Sneak into the rehearsals of 'Nine' before watching this week's 'Dancing with the Stars' (VIDEO)

"Nine" approaches: Kate Hudson wants you to enjoy some Cinema Italiano.
Photo by David James/The Weinstein Company

The first salvo of the mega publicity campaign for The Weinstein Company's "Nine" is about to hit the airwaves this week on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."  So, how about a little warm-up of Dolce Vita glamor before the show invites its massive TV audience to "Be Italian" on November 17th?

With an Oscar-laden ensemble of actors that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench and Marion Cotillard, TWC is pulling out all the stops to make sure audiences have "Nine's" number this Holiday Film season.

Directed by Rob Marshall, who helmed "Chicago" to Oscar-winning glory, "Nine" also shares that film's Tony-laden pedigree. Itself a musicalization of "8 1/2," Federico Fellini's Oscar-winning classic. Originally staged by Tommy Tune in 1981, a revival in 2003 with Antonio Banderas renewed interest for a big screen version.  In a recent interview with Playbill.com, the show's award-winning composer Maury Yeston (pictured left) talked about reorchestrating "Nine" for the big screen.

"The adaptation of 'Nine the Musical' back into film was a very organic one that made a tremendous amount of sense," Yeston said.  "It was a great opportunity to allow this piece — which had been so cinematic, to begin with — to find again its place in the grammar of cinema. That means things like dissolves, edits, close-ups, lighting effects — things film can do for exposition to get inside the mind.

While shows like "Chicago" and "Dreamgirls" had cinematic hearts, their transfer to the film medium proved a challenge in an era where movie musicals were still considered out of fashion. While both film versions of these shows were able to prove this otherwise, "Nine" is a hothouse flower by comparison.  Despite the retro cool of its trailer, the filmmakers faced a formidable obstacle.  How would they present the story of a European film director having a mid-life crisis set to music and make it relevant to the young audience demographic studios need to assure box office success?

"The greatest sin that you could make in a musical is to make an assumption that the audience knows all this before they come into the theatre," Yeston continued. "Quite the contrary. Why would younger audiences today know about the '60s? You need to give them this information so they can understand the nature of the character of Guido, the nature of his world, that he is the king of Italian cinema."

The rehearsal footage presented below illustrates the point quite clearly.  Surround the leading man with a bevy of gorgeous women? Sure.  But with the current popularity of dance shows giving audiences a new appreciation for the art, why not tap into the youthful foundation responsible for the trend? The result is one of the original songs written by Yeston for the movie, "Cinema Italiano," which is performed with verve by Oscar nominee Kate Hudson ("Almost Famous").

"Therefore, Kate as a Vogue reporter, Yeston added, "American to the core, seduced and enchanted by Guido's work, by his style, by his world — can educate contemporary audiences about this era while celebrating the 1960s. She can tell us everything about what Italian movies meant to the world at that time by singing 'Cinema Italiano,' a production number in which I could pull out all the stops, characterize her, entertain and, at the same time, depict this whole world that we're talking about."

 

"Therefore, Kate as a Vogue reporter — American to the core, seduced and enchanted by Guido's work, by his style, by his world — can educate contemporary audiences about this era while celebrating the 1960s. She can tell us everything about what Italian movies meant to the world at that time by singing 'Cinema Italiano,' a production number in which I could pull out all the stops, characterize her, entertain and, at the same time, depict this whole world that we're talking about."

In rehearsal: The women of "Nine" prepare to entertain you.

And, keep this clip of the original "Be Italian" number in mind when watching "Dancing with the Stars" on November 17th. The show's dancers will perform Marshall's wildly different interpretation of the same song, featuring the choreography and costumes from the film. And, to hear the full version of Stacy Ferguson's performance of "Be Italian," go to the film's website here.