Kurt Gänzl
The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre
1 September, 2001
One of the handful of Italian composers who made a significant contribution to a brief flowering of musical plays in the Italian theatre of the early 20th century.
Composer Virgilio Ranzato.
Ranzato spent the earliest part of his career as a concert and chamber-music violinist, but the bulk of his work as a composer was directed towards the light musical theatre where he had two enduring successes with operettas written in collaboration with the liveliest bricoleur of the Italian musical stage, Carlo Lombardo. The pretty, rustic `navy-in-town’ musical Il paese dei campanelli, with its mixture of traditional elements and tango and foxtrot rhythms and his setting of Lombardo’s version of another oft-used subject, the East-meets-West tale of Cin-ci-là, both became oft-played parts of the small basic Italian operetta repertoire.
1911 Velivolo Teatro Balboa, Turin 28 January
1912 Yvonne Teatro Apollo, Rome 16 November
1916 La Leggenda delle arance Teatro Diana, Milan March
1919 Quel che manca a sua altezza (Gioacchino Forzano) Teatro Quirino, Rome 8 May
1922 Il paese dei campanelle (Carlo Lombardo) Teatro Lirico, Milan 23 November
1924 Luna Park (Lombardo) Teatro Lirico, Milan 26 November
1925 Cin-ci-là (Lombardo) Teatro dal Verme, Milan 18 December
1927 Zizi (Carlo Ravasio) Teatro Lirico, Milan 13 April
1927 La città rosa (w Lombardo/Ravasio) Teatro Lirico, Milan 13 April
1928 Cri-cri (Lombardo) Teatro dal Verme 28 March
1928 La danze del globo Politeama, Genoa 30 October
1928 I Merletti di Burano (w Lombardo/Lombardo, Ravasio) Teatro Lirico, Milan 22 December
1929 Lady Lido (D Marchi) Teatro Nazionale 31 July
1930 Fuoco fatuo Teatro Savoia, Messina 16 March
1930 I Monelli fiorentini (Luigi Bonelli) Teatro Nazionale, Palermo 13 July
1930 La Duchessa di Hollywood (Lombardo) Teatro dal Verme, Milan 31 October
1932 Re Salsiccia (Giulio Bucciolini) Politeama, Florence 29 January
1932 Prigioni di lusso (Lombardo, Ravasio) Odeon, Milan 26 March
1936 A te voglio tornar (Giovanni Maria Sala) Teatro Municipale, Alexandria 24 February
1936 Briciolina (M Tibaldi-Chiesa) Teatro Arcimboldo, Milan 7 December
Other title attributed: Valentina (G M Sala, 1936)