Director Beppe Menegatti, husband of Carla Fracci, dies at 95
The Italian theatre director Beppe Menegatti died this morning – he was 95.
Menegatti was best known for the works he created for his wife, the ballerina Carla Fracci, who he married in 1964 and who died three years ago. He also worked independently however, directing both operas and plays.
He was born in Florence in 1929. He won a scholarship to the National Academy Silvio D’Amico in Rome, and soon after in the mid-1950s he became Luchino Visconti‘s assistant and later collaborated with Vittorio De Sica, Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler and Eduardo De Filippo. He directed the first Italian performances by authors such as Samuel Beckett and Isaac Babel, and many opera productions in Italy’s most prestigious houses. He also directed several works for television including The Ballerinas, a two-part ballet-drama featuring Peter Ustinov and Fracci playing many roles in vignettes covering the history of ballet.
Menegatti created numerous original works combining ballet, prose and music with Fracci and many of Italy’s most famous actors. He was also a champion for recreating, alongside various choreographers, many ballets whose original choreography had been lost. During the first ten years of the millennium when he and his wife led the Rome Opera Ballet, he presented various rarities of the Ballets Russes repertoire and reconstructed the ballet The Red Poppy.
Menegatti was both irascible and loveable and had an impish sense of humour. Whereas his wife was a curious listener, he loved being the centre of attention. His curiosity veered from wanting to know if Pablo Picasso and Virgian Woolf ever met to rumours about so-and-so’s romantic adventures. He always had a project on the go, even into his nineties, though his last staged work was in 2019. Phone calls could start abruptly with “Have you got your machine?” – i.e. smartphone or PC – then, “When was X born?”, “Has anyone set Y’s poem to music?”, “Did Z ever tour Russia?”.
His memory was extraordinary – information on ballet dancers, politicians, composers, painters, historical events – and was intact until the end. La Scala‘s ballet director, Manuel Legris, inaugurated an annual gala dedicated to Fracci, reaching its third edition this year. In April, Beppe wrote:
Dear dancers and stage staff, I am sending you this thought on the occasion of the third gala for Carla Fracci.
The association ‘Amici della Scala’ sent me some of their new publications dedicated to the set designers of La Scala. When I opened the parcel, one of the books fell open, and there was a picture of Carla in a beautiful white costume designed by Anna Anni for Le Baiser de la fée, the ballet performed at La Scala in 1975.
In the photo, Carla caresses a child, as if to give him a blessing: Carla used to say, YOU MUST BE PERFECT!
Beppe Menegatti
After transferring from Milan to Rome to be near his son Francesco after Carla Fracci died, Beppe would occasionally talk about her, but often quickly changed the subject preferring to ask about the latest news from La Scala. Although he went into hospital in mid-August, he was sitting up and eating pastries on his birthday, 6 September, surrounded by his family and friends.
Beppe Menegatti at La Scala
La Scala says:
The Teatro alla Scala pays tribute to Beppe Menegatti, who passed away today, an extraordinary man of the theatre, director of operas and ballets, the pivot of an indissoluble, devoted and fruitful partnership, almost a symbiosis of art and life with “his” Carla Fracci.
His first meeting at La Scala with Carla was when he was called as Luchino Visconti’s assistant to direct the ballet Mario and the Magician by Léonide Massine which was staged at La Scala in 1956, and a young Fracci was chosen as a substitute for prima ballerina Luciana Novaro. From that meeting the lives of both changed forever.
Menegatti was part of 17 La Scala productions (for a total of 135 performances), as a director, ballet creator, librettist and writer, as well as a consultant for the film dedicated to Carla Fracci and La Scala that premiered in 2021.
Director of the Ballet Manuel Legris said,
Beppe was part of a flourishing period for entertainment in general, and for ballet in particular so I can only say a huge thank you for everything he did for dance in Italy, for his great admiration for ballet, dance and the great performers, not only Italian. I remember his enthusiasm in talking about Ghislaine Thesmar, Noëlla Pontois, Yvette Chauviré, and of course Carla. We consulted with Beppe when I wanted to create the Fracci Gala, and he was really happy with this tribute, even if he was not able to come to La Scala, and at every edition he always sent us his greetings. Certainly from now on our Galas will also be for him, he will be in our thoughts in the next editions.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
RIP. What a very special person