On Stage: Performing Arts at Our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle
‘Novecento’ Opens Friday at SUNY Oneonta
Alessandro Baricco wrote “Novecento” in 1994 as a one-person show, which was adapted into a movie in 1998, “The Legend of 1900,” starring Tim Roth. In 2024, SUNY Oneonta’s Kiara Pipino has broken the original monologue up into six parts, and asked Oneonta local musician Tim Iverson to create a musical score. The production of “Novecento” directed by Pipino, with a run-time of an hour and 20 minutes, starts its run this week. The play centers on a renowned pianist, Novecento, born onboard the Virginia, an ocean liner that moves between the Americas and Europe. Novecento lives his life onboard the Virginia until it is destroyed.
I found the rehearsal engaging: a dance between six actors telling one story as they passed bits and parts to one another in one fluid motion to the next. It is so engaging as a cast of six, I cannot imagine it as a one-person show! And, when I sat in, they hadn’t yet incorporated Iverson’s musical score, so I am eager to go back and watch with that addition, especially the part where the lead character has a music battle with Jelly Roll Morton.
After rehearsal, the cast and crew members gathered and talked to me about their thoughts on the play, a conversation that also has me eager to go back and rewatch the play, for they each brought new perspectives and ideas to it and I want to rewatch it with those perspectives adding to the color of the show.
