[ In Spanish here ]
The Italian Girl in Algiers, a story by Georgina Mauriño, based in Rossini’s opera.
Isabella arrives in Algiers as a prisoner of a pirate ship. The Italian was sailing in search of her fiancé Lindoro, and now she finds herself facing the powerful Bey Mustapha...
This tale full of action, costumes and lots of humor has a music full of energy and elegance at the same time. The humor is based on the contrast between Italian customs and Algerian culture, as seen from Italy in the 19th century. It has been a long time since its premiere (in 1813) -which was a success-, but today this comedy still makes us laugh, and allows us to look at our own cultural prejudices with a smile, as well as to open conversations with family or friends of all ages. From the Mirlo Studio news we encourage you to reflect with us on some points that catch our attention.
In addition to writing the story, Georgina also made some illustrations, and below you can see some samples to get to know her main characters and places: Bey Mustafa and his wife Elvira, the Italian Isabella, Taddeo, Lindoro...
The moment that Manuel liked the most when he was a child is the end of Act 1, a very Rossinian finale -onomatopeiae included-, in which it seems that everyone has gone mad. It is surely one of the most famous scenes of this opera and that is why we leave it here. → Nella testa ho un campanello
Along with this scene, the transformation of Mustafa into Papatacci is also unforgettable (especially for children), and Georgina offers us a couple of videos from Indiana University: the explanation of the title of Papatacci that Mustafa receives and the Finale with the escape of the Italian lady... The latter includes the applause and we can appreciate how the production of an opera is a team effort involving many people with very diverse skills and talents.
*NOTE. We have edited this Pod with the help of ElevenLabs, including voices of several narrators and for several characters. We are in the midst of exploring the tool. For the music, once again we have resorted to an old public domain recording that can be found in European Archives, and that has allowed us to bring you the voice of our beloved Teresa Berganza, who in her day “embroidered” the character of La italiana. We are trying it out, so any feedback in comments or by email will be appreciated.
We are testing new tools, like so many independent artists today. With the help of the SmartistsLAB, we are moving towards the Internet of Value.
Mirlo & Georgina desde Mirlo Studio
