Music Theatre International of Rome Presents AROUND THE WORLD in 72 DAYS

Music Theatre International of Rome will present Around the World in 72 Days. The Journey of Nellie Bly. at City Lit Theater Company, in Italian with projected English titles, in an exclusive one-night-only performance on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 pm, followed by an artist's reception, at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue. Tickets are $25 and available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4102252.

The 50-minute show premiered in Rome at the 10th Festival della Letteratura di Viaggio of the Italian Geographic Society, produced by the Italian non-profit organization Music Theater International and has the patronage of the Touring Club Italiano. After its Chicago engagement, the production will tour to New York (Brooklyn and Manhattan) for the 7th edition of the InScena! Festival in May.

Around the World in 72 Days. The Journey of Nellie Bly. chronicles the journey made by 24-year-old American journalist, Elizabeth Cochrane (using the pseudonym Nellie Bly) in 1889. A favorite of Joseph Pulitzer at the New York World, her travels followed the path of the famous character Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, 16 years after its release.

Nellie's reports fascinated newspaper readers for months. She left New York on November 14, 1889, traveling on ships, trains and wagons. The reporter stopped in London, Calais, Brindisi, Port Said, Ismalia, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama and San Francisco, landing back in New York on January 25, 1890, triumphantly welcomed by the public who had devoured her travel reports. Nellie's diary offers a rapid description of the world narrated with the sensationalist style of the journalism of her time. She also met Jules Verne on her journey, generating renewed fame and publicity for his novel.

Through her narrative, Nellie illustrates the condition of women at the end of the 19th century, the habits and customs of the countries she passes through and the curious behavior of the travelers she encounters, often revealing her own prejudices. Through her narration the audience can compare past ways of traveling to the present time in a world increasingly interconnected.

The Italian translation of Nellie Bly's travel diary was first published in 2007. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the figure of Elizabeth Cochrane in Italy. In 2017, RaiStoria (the Italian national TV channel) dedicated an episode of the historical-documentary series Lady Travelers to Nellie Bly (available online on Raiply.it). In March 2018, the first Italian biography of Elizabeth Cochrane was published, Dove nasce il vento, by Nicola Attadio.

The theatrical adaptation is by Paola Sarcina and Diana Forlani, directed by Sarcina and starring Forlani. The setting is enriched with historical images from the photographic archives of the Italian Geographic Society and National Library of Congress in Washington, with video editing by Federico Spirito and Alessio Raponi. Music is by Massimo Fedeli, arrangements and sound effects by Marco Melia, costumes by Rita Sorgi. The actor Lorenzo Acquaviva gives voice to Jules Verne.

Editing of English translations and English surtitles provided by the students of Civica Scuola Interpreti e Traduttori Altiero Spinelli, as part of a tutored educational project. The following students worked on this show in particular: Viviana Giorgi and Alessia Tu Bao Van.