Cu’Fu, by Charly Chiarelli

Cu’Fu?
Stories of a Sicilian family
by Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli

Cu’Fu?, Sicilian for “who did it?”, is Charly’s hilarious and touching tribute to his crazy Sicilian family in the North End of Hamilton. His father’s bewilderment at the automatic record changer, his mother’s uncanny ability to read faces, and the unexpected reaction of both when they discover Charly is smoking “Mario Lanza”, create a portrait at once affectionate and hilarious.

The Chiarelli family emigrated from Sicily in 1948, to Hamilton, Ontario. The new world posed one challenge after another, and before confronting them a Sicilian must ask: Cu’Fu? Through storytelling, song and harmonica playing, Charly Chiarelli unfolds his Sicilian-Canadian reality full of warmth, tragedy and humour.

Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Racalmuto, Sicily and raised in a Hamilton neighborhood in the industrial North End. One of Canada’s premier storytellers, he is widely known for one-person plays, Cu’Fu?, Mangiacake, and Sunamabeach, and Charly’s Piano, directed by Ronald Weihs and designed by Judith Sandiford. They have been seen across Canada and in international festivals. Filmed performances of Cu’Fu and Mangiacake, directed by Gemini Award winner Denis Beauchamp, were aired frequently on Bravo Television.

“the Sicilian Spalding Gray, perhaps, or the Hamilton Mark Twain”
Edmonton Journal
“achingly tender and deliriously funny”
Hamilton Spectator
“funny, touching and eloquent”
Kingston Wig Standard