An Original Canadian Music-Theatre Work Created by Loredana Cunti.
SHOCKING TRUE EVENTS • ICONIC ITALIAN SONG • ICE CREAM
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The Experience
Based on shocking true events of Italian emigrants destined for North America but deceived and stranded on the shores of Scotland and Wales, NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM: THE MUSICAL is a joyous music-theatre experience of love, legacy and the bittersweet taste of dreams gone cold.
In the early 1900s, 16-year-old Caterina leaves Naples to join her fiancé in Canada, only to fall victim to a shipping scam that leaves her abandoned on the rugged shores of Scotland. Armed with nothing but a pouch of her Nonna's precious cocoa, she churns hardship into survival, hoping to keep her dream alive.
When a kind-hearted local fisherman offers her a new future, Caterina must choose: will she let go of the dream she set sail for? Or will she embrace the unexpected life now within reach.
Blending English-language storytelling with iconic Italian song, the 65-minute performance features soaring soprano, accordion, classical guitar and organetto, culminating in a celebratory gelato reception.
From the Creator
My parents left Italy in the 1960s with little more than courage and a dream. Neapolitan Ice Cream: The Musical is a love letter to that journey — woven from the songs my Nonna sang and the heritage and stories I want my children to know. My hope is that second, third, and fourth generations will be inspired to embrace and preserve what their families carried across an ocean. At its heart, it is a story about reinvention — and the belief that even when the life we dreamed doesn't come true, a new life is still possible. And that even in the hardest of times, joy can be found
in something as simple as a scoop of ice cream.
— Loredana Cunti, Creator & Librettist
Meet the Artists
Creator & Librettist
Loredana Cunti
Accordionist
Michael Bridge
Soprano
Reilly Bianchi-Nelson
Guitarist
Tonino Chiodo
For Producers & Presenting Partners
TRACK RECORD: 4 SOLD-OUT / AT-CAPACITY PERFORMANCES
NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM: THE MUSICAL is currently in development and actively seeking co-producers, presenting partners, and venue programmers to bring this story to wider audiences across Canada and beyond.
The 65-minute travelling production combines monologue, musical underscore, song, and rich visual projections, and is designed for travelling, smaller venues, festivals, and community events.
With a four-person cast and flexible staging, the production is designed to tour efficiently while appealing to Italian Canadian communities, multicultural audiences, classical music lovers, and musical theatre audiences alike.
The full production is a larger-scale work featuring tenor and crossover repertoire, where the musicians step into the story as characters.
Archive, lead sheets, and expanded production libretto including dialogue and full song list is available upon request.
Loredana Cunti at Loreworks Ltd. is producing and brings more than thirty years of international film, television, and children's entertainment production experience to the project along with longstanding relationships across Canada's cultural, festival and media communities.
If you are interested in presenting, co-producing, or partnering, we would love to hear from you.
PRODUCTION OVERVIEW
• 65-minute chamber-scale production
• English-language storytelling
• World-famous Italian songs & arias
• Rich visual projections
• Four acclaimed Canadian artists
• Immersive post-show organetto gelato reception
• Early Critical and Audience Acclaim
Preview Performance Highlights, October 2025
