Ennio Marchetto

Quotes and Reviews

"No one is safe when Ennio Marchetto picks up his paper cutouts. He returns to the Geffen Playhouse with twists on staple caricatures.

The late Martha Graham once said, "The unique must be fulfilled," which may well make Ennio Marchetto the most satisfied nonesuch on the planet.

In "Ennio," performance artist Marchetto, co-director and designer Sosthen Hennekam and the most selfless paper cutouts in show business history return to the Geffen Playhouse, the site of their record-breaking 1999 engagement, and again create a knee-slapping tour de force.

Audiences unfamiliar with the Venetian-born Marchetto will be unprepared for what lies in his storehouse. Drawing equally from commedia dell' arte, drag balls and Disneyland, he seizes the stage in one outsized cardboard costume after another, sweetly upending popular icons through the ages.

First seen in nightshirt-clad dreaming mode, Marchetto doesn't need words. His dancing-mime's body and liquid rubber-face speak volumes, and the spot-on timing of his gestures and expressions bespeaks an art that conceals art.

Marchetto gets invaluable assistance from Hennekam's extraordinary lighting (a dazzling show in itself) and zigzagging soundtrack, which provides content without missing a backbeat or split-second splice.

Then there are those costumes, which conflate paper-doll clothes and every Tower Records window display ever installed. Their considerable effectiveness is doubly enhanced by the ruthlessly funny order of their programming. One hesitates to describe too much, though returning fans can rest assured that most of Marchetto's previous side-splitters turn up again, albeit with some riotous twists.

Like Marchetto's Eminem, who with a flick here and a fold there, transforms into disco's most indelible survivor. Shirley Bassey's thunderous "This Is My Life" ends as a tribute to television's longest-running current sitcom. Marchetto's desecrations of Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion also return, retaining their incisive satiric punch. Ditto the Mona Lisa, defying physics and tongue depression, and Madonna, and the Three Tenors, ad infinitum. Audiences needing profound topical weight from their comedy are missing the point of Marchetto's guileless approach, that of every kid who ever did a living room pageant for the pure joy of making people laugh."
David C. Nichols, Special to The L.A.Times

"The last time Ennio Marchetto performed in Los Angeles, about two and a half years ago, he was merely brilliant. This time around, Ennio is even better. Watching the Italian master clown and caricaturist transform himself into a gallery of celebrities, objects and historical icons is like being transported to an alternate reality where all things are possible and most of them are funny.

Wearing nothing but a two-tone leotard and an ingenious assortment of colorful and intricate paper costumes that defy description, Ennio is able to morph himself into just about anybody or anything he desires faster than you can say rigatoni. One moment he's Bruce Springsteen singing "Born in the U.S.A.," the next he's Popeye dancing a jig and downing a can of spinach. Pavarotti turns into the Three Tenors, and Celine Dion becomes the sinking Titanic -- all done while lip-syncing to the signature song that goes with each piece.

The program changes with each performance, but a highlight on opening night was the Madonna sequence. The pop diva starts out dressed in white (like a virgin) but quickly loses her innocence as she passes through her conic bra and black leather periods, finally entering the ultimate zone of public self-exposure -- displaying her internal organs no less. Sounds gross, but it's hilarious.
Other sendups included Ennio's trademark mugging Mona Lisa, a top-heavy Dolly Parton riding an over-burdened donkey, a great Satchmo and Ella duet (she's on his shoulders), an entire Gregorian choir and an Eminem rap number.

Ennio's artistry appears to have grown since his last visit. Although the laughs and gasps of astonishment are still plentiful, there's a bit more drama to some of the pieces. But there is no way to truly describe the show. Ennio has to be seen to be believed."
Jay reiner, The Hollywood Reporter

"...a one-man origami extravaganza...It isn't just the number or bewildering vareity of characters that Italian super-mime Ennio Marchetto impersonates that make his solo show "Ennio" so entertaining. Nor is it the astonishing skill he demonstrates in the course of a hilarity-packed hour. What makes "Ennio" such a unique delight is the way one routine unfolds from another. Literally........"
Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle