Who can forget the exuberant and animated acceptance speech by two-time Academy Award-winner Roberto Benigni in 1999 for Best Actor and Best Foreign Film for “Life is Beautiful.” He climbed over the seats, almost fell and showed the world that the evening did not have to be a staid event.

Now, after performing his one-man theatrical show for three years before more than one million fans in Italy and sold out performances in London and Paris, the multi-talented Benigni is bringing his one-man show “TuttoDante” to the U.S., where he will make his American stage debut on May 26 in San Francisco, CA, at the Davies Symphony Hall.

The seven-city, eight-show tour runs through June 12 at Harris Theatre in Chicago, IL. Other cities included on the tour are New York, NY; Montreal, QC (two shows); Boston, MA; Toronto, ON; and and Quebec City, QC.

TuttoDante is performed in English with bits of Italian and covers current events and daily routines to Dante’s Divine Comedy. Benigni ends the show with the recitation of the “Fifth Canto” in its original medieval Italian.

The image accompanying this article is from TuttoDante.it.


TuttoDante itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)

May 26 San Francisco, CA Davies Symphony Hall
May 30 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
June 2 – 3 Montreal, QC St. Denise Theatre
June 6 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
June 7 Toronto, ON Casino Rama
June 10 Quebec City, QC Gran Theatre de Quebec
June 12 Chicago, IL Harris Theatre