Praise for ROMAN NIGHTS

“A moving account of friendship...D'Alessandro has lovingly crafted this play with elegant, gracious prose that does justice to Tennessee Williams." - Irene Backalenick (BACKSTAGE)

"An often heartening tale of two famous people..." with "...plenty of snappy exchanges and a generous helping of biographical details.” – New York Times

"An enchanted and haunting examination of friendship" - The New Yorker

“Magnani and Williams are immortalized in this play...” – New York Magazine

"A memorable theatrical experience. D'Alessandro captures effectively the chemistry between Williams and Magnani with intricate dialogue and passion the author brings a complicated story of friendship and art vividly to life." - Frederick Winship (Associated Press/ UPI)

"D'Alessandro narrates the story of Magnani and Williams and in doing so shows us much about the creative process. The volcanic character of Magnani he has created is powerful and true, a great text allows the actors to embody these two giants." - Mario Fratti (Oggi America / La Repubblica)

“...filled with pathos and passion." – David Cote TIME OUT New York

"2050. If civilization still exists, theatrical historians will look back at the post apocalyptic 9-11 Broadway theatre scene as largely a wasteland of pop cultural revivals and 'kabaret' type theatre forms whose subject matter is better suited to letters to one's legislature than to the stage. A notable exception, we predict, will be Franco D'Alessandro's ROMAN NIGHTS. With talent, courage and vision, this new playwright evokes the 'golden age' of 20th Century theatre with a two-character play spanning more than two decades in the careers of Tennessee Williams and Anna Magnani. With a sure theatrical hand, D'Alessandro fashions a dialogue illuminated by a fiery double helix of inspiration and love; a platonic torch-song fueled by their mutual passion for the theatre and for human love itself. Give your soul a break. Go see ROMAN NIGHTS." – Bruce Smith, Author, Costly Performances / Tennessee Williams: The Last Stage.

“A well crafted play scroupulous in its biographical accuracy. D'Alessandro's Dybbuk-ike possession of the souls of his beloved protagonists has the ring of truth and accuracy. So much fascinates in this pas de deux between icons whose bad traits are decisively outweighed by love, integrity and, above all, the passion to persevere.” – Gerald Rabkin (New York Theatre / CultureVulture)

"Roman Nights is a reminder of theater where the words matter! Dynamic, vibrant, an evening of bravura performances. The folks who give out awards should head over to see this play posthaste!" - Leo Gruenfeld

"Stunning, beautiful and moving." - Isabella Rossellini

“D'Alessandro´s lovingly researched ROMAN NIGHTS brings Anna Magnani and Tennessee Williams alive again, with dialogue so authentic the audience feels as if they are invited to eavesdrop on some very private moments. Inspiring in its own right, this study of the power of the muse is new theater at its best: traditional and groundbreaking at once. Williams and Magnani would have loved it!” – Kathleen Squires (TimeOut New York, 2000)

"A play about art and friendship and the gifts we give to one another." - Davida Singer (The Villager)

“ROMAN NIGHTS is an important play that alternates between biographical information and poetic rumination with a seamless lyricism that blurs the lines between art and life. A meditation on the ‘artist / muse’ paradigm that is at times beautiful, melancholy and provocative.” – Olympia Dukakis

"Franco D'Alessandro writes with such emotional honesty and passion that his characters transcend their true-life origins with a spirit all their own. Much more than a dramatization of the events that inspired it, ROMAN NIGHTS is an intimate portrait of a friendship between two larger-than-life figures whose joys and tragedies reveal great truths about the nature of inspiration, collaboration, and artistic expression." – Steven DeRosa, Author, Writing with Hitchcock

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