ITALY – “The Ariston Theater in Sanremo is a theatre like all the others and therefore, as minister Roberto Speranza (Minister of Health ed) clarified yesterday, the public, paying, free or of extras, will be able to return only when the rules allow it to all theatres and cinemas. We hope as soon as possible”, The Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, writes on Twitter.
The minister’s decision completely changes the scenario, given that both Fiorello and Amadeus had declared that “without an audience, it was impossible to do the Festival”.
In the afternoon, the experts of the Scientific Technical Committee reiterated their concerns about the possibility of having the Sanremo festival held with the presence of the public, even if made up of extras.
This would be the orientation of the government technicians at the end of the meeting with the top management of Rai to take stock of the organization of the event scheduled for the beginning of March.
During the meeting, Rai presented a document, which has not yet been sent to the Committee, and which provides for a complete reorganization of the Ariston theatre, to ensure that the security measures in force are respected.
However, the technicians raised three issues. The first is linked to the Dpcm currently in force: it was reiterated that the rules provide for theatrical performances to be held in the absence of the public.
The second to the epidemiological situation: to date, Liguria has data that place it in the yellow zone, but no one can currently predict what the data will be for the Festival. If the situation worsened and placed the region in the orange or red zone, no opening would be possible.
Finally, the technicians stressed that the Festival could attract thousands of people to the city and it is necessary to avoid the risk of crowds.
Il Teatro Ariston di #Sanremo è un teatro come tutti gli altri e quindi, come ha chiarito ieri il ministro @robersperanza, il pubblico, pagante, gratuito o di figuranti, potrà tornare solo quando le norme lo consentiranno per tutti i teatri e cinema. Speriamo il prima possibile.
— Dario Franceschini (@dariofrance) January 28, 2021
Is Amadeus ready to resign his mandate as artistic director and host of the Sanremo festival?
According to persistent rumours gathered by Adnkronos within the Festival team, the conductor is evaluating the sensational gesture, after the words tweeted by Franceschini. Amadeus and his friends, who have always talked about the difficulty for artists to perform in front of an empty theatre, would also have emphasized how yesterday the Minister of Health had not talked about extras, as did Franceschini, whose words were therefore interpreted as an attack on the Festival.
Since – it is noted by circles close to the Festival – many other TV programs are broadcast with an audience of cast members.
Franceschini replied: “I am the first to hope that the trend of infections will allow theatres to reopen as soon as possible with the necessary safety measures and I am working for this. But the current rules apply to everyone, from the largest show to the smallest theatre”.
“Fallen government, unapproved refreshments, recovery on the high seas, lack of vaccines, the economy in pieces and I see important ministers, important journalists, talking only about Sanremo and appearances. Now I understand why a large country like ours is falling apart. Inadequate”, said Lucio Presta, manager of Amadeus, in a tweet this morning.
Governo caduto, ristori non approvati, recovery in alto mare, mancanza di vaccini, economia a pezzi e vedo ministri importanti, giornalisti importanti, parlare solo di Sanremo e figuranti. Ora capisco perché un grande Paese come il Ns é a rotoli. #Inadeguati
— ellepi_one (@PrestaLucio) January 28, 2021
It looks like Amadeus doesn’t intend to turn around. The artistic director and conductor of the Sanremo Festival would have clearly explained his position in a meeting in Viale Mazzini with the director of Rai 1 Stefano Coletta.
He does not intend to conduct the Festival in front of an empty audience, he explained that the Ariston Theater is considered by the team working on the show (a concept repeated several times in recent days) to be a television studio, so much so that the audience has been dismantled to adapt it to the necessary distancing of the orchestra and the audience of figures.
The meeting with the top management ended in an interlocutory way: Amadeus announced that it wanted to wait for the decisions of the CTS (and politics) to draw a definitive conclusion.
The node is always the place that hosts the shows: the Ariston, which is considered and used by Rai as a television studio, is a theatre. For this reason, actors and directors – who have been stopped for months to respect the Dpcm – had protested: “If Sanremo is done with the public, then open theatres”.
It must be said that the Dpcm explains very well how television shows must take place with the presence of extras and extras. “The prohibition envisaged for shows does not apply to television broadcasts, because the presence of the audience in the studio represents only a choreographic element and in any case strictly functional to the broadcast”.
Meanwhile, the Fimi Board of Directors (Federation of the Italian Music Industry) has formally adopted today the protocol prepared by AFI, FIMI and PMI with the guidelines that will be followed by the record companies at the Sanremo Festival.
FIMI itself announces it:
“The protocol will be disseminated to all media, operators, institutions and hoteliers in the coming days – reads the note – allowing all those involved to adopt security measures to the highest standards when dealing with the record industry during the event. The protocol may be integrated and modified following the measures adopted by Cts and Rai with which the associations will have a dialogue”.
