‘Caravaggio’ reviewed: a musical too many
As the first soft rock chords came blasting from the pit of the Mediterranean Conference Centre theatre, I knew I would need to muster some resolve to endure the hours to come. Caravaggio the Musical, an original production by the MCC directed by Malcolm Galea, showed at the MCC between September 20 and 25. It featured a script and lyrics by Joe Julian Farrugia and music by composer Paul Abela with choreography and musical staging by Felix Busuttil. The musical purports to be a biographical look into the life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the tortured Italian painter with a Maltese connection. It isn’t the first time the Renaissance artist was made an ambassador of Maltese art (take the recent Biennale pavilion for instance). I doubt those who have a bone to pick with this premise would much enjoy a musical celebrating Caravaggio’s Malta exile and ensuing knighthood (the Maltese crosses galore in the second act and accolades of This Land make for a rather eye-rolling viewing). Mercifully (although not greatly consoling), the Malta connection is not as central to the plot as the tortured genius trope driving the musical along. Michele (Cameron Walker-Pow) is portrayed as...