Back Back to Artword Productions 1999-2000

Charly Comes Home . . . to Artword Theatre

Artword Theatre presents

Cu'Fu? (So Who Did It?):
Stories of a Sicilian Family

Written and performed by
Charly (Calogero) Chiarelli
directed by Ronald Weihs

November 10 to December 18, 1999

Thurs.-Fri. at 8 pm; Sat. at 4 & 8:30 pm; Sun. at 3 pm
$20 regular, $15 seniors, students, Sundays 2-for-1

Artword Theatre, 75 Portland Street, Toronto
(one block east of Bathurst, south of King)
Call (416) 408-1146

Cu'Fu, Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli's hilarious and touching one-man show about growing up Sicilian in Hamilton Ontario, is coming back to Artword Theatre for an extended run, November 10 to December 18.
Charly grew up in the Hamilton's working class north end, in a neigh-bourhood where there were 10,000 Sicilians, all from the same town of Racalmuto. And back in Racalmuto, there were only 8,000 left.
For years, Charly told stories, punctuated by his virtuoso blues harmonica, of his weird and wonderful family coping with life in a new country. At Artword's Festival of the Human Voice in 1995, he put the stories together into the show called Cu'Fu (So Who Did It?).

In 1996, he returned with an expanded version for a two-month run in Artword's former 60-seat theatre. It was Artword's most-loved show, with families and friends coming back again and again with ever-larger groups - Sicilians and Italians, for sure, but you don't have to be Sicilian to love Cu'Fu. Everybody loved it.
Then Charly hit the road. From Whitehorse to Edmonton, to Vancouver and all over Ontario, Cu'Fu has entranced audiences. He had outgrown Artword's little 60-seat theatre.
So we built a bigger, better one, with 150 soft, comfortable seats, and a huge art gallery lobby. A lovely, inviting, friendly space. And Charly came home.

"Chiarelli is a master storyteller with boundless energy. . . . His stories are hugely entertaining."
Greg Burliuk, Kingston Whig Standard

"Chiarelli's charm is the strength of the show, as is his mean blues harmonica playing."
Jon Kaplan, Now

"Touching and bittersweet . . . delightful and entertaining."
(Corriere Canadese) Tandem