A Musical made with, for and by the British-Italian community in London

A unique Community Project, the very first Musical of Italians in London, exploring themes of identity, multiculturalism and community.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this amazing project and made it possible to bring it on stage in July 2022!

Italians in London – who are they? How do they feel? How do they define themselves?

With Il Musical degli Italiani a Londra we wished to explore our identity and to hear the stories of our Italian families in London.
We wanted this Musical to be made by, with, and for the British-Italian community and we are overwhelmed by the response we have received!
In November 2021 we assembled our cast and our show finally landed on stage on the 16th July 2022.

21

workshops for children and teenagers

50

members of the ensemble cast

2

languages
English and Italian

1

unique musical
for our community

How it works

What is a Community Project?

This linguistic and artistic project is the creation and stage production of a new one-act Musical made with, for and by the British-Italian community in London to explore themes of identity, multiculturalism and, indeed, community.
English and Italian will be the languages of the Musical.

This project is aimed at different generations of British-Italian people who were born and raised in the UK or who came here as immigrants. In its first phase back in May 2021 about 45 children and teenagers ranging from 9 to 21 years of age participated in a series of 21 workshops to generate story, characters and music.

Our writer and composer are currently have put together all ideas and feelings shared during the workshops and written the Musical’s script and music. In November 2021 we assembled our cast, following a community performance call which gave the British-Italian community of London the opportunity to be part of the artistic ensemble.

Our Musical on stage

We performed on Saturday 16th July 2022 at the Britten Theatre, within the Royal College of Music (South Kensington, London).

What a night! More than 350 tickets sold, a lively audience enjoying the show, our intergenerational cast giving their best. It has been the most wonderful ride.

We cannot wait to bring the show back on stage, so if you would like to watch our Musical in other cities in the UK or in Italy please get in touch!

Meet the team

Anna Landi
Writer Facilitator

Anna completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Theatre with Young People at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and trained with the Almeida Theatre. She is also a qualified Teacher of Italian, teaching Drama and Languages from Early Years to young adults both in schools and informal education settings.

Eleonora Giovannardi
Project Manager

Eleonora Giovannardi is one of the founders and trustees of Talia e la Valiga delle Idee, a registered charity based in London promoting the Italian language and culture for children aged 0-4. Since September 2018, she is also the coordinator of all Italian Language and Culture classes at SIAL.Courses.

Annarita Mazzilli
Choreographer

Annarita is a choreographer, dance Lecturer, and performer. She trained at Leeds University (BA Dance) and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (MA Performance). Her work has been performed worldwide. Human interrelations, a sense of community and social issues are all important themes in her work. She is lead tutor of Performing Arts and assistant programme manager for Health and Fitness at Idea Store Learning in London (Tower Hamlets Council) and worked as associate lecturer at Surrey University (Guildford School of Acting).

Luke Saydon
Lyricist/Composer

Luke is an award-winning UK based composer, musical director and theatre maker from Malta. has been professionally produced in both Malta and the UK- in venues including the V&A Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, the Lyric Theatre, the Maltese National Theatre and the Battersea Arts Centre.