Staged at the Teatro alla Scala in 1881, the “grand ball” Excelsior was created by Luigi Manzotti, with music by Romualdo Marenco, as a celebration of progress, science and the triumph of light over Obscurantism through eleven scenes that glorify the works and inventions of the time, from the steamboat to the steamship, and from the Suez Canal to the Mont Cenis Tunnel. 
A grand spectacular, a symbol of optimism that was an immediate and enormous success: in 1895 – fourteen years on from its debut – it was already part of the repertoire of the “woodenheads” of Carlo Colla & Figli, brining this symbolically modern work to a wider audience.
«The desire of the puppet world to embrace the grand ballets of La Scala, and the ballet Excelsior in particular”, commented Eugenio Monti Colla, “is not based on imitation or, worse still, satirical mockery. It is, rather, a case of substituting humankind when humans are shown as awkward, banal and false, bent on spreading foolish concepts of fraternity among peoples, scientific progress and universal peace. Puppets can express all these ideas without succumbing to the transitory nature of events or the terrible reality of imperial crusades and bloody international conflict.»

A show recommended for audiences over the age of 10