After La Comedie Italianne closed its program of plays and commedia classes, in 2018, Producer and Artistic Director Attilio Magiulli began auctioning off its stock of costumes, scenery, and historical-decorative items. One of the latter—a handkerchief reputed to belong to Marilyn Monroe—brought new life to the theater where it was displayed. But by the end of 2020, corona virus lockdowns have threatened its health once again. Still, it has kept advertising-- as open when permitted---the world premiere of Iago Migatti-Lulli's Qui a tue la Pere Noel? (“Who Killed Father Christmas?”) with Josephine Stoll and Julia Salaun, directed by Magiulli. La Comedie Italianne is the only theater in France perpetuating the memory and much of the work of the Italian Players once so popular in Paris that a Boulevard is named for them. They much influenced Moliere. Maggiulli's theater has been under that influence for 50 years. He and it have acquired many friends, one of whom had given him the Monroe handkerchief that had hung in the Comedie's hall. Apparently Marilyn Monroe left her handkerchief in the Waldorf Astoria, not when she lived there, but either when she sometimes had brief stays at the New York hotel or on one of her frequent visits to a favorite hairdresser there. The delicate handkerchief, framed in lace and with flowers at one corner, was found by a hotel employee. It somehow reached Andy Warhol from whom Leo Castelli, an art dealer and exhibitor received it. Castelli gave it to Magiulli for posting in his theater lobby with a walled collection of tributes, posters, and other interesting theatrical materials. The handkerchief went under plastic covering the wall as the pandemic hit.
La Comedie Italianne was 300,000 Euros in debt when it closed and its sale began. The Monroe object drew a bid of exactly that amount from an anonymous phoner. The bid winner specified that it will be lent to Magiulli if needed to help the theater's work but it will never be sold. That bargain resulted in Helene Lestrade and Valentina Vandelli acting a deeply friendly relationship (late in 2018 and much of 2019) in La Mouchoire de Marilyn Monroe (“The Handkerchief of Marilyn Monroe”) by Fabio Fabi and director Magiulli.
La Comedie returned to its favorite author Goldoni and played his La collier de la Princesse (“The Princess's Necklace”) until the pandemic lockdown occurred in 2020. The theater opened with its Pere Noel mystery during its off again-on again life.
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Writer:
Marie J. Kilker
Writer Bio:
Marie J. Kilker, Ph.D. Is a retired educator and long-time member of the American Theatre Critics Association and stalwart member of its International Theatre Committee. She has been a writer for TotalTheater.com since its founding. Her main critical beat is Florida's West Coast and, when she ventures on reviewing abroad, France.
Date:
December 2020
