DRUSILLA FOER, Ho avuto genitori che mi hanno insegnato a non avere pregiudizi su quello che arriva

There was controversy when it was announced that the presenter who would be joining the host on the third evening of the Festival would be DRUSILLA FOER, a travesti actor. But Sanremo revels in controversy and, if it doesn't exist, tries to create it. Beyond that, Drusilla is a perfect character, uniquely intelligent and talented. I've been banned from TV for a few years, so I didn't know Drusilla Foer at all. Then one day Gianni Morandi called me and said he was going to see one of her shows that evening, and not for the first time. He raved about her. So I went to the Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna with my video camera. In her dressing room, before the show, I turned it on. This was the most incomplete interview I've ever done, because I found myself in front of an artist I didn't know, without even having seen her recital. I would have preferred to talk to her afterwards, but it wasn't possible. Drusilla, whose original name is Gianluca Gori, a Florentine actor, is such a well-crafted character that you can't tell whether what she's describing is Drusilla's invention or Gianluca's reality. I think what she told me is true, however: she grew up in Cuba because her father was a diplomat, then "dedicated herself," as she put it, to 1970s New York, where she ran a secondhand clothing store, before arriving in London in the 1980s. She's open to experiences: "My parents taught me not to be prejudiced about what comes from outside, so to have an opinion on what you witness, you have to be open." She demonstrated an extraordinary knowledge of music, citing among her favorites names unknown to most, like Judas Priest and Diamanda Galas. Her recital "Eleganzissima," and Gianni Morandi was right, is truly captivating. She recounts her life, punctuating the stories with songs that have been part of it. Surely, on the Sanremo stage, she will be the best of all the presenters who will have accompanied the host.