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Steve Galluccio
Steve Galluccio
Born	October 9, 1960 (age 64); Montreal, Quebec
Occupation	playwright, screenwriter
Language	English, Français, Italiano
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	Concordia University
Period	1990s-present
Notable works	Mambo Italiano, Funkytown
Spouse	Yves Dionne (? - 2020)

Steve Galluccio (born October 9, 1960) is a Canadian screenwriter and playwright, most noted for his play Mambo Italiano and its feature film adaptation Mambo Italiano.^[1]

Background

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec to immigrant parents from Italy, Galluccio studied translation at Concordia University.^[2] His first theatrical play, My Mom Was on the Radio, premiered at the Quebec Drama Festival in 1990.^[3] He followed up with a number of plays on the fringe festival circuit, including She's the Queen,^[4] Sex, Lies and Brian Mulroney,^[5] The Brady Bunch: The Hidden Episode,^[2] Peter 'n Paul Get Mary'd,^[6] Sexual Success in Montreal,^[2] Batman and Robin: The Untold Story and What's Alice Doing in the Freezer?

Mambo Italiano

In the late 1990s Galluccio wrote Mambo Italiano, a semi-autobiographical comedy about a young man in Montreal who comes out as gay to his Italian-Canadian family. Although the play was originally written in English, a French translation by Michel Tremblay was produced by Montreal's Théâtre Jean-Duceppe in 2000, in advance of its English premiere at Centaur Theatre in 2001.^[7] The play was one of the most successful and popular productions in the history of both theatre companies, with the runs repeatedly extended due to its popularity; a production was also mounted at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto in 2003.^[8]

By 2002, the film adaptation was in the works;^[9] directed by Émile Gaudreault, the film premiered in 2003 in both English and French versions.^[10] The film was acted primarily in English and then dubbed into French; as most of its cast were fluently bilingual residents of Montreal, most actors were able to dub their own parts.^[10] It went on to be one of the most internationally successful films in Canadian film history, and the theatrical version became one of the most widely produced Canadian plays of the 21st century.^[11]

Later work

His subsequent credits include the films Surviving My Mother (Comment survivre à sa mère),^[12] Funkytown,^[13] and Little Italy,^[14] the television series Ciao Bella,^[15] and the theatrical plays In Piazza San Domenico^[16] and The St. Leonard Chronicles.^[17]

He has also been involved in the writing and composition of music for his film soundtracks. He received two Genie Award nominations for Best Original Song, for Mambo Italiano's "Montréal Italiano" at the 24th Genie Awards in 2004,^[18] and for Funkytown's "Waiting for Your Touch" at the 32nd Genie Awards in 2012.^[19]

In 2012 he published Montréal à la Galluccio, a tourist guide to the city's cafés, restaurants, bars and other cultural amenities, in collaboration with photographer Mathieu Dupuis.^[20]

His theatrical play At the Beginning of Time received an online reading from Centaur Theatre in 2020.^[21] The premiere for "At the Beginning of Time" opens at Centaur Theatre directed by renowned Canadian director Peter Hinton-Davis.^[22] The show features set designed by Michael Gianfrancesco with paintings by Montreal artist Daniel Barkley ^[23]

In 2021 he participated in translating the scripts for Entre deux draps, a Quebec television comedy series, into English for the adaptation Pillow Talk.^[24]

Personal life

Galluccio is openly gay.^[25] His husband, Yves Dionne, died of Alzheimer's disease in 2020,^[21] and the challenges of their relationship after his diagnosis form part of the basis for At the Beginning of Time.^[25]

References

^ Matthew Hays, "His Big Fat Canadian Hit: Montreal writer Steve Galluccio's gay family comedy Mambo Italiano is a runaway success onstage-and the movie version is due out soon". The Advocate, February 4, 2003.
^ ^a ^b ^c Alan Hustak, "Steve Galluccio". The Canadian Encyclopedia, December 21, 2009.
^ Pat Donnelly, "Quebec Drama Festival moving toward more offbeat, quality fare". Montreal Gazette, April 21, 1990.
^ Pat Donnelly, "Young blood keeps anglo theatre alive; Drama-program grads are staying in Quebec, founding troupes". Montreal Gazette, July 18, 1992.
^ Bill Brownstein, "Wacky fringe play Sex, Lies and Brian Mulroney is a love story for the '90s". Montreal Gazette, December 5, 1992.
^ "Peter 'n' Paul Get Mary'd at Geordie Theatre Space". Montreal Gazette, November 17, 1995.
^ Mike Regenstreif, "Mambo Italiano comes to Centaur: Galluccio's hit opens Sept. 25; Chekhov starts season at Saidye Bronfman Centre". Montreal Gazette, September 1, 2001.
^ Richard Ouzonian, "His big fat Italian comedy ; Steve Galluccio tickled by Mambo Italiano success Montreal smash comedy opens at Elgin this week". Toronto Star, January 9, 2003.
^ Matt Radz, "Mambo even better second time around: Toronto gig, film version on the way. Tale of growing up gay and Italian gathers stomping, whistling, hooting approval". Montreal Gazette, November 9, 2002.
^ ^a ^b Brendan Kelly, "Make way for movie Mambo". Montreal Gazette, May 7, 2003.
^ Matt Radz, "Mambo's back and impossible to dislike". Montreal Gazette, December 4, 2004.
^ Bernard Pérusse, "Mothers and daughters and tangled webs they weave". Montreal Gazette, August 30, 2007.
^ Nelson Wyatt, "'Funkytown' tracks the rise and fall of disco divas in searing film: 'Funkytown' is the dark side of disco". Canadian Press, January 27, 2011.
^ "That's amore; Emma Roberts taps into feel good rom-com love in Little Italy". Sudbury Star, September 1, 2018.
^ Gayle MacDonald, "Laughing in both official languages". The Globe and Mail, October 20, 2004.
^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "Nuttier than a bowl of spumoni". The Globe and Mail, October 15, 2009.
^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "On the Montreal stage, the secrets come out as the alcohol goes in". The Globe and Mail, November 3, 2013.
^ Katherine Monk, "Quirky coke-snorting doctor drama edges out Oscar-winning film in Genie nominations". CanWest News Service, March 16, 2004.
^ "The complete list of 2012 Genie nominations". The Globe and Mail, January 17, 2012.
^ Brendan Kelly, "'A love letter to Montreal'; Steve Galluccio takes readers on a lively tour of some of the places that make our town so different". Montreal Gazette, April 30, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Jim Burke, "Mambo Italiano's Steve Galluccio pays tribute to late husband in new play". Montreal Gazette, October 19, 2020.
^ "An audience with Steve Gallucio". Fugues (magazine), Jan 30, 2023.
^ "At the Beginning of Time: Set Painting by Daniel Barkley". Centaur Theatre, Vimeo, Feb 4, 2023.
^ Marc-André Lemieux, "Pillow Talk: Un copié-collé d'Entre deux draps". La Presse, February 7, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Marilla Steuter-Martin, "Italian-Montrealer Steve Galluccio takes on love and loss in new play dedicated to his late husband". CBC News, October 21, 2020.