TURIN. The world of theater and culture are in mourning. Eugenio Allegri, actor and recorder of extraordinary talent, died suddenly in Turin. He was 66 years old.
Born in Collegno and graduated in 1979 from the Galante Garrone School in Bologna, Eugenio Allegri was an actor and director of recognized talent, working, among others, with Leo De Berardinis, Dario Fo, Gabriele Vacis, Vittorio Franceschi and Leo Muscato.
The announcement was made by the family, together with its long-time collaborator Serena Guidelli. A novelty that chilled those – actors, directors, theater lovers – who knew him and loved his works. The condolences of the entire Teatro Stabile di Torino were immediate: «His face and his voice – remember the Stabile – are inextricably linked to Alessandro Baricco’s” Novecento “, which he staged on Italian stages for over twenty years and Europeans “.
In 2009 Allegri reopened the newly restored Teatro Carignano as the protagonist of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, directed by Gabriele Vacis, who in 2012 also chose it for Goldoni’s Rusteghi. In 2016 he had accepted Dario Fo’s challenge to direct the young and very talented Matthias Martelli – Dario Fo’s natural heir – in a new extraordinary version of Mistero Buffo. In 2017 he was among the main interpreters of the theatrical adaptation of “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco, directed by Leo Muscato.
“Influenced by Lecoq, in the course of his career – still remind the Stabile – he was recognized as an heir, lover and master of the Commedia dell’Arte, which he was able to wisely pass on to new generations, through workshops, seminars and a constant presence in the body teacher of the School for Actors of the Teatro Stabile of Turin ».
With Eugenio Allegri one of the most representative artists of the Italian theater scene disappears: “an extraordinary talent, a passionate and acclaimed professional, a meek and polite man”, remember the president of the Teatro Stabile, Lamberto Vallarino Gancia, the director Filippo Fonsatti. “In his long and very successful career, he exported the name of the Teatro Stabile di Torino throughout Italy and abroad, also conquering audiences in London, Beijing and Shanghai”.
«Eugenio was a great actor – says Gabriele Vacis – but above all a great friend. From the Capuleti father of Romeo and Juliet to Goldoni’s Fulgenzio, from the twentieth century to Cyrano profoundly marked the experience of the Teatro Settimo. We love him and we will love him forever. Hi buddy”.
In the coming days at the Carignano Theater the funeral parlor will be set up for the last farewell. «Eugenio – is the memory of the artistic director of the Stabile, Valerio Binasco – was a poet actor. He exuded a special, unique charm, because he was able to exert the seductive force of acting without ever using force. He only used sweetness, even when he happened to play “the bad guys”. When you saw him on stage you found yourself in front of an artist whom you immediately perceived as a potential “protagonist”, but at the same time you also perceived him as if he had lost his way, as if his shyness had led him to the center of the scene by chance. A bit like it happened in many Chaplin films, when Charlot found himself at the center of attention for some accident. Eugenio was a Chaplinian, but there was something of Gogol in him too. And this gave him a very rare quality in an actor: grace »To say that he was gifted with grace is for me the greatest compliment that can be given to an actor. He loved to make people laugh, he loved clowns and the commedia dell’arte, of which he was a true expert and teacher. He was an extraordinary actor who knew how to hold together the charisma of great characters, with the tenderness of “his of him” the character of him.