Excerpts
from NEW YORK Reviews / Notices: 2002
"A
moving account of friendship...D'Alessandro has lovingly crafted this play with elegant, gracious prose that does justice
to Tennessee Williams."
- Irene Backalenick (BACKSTAGE)
"An often heartening tale of two famous people..." with "...plenty of snappy exchanges and
a generous helping of biographical details.”
- The New York Times
"An
enchanted and haunting examination of friendship…"
- The New Yorker
"…Magnani and Williams are immortalized in this play."
-
New York Magazine
"…with
intricate dialogue and passion D'Alessandro brings a complicated story of friendship and art vividly to life."
-
Frederick Winship (Associated Press/ UPI)
"…filled with pathos and passion."
- David Cote TIMEOUT New York
"With heart and soul D'Alessandro
narrates this story of Magnani and Williams and in doing so shows us much about the creative process. The
volcanic character of Magnani he has created is powerful and true… a great text allows the actors to embody these two
giants."
- Mario Fratti (Oggi America / La Repubblica)
“With talent, courage
and vision, playwright Franco D’Alessandro evokes the ‘golden age’ of 20th Century theatre
with a two-character play spanning more than two decades in the careers of Tennessee Williams and Anna Magnani. With a sure
theatrical hand, D’Alessandro fashions a dialogue illuminated by a fiery double helix of inspiration and love; a platonic
torch-song fueled by their mutual passion for the theatre and for human love itself. Give your soul a break. Go see Roman Nights .”
-Bruce Smith,
Author, COSTLY PERFORMANCES / Tennessee Williams: The Last Stage
"A well crafted play…scrupulous in its biographical
accuracy. D'Alessandro's Dybbuk-ike possession of the souls
of his beloved protagonists has the ring of truth and accuracy… So Much
Fascinates in this pas-de-deaux between icons whose bad traits are decisively outweighed by love, integrity and, above
all, the passion to persevere."
-
Gerald Rabkin (New York Theatre / CultureVulture)
"Roman Nights is a reminder of theater where the words matter! …Dynamic,
vibrant, an evening of bravura performances. The folks who give out awards should head over to see this play posthaste!"
- Leo Gruenfeld -Syndicated
Columnist (Aisle Say)
"Stunning, beautiful and very moving."
-
Isabella Rossellini
"D'Alessandro´s lovingly researched Roman Nights
brings Anna Magnani and Tennessee Williams alive again, with dialogue so authentic the audience feels as if they are invited
to eavesdrop on some very private moments. Inspiring in its own right, this study of the power of the muse is new theater
at its best: traditional and groundbreaking at once. Williams and Magnani would have loved it!"
- Kathleen Squires (TimeOut New York, 2001)
"Franco D'Alessandro writes with such emotional honesty and passion that his characters
transcend their true-life origins with a spirit all their own. Much more than a dramatization of the events that inspired
it, ROMAN NIGHTS is an intimate portrait of a friendship between two larger-than-life figures whose joys and tragedies reveal
great truths about the nature of inspiration, collaboration, and artistic expression."
- Steven DeRosa, Author, Writing with
Hitchcock
" An enchanting
play about art and friendship and the gifts we give to one another… "
-
Davida Singer (The Villager)
LONDON Reviews / Notices: 2004
"Surely
Anna Magnani and Tennessee Williams would have approved of Franco D'Alessandro's bio-play, oozing la Dolce Vita and the Great
White Way in a loving no holds barred recreation of key moments the actress and writer spent in each other's company."
"D'Alessandro alternates between fly on the wall biography and
going for a story... showing themes of faded glory eternally present in Williams' work"
"Franca Barchiesi as Anna Magnani: A performance like this comes around once in a decade - if you're lucky!
Nolan Hemmings finds his groove as Williams…by wisely avoiding any overplay of the playwright's the alcoholism
and homosexuality he discovers an unexpected dignity."
"ROMAN NIGHTS is a convincing heartfelt
romp of a tale with a bittersweet ending that lingers long after."
- Nick Awde - THE STAGE - The U.K.'s Number One Theatre Source
"ROMAN
NIGHTS is filled with big emotions…seductive… with witty and intelligent writing by D'Alessandro."
-Time Out London
"ROMAN NIGHTS is an enthralling look at the tempestuous
and intimate relationship between two great artists"… "Anna Magnani and Tennessee Williams are powerfully
evoked though D'Alessandro's dialogue…"
-TheatreWorld
"Feels like
eavesdropping!"
ROMAN NIGHTS succeeds in -as Tennessee Williams said- setting the snare to set the
truth of human existence!"
-The Camden Journal
"A Must!"
"Four
Stars!"
"Virtuoso performances by Barchiesi as Magnani and Hemmings as Williams"
-Ham
& High
"Mesmerizing… engaging… tour de force performances in demanding roles…"
-The
City Neighbour
"This is engaging, meaningful theatre."
-Timothy Ramsden