The opera Viva la mamma! brilliantly satirizes the endless confrontations and vanity prevailing behind the scenes of a music theatre company. The story focuses on the preparations for a performance, which test everyone’s nerves and relationships.  A semi-amateur company struggles to stage an opera production, facing innumerable obstacles; however, their efforts go off course due to the whims and conflicts among the singers, the ploys of a disheartening tenor from abroad, and, most importantly, the arrival of the sweeping “mamma” Agata, the mother of the second star in line, who storms rehearsals demanding revisions to the score and new music written especially for her daughter – until the entire production team is brought to collapse.

Synopsis
This year, the Greco-Italian Operatic Association of Kallithea, a group passionate about music, is staging a performance titled The Unknown Donizetti, which is primarily inspired by the composer’s opera Viva la mamma!. The audience follows a rehearsal taking place at the Greek National Opera, specifically in the Alternative Stage hall, which is, however, in complete disarray from the previous event. The GNO has not been notified that the hall will be used by the Association because the space was unofficially “booked” through a personal connection.

The soloists and actors in the performance speak Greek but sing in Italian, except for this year’s official guest of the Association, a German tenor. Although the technician of the Alternative Stage is initially resentful of the unexpected rehearsal imposed on him, he eventually tries to help the Association and soon joins the singers.

As if the already existing intrigues and schemes among the members of the Association weren’t enough, soon, the mother of one of the singers, Mamma Agata, storms the rehearsal. She has an opinion about everything, sings confidently, and is commanding. The Association’s maestro places her into the rehearsal and the performance without second thoughts. This results in even more problems for the company.

During the rehearsal, the soloists use whatever stage props they find in front of them, while the maestro constantly adjusts the lights and sets. Soon, a surreal condition prevails, enhancing the already comic atmosphere, like an awkward yet enchanting choreography of objects and people who are never synchronized and constantly attempt to turn the spotlight on them. Ultimately, they inadvertently create poetic images.

The performance ends at some point, but real life continues, somewhere out there in Kallithea…Or perhaps it is just beginning .

The work and its course
The story of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali featuring a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, ranks among the most complex in the repertoire. No single definitive version of the work survives; instead, it exists in many different local variations. At the heart of the opera stands the emblematic figure of a pushy and overprotective mother, a role originally written for a male voice, whose grotesque and satirical power has decisively shaped the work’s popularity. The dominance of this figure on stage led to the work’s most widely known title, Viva la mamma!, which it is still used in performances today.

The work premiered in Naples in 1827 as a one-act operatic farce titled  Le convenienze teatrali. It was inspired by Antonio Simone Sografi’s comic diptych of the same name, and focused on the on-stage and off-stage world of theatre from a satirical perspective.

In 1831, it was presented as a two-act work titled Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali, in two different, reworked versions: the first was staged in Milan, without the composer’s direct supervision, and the second was presented in Naples with his active involvement. The two-act Naples version is regarded as the one closer to the work’s final form, and is also the basis for the new production that will be presented at the GNO Alternative Stage.

Mamma Agata storms the Greek National Opera
The new Alternative Stage production, directed by the experienced Sofia Paschou, tells the story of a music theatre company struggling to stage a production that ultimately ends in blatant failure. The director also led the full adaptation of the work in collaboration with the team, creating a performance that reflects contemporary theatrical reality. The production is a playful journey of balance among the elements of an operatic performance, with a cast that combines opera singers and actors, offering a multilayered interpretation that emphasizes the work’s comedic power and enduring appeal.