SU Drama’s production of ‘Nine’ embraces Italian roots, cinematic values

Luisa walked around Guido’s film set with the realization that these scenes were based on her life. She knocked a chair against the wall and they argued, incomprehensible to those in the audience who didn’t speak or understand the Italian language.

As Luisa gave up and sat down with her head down and hands covering her face, Guido turned away — almost unfazed by the arguing — and yells “Keep rolling.”

The struggle to balance the blurred lines of an artist’s creative life and personal life is the central theme of the Tony Award-winning musical “Nine,” which kicked off the Syracuse University Department of Drama’s 2016-2017 season at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex. The show had its opening night on Saturday and will run through Oct. 8.

“Nine” tells the story of Guido Contini, an Italian filmmaker who has reached a boiling point both in his career and his personal life. As his 40th birthday approaches, he turns to the women in his life — his wife, his mother, his mistress, his favorite actress and his producer, to name a few — for inspiration for his film.

Guido’s artistic block with the film is coupled with his struggle to keep his marriage intact, as Luisa, his wife, starts the show by saying she wants a divorce. The musical chronicles Guido’s journey, as he must decide which is more important n his life: his art or his wife.

The musical itself blurs the lines between reality and fantasy — not only must the audience constantly determine for themselves whether what they are seeing is happening in real life or in Guido’s mind, they must also figure out whether the occurrences in Guido’s mind are memories or simple daydreams.

“This is the most challenging role I’ve done so far in my life,” said Zeke Edmonds, a senior musical theater major who plays the role of Guido. “It’s so complicated emotionally, and because sometimes you don’t know if it’s his fantasy or reality or mind.”

“Nine” is based on a film called “8 ½,” which Edmonds called a “very existential and abstract” piece of work. The musical’s score is very cinematic, rooted in a classical approach, but the production itself reflects the musical’s film roots. Film screens drop down from the ceiling to accompany certain scenes, and projections onto the backdrop come and go as actors are singing onstage.

Even the lighting itself is rooted in cinematic techniques — the production lacked the use of clear front lights and relied heavily on side and back lights.

“It combines film with the art of performance, which is something you rarely see,” said Emma Roos, a senior musical theater major who plays the role of Luisa. “With this production, the use of projections and the use of whether you know if it’s going in his mind or in the film, and what Luisa is actually seeing during the film, it puts you in a state of experiencing both arts simultaneously.”

The musical also embraces its Italian roots. The set is clearly inspired by Italian architectural styles, relying on pillars, columns and arches. Actors seamlessly switched between speaking the Italian language and speaking English with a heavy Italian accent, which Roos called “addictive.”

For Roos, one of the biggest challenges for her role was not to portray Luisa as a victim.

“That can so easily happen,” she said. “I don’t know if I accomplished that, but it’s about trying to find a way to use her strength rather than her submissiveness to her husband. That backbone is what keeps her going.”

It’s ambiguous at the end of the musical whether or not Luisa stays with Guido, but both Roos and Edmonds feel like she comes back to him.

“I think there’s something for Guido at the end where he just, he really sees in that moment that she has been there for him all along,” Roos said.

“Yes, I think there is more hope there,” Edmonds added. “We found a lot of love between these two.”