Theo Nijland.
The original Japanese production premiered inTokyo in 2005 withTetsuya Bessho as Guido Contini and Mizuki Ōura as Liliane La Fleur. In 2021 the Umeda Arts 2021 production in Tokyo and OsakaNine won Japan's Yomiuri Theatre Award for Best Musical, Best Leading Actor: Yu Shirota, and Best Director: Shuntaro Fujita.
The musical premiered inSan Juan, Puerto Rico in the fall of 2010 with Ernesto Concepción (Guido), Sara Jarque (Luisa), Wanda Sais (Carla),Marian Pabón (Lilliane Le Fleur), Tita Guerrero (Lina Darling), Michelle Brava (Claudia), Aidita Encarnación (Saraghina), Yezmín Luzzed (Stephanie), and Hilda Ramos (Mamma).[19] The production was directed by Miguel Rosa who previously directed the Puerto Rico premiere ofRent in 2009.
ThePhoenix Theatre inArizona revivedNine in the spring of 2011, starring Craig Laurie (Guido), Patti Davis Suarez (Mother), Jeannie Shubitz (Luisa),Kim Manning (Liliane), Jenny Hintze (Claudia), and Johanna Carlisle (Saraghina).[20]
The musical premiered inManila, thePhilippines, in September 2012, produced by Atlantis Productions. Jett Pangan (Guido) alongside an all-star cast of women, scenic design by Tony Award-winningDavid Gallo and costume design by Robin Tomas.[21]
The musical premiered in theCzech Republic, at theJosef Kajetán Tyl Theatre inPlzeň in December 2012.
The Greek production opened in Pantheon Theatre inAthens in November 2015, starringVassilis Charalampopoulos as Guido,Helena Paparizou as Saraghina.[22]
The musical premiered inBrazil, at Teatro Porto Seguro, inSão Paulo,[23] directed byCharles Möeller andClaudio Botelho, starring Italian actor Nicola Lama as Guido, Carol Castro as Luisa,Totia Meireles as Lili la Fleur, Malu Rodrigues (Carla), Karen Junqueira and Vanessa Costa alternating as Claudia,Letícia Birkheuer (Stephanie),Beatriz Segall and Sonia Clara alternating as Guido's mother and Myra Ruiz (Saraghina).[24]
A Spanish production premiered on June 7, 2018, at the Teatro Amaya inMadrid, with a cast formed by Alvaro Puertas (Guido), Roko (Luisa), Patrizia Ruiz (Claudia),Chanel Terrero (Carla), Marcela Paoli (Liliane Le Fleur), Idaira Fernández (Saraghina), Chus Herranz (Stephanie), and Angels Jiménez (Guido's Mother).[25]
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Maury Yeston began work on the musical in 1973.[26] As a teenager, he had seen theFederico Fellini film8½ and was intrigued by its themes. "I looked at the screen and said 'That's me.' I still believed in all the dreams and ideals of what it was to be an artist, and here was a movie about an artist in trouble. It became an obsession," Yeston told theNew York Times.[27] He would go on to say "Nine was the thing I really desperately wanted to write—never thinking for a minute that it would ever be produced. The movie had a phenomenal impact on me when I saw it as a teenager when it first came out. I was fascinated with Guido who was going through a second adolescence when I was going through my first! As I grew I began to realize that there was room to explore the reactions of the inner workings of the women in Guido's wake. I think that's what opened the gateways of creativity forNine—to hear from these extraordinary women. The great secret ofNine is that it took8 1/2 and became an essay on the power of women by answering the question, 'What are women to men?' AndNine tells you: they are our mothers, our sisters, our teachers, our temptresses, our judges, our nurses, our wives, our mistresses, our muses."[28] PlaywrightMario Fratti began working on the book of the musical in 1977, but the producers and directorTommy Tune eventually decided his script did not work, and brought inArthur Kopit in 1981 to write an entirely new book, working (as Fratti had) with Yeston as composer/lyricist, but now using Yeston's music, and Fellini's film, as the source. Kopit's new book, along with Yeston's now completed score, became the script produced on Broadway in 1982.
Fellini had entitled his film8½ in recognition of his prior body of work, which included six full-length films, two short films, and one film that he co-directed. Yeston's title for the musical adaptation adds another half-credit to Fellini's output and refers to Guido's age during his first hallucination sequence. Yeston called the musicalNine, explaining that if you add music to8½, "it's like half a number more."[27]
| Character | 1982Broadway | 1984 National tour | 1992London | 1996Donmar Warehouse | 2003Broadway | 2024Kennedy Center | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guido Contini | Raul Julia | Sergio Franchi | Jonathan Pryce | Larry Lamb | Antonio Banderas | Steven Pasquale | |
| Luisa Contini | Karen Akers | Diane M. Hurley | Ann Crumb | Susannah Fellows | Mary Stuart Masterson | Elizabeth Stanley | |
| Carla Albanese | Anita Morris | Karla Tamburrelli | Becky Norman | Clare Burt | Jane Krakowski | Michelle Veintimilla | |
| Liliane La Fleur | Liliane Montevecchi | Jacqueline Doughet | Liliane Montevecchi | Sara Kestelman | Chita Rivera | Carolee Carmello | |
| Claudia Nardi | Shelly Burch | Lauren Mitchell | Elizabeth Sastre | Eleanor David | Laura Benanti | Shereen Ahmed | |
| Guido's Mother | Taina Elg | Leigh Beery | Fiona O'Neill Eileen Page | Dilys Laye | Mary Beth Peil | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | |
| Young Guido | Cameron Johann | Danny Barak | Danny Mertsoy | Ian Covington | William Ullrich | Charlie Firlik | |
| Saraghina | Kathi Moss | Camille Saviola | Ellen O'Grady | Jenny Galloway | Myra Lucretia Taylor | Lesli Margherita | |
| Stephanie Necrophorus | Stephanie Cotsirilos | Kathryn Skatula | Anita Dobson | Ria Jones | Saundra Santiago | Jen Sese | |
| Our Lady of the Spa | Kate Dezina | O'Hara Parker | Sarah Payne | Kiran Hocking | Deidre Goodwin | Sasha Hutchings as Asa Nisi Masa | |
| Lina Darling | Laura Kenyon | Chikae Ishikawa | Nadia Strahan | Norma Atallah | Nell Campbell | Lily Ling | |
| Mama Maddelena | Camille Saviola | Holly Lipton Nash | Meg Johnson | — | Allison Blackwell | ||
| Diana | Cynthia Meryl | Margareta Arvidsson | — | Tessa Pritchard | Rachel deBenedet | Haley Fish | |
| Juliette | — | Rona Figueroa | — | ||||
| Maria | Jeanie Bowers | Candace Rogers | — | Sarah Parish | Sara Gettelfinger | Paloma Garcia-Lee | |
| Annabella | Nancy McCall | — | Kristin Marks | Georgina Pazcoguin | |||
| Olga von Hesse | Dee Etta Rowe | Lou Ann Miles | — | Susie Dumbreck | Linda Mugleston | — | |
| Renata | Rita Rehn | Pegg Winter | — | Emma Dears | Elena Shaddow | — | |
| Sofia | — | Kathy Voytko | — | ||||
| Francesca | Kim Criswell | Barbara Walsh | — | ||||
| Giulietta | Louise Edeiken | — | |||||
| Gretchen von Krupf | Lulu Downs | Mary Stout | — | ||||
| Heidi von Sturm | Linda Kerns | Mary Chesterman | — | ||||
| Ilsa von Hesse | Alaina Warren Zachary | Melody Jones | — | ||||
| A Venetian Gondolier | Colleen Dodson | Philip Maranges | — | ||||
| Young Guido's Schoolmate | Evans Allen Jadrien Steele Patrick Wilcox | Jason Dinter Jonathan H. Florman | — | ||||
| Sister Vincenza | — | Marina Pires | |||||
| Giorgia | — | Lucia Giannetta | |||||
| Camilla | — | Yani Marin | |||||
| Norma | — | Morgan Marcell | |||||
| Leonor | — | Kamille Upshaw | |||||
| Dr. Ernst | — | Dylis Croman | |||||
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Tony Award | Best Musical | Won | |
| Best Book of a Musical | Arthur Kopit | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Score | Maury Yeston | Won | ||
| Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | Raul Julia | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Karen Akers | Nominated | ||
| Liliane Montevecchi | Won | |||
| Anita Morris | Nominated | |||
| Best Direction of a Musical | Tommy Tune | Won | ||
| Best Choreography | Thommie Walsh | Nominated | ||
| Best Scenic Design | Lawrence Miller | Nominated | ||
| Best Costume Design | William Ivey Long | Won | ||
| Best Lighting Design | Marcia Madeira | Nominated | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Musical | Won | ||
| Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Shelly Burch | Nominated | ||
| Liliane Montevecchi | Won | |||
| Anita Morris | ||||
| Outstanding Director of a Musical | Tommy Tune | Won | ||
| Outstanding Lyrics | Maury Yeston | Won | ||
| Outstanding Music | Won | |||
| Outstanding Costume Design | William Ivey Long | Won | ||
| Outstanding Lighting Design | Marcia Madeira | Won | ||
| Theatre World Award | Karen Akers | Won | ||
| 1983 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Show Album | Nine | Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | Nominated | |
On April 12, 2007,Variety announced thatRob Marshall would direct a feature film adaptation ofNine forthe Weinstein Company. Marshall had previously directedChicago for the Weinsteins while they were still atMiramax. The screenplay is written byAnthony Minghella withMichael Tolkin serving as an uncredited co-scripter. The cast consists ofAcademy Award winnersDaniel Day-Lewis,Marion Cotillard,Penélope Cruz,Judi Dench,Nicole Kidman, andSophia Loren, withAcademy Award nominee andGolden Globe winnerKate Hudson andGrammy winning singerFergie.[29] Among other cast changes in the film version, the character of Mama Maddelena does not appear, and Claudia's surname was changed from Nardi to Jenssen. The script makes Guido 50 (Day-Lewis's actual age), not 40 as in the stage original. The film's final coda is more hopeful and optimistic than the stage version. In addition, director Marshall cut most of the original production's score, with only "Overture delle Donne", "Guido's Song", "A Call from the Vatican", "Folies Bergeres", "Be Italian", "My Husband Makes Movies", "Unusual Way", and an extended version of "I Can't Make This Movie" making it into the final edit of the film. Composer Maury Yeston wrote three new songs for the movie including "Cinema Italiano", "Guarda la Luna" to replace the title song, and "Take It All" in place of "Be On Your Own", as well as the instrumental concluding the film. The film is co-produced by Marshall's own production company Lucamar Productions. The film was released in the US on December 18, 2009, in New York and Los Angeles and opened for wide release on December 25, 2009.
