Famed Italian director Federico Fellini once said, All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. Yet he denied his own films were based in truth, despite the fact that the main character in his Oscar-winning flick 8 ½ is a womanizing movie director who made the same exact number of films as Fellini.
Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit adapted the film for the stage as Nine, currently playing at Phoenix Theatre. The musical focuses on fictional filmmaker Guido Continis troubled relationships with women, from the prostitute he left Catholic school to visit at age nine to his wife, Luisa, and his mistress.
Guido, played locally by Craig Laurie, ends up the way men who try to juggle too many women often do -- exhausted and alone. Its a challenge to make Guido lovable, says director Michael Barnard. It is a woman's story, yet the lead is a man.
Thursdays-Sundays; Wed., May 4. Starts: April 14. Continues through May 8, 2011