After moving thousands of spectators in France, the musical “Bernadette of Lourdes” is now arriving on the Italian stage. Inspired by the official transcripts from Bernadette of Soubirous' interrogations, the musical tells the real story of an ordinary girl who claimed to have seen something extraordinary.

Bringing together Catholic and non-Catholic producers and actors, the musical aims at going beyond religious beliefs to touch upon universal themes such as authenticity, truth, and resilience, in order to make the show accessible for all.

Roberto Ciurleo, co-producer of the musical “Bernadette of Lourdes,” told EWTN Vatican, “To tell you the truth, I owe it all to my grandmother, who had a devotion to Lourdes, who often went to Lourdes, and who used to talk to me about Lourdes all the time. I didn't know much about Lourdes, but I had this very strong bond with my grandmother. One day we did a workshop for a show called Robin Hood with twenty or so artists a few miles from Lourdes, and that's when I said to Éléonore de Galard, my associate: Listen, I’m going to leave the Robin Hood troupe here and I'm going to surprise my grandmother, I'm going to go to Lourdes and pray for her. And when I announced this to the troupe, they all said ‘No, no, we are coming with you.’”

Éléonore de Galard, co-producer of the musical “Bernadette of Lourdes,” regarding this story also commented, “So they decided to come too. We met up one evening in November. It was dark, it was raining. Lourdes was empty, it was sordid. We all found ourselves in front of the grotto, and despite the terrible weather conditions, we spent an absolutely extraordinary moment together. Even though, once again, there were no believers in our group and people who weren't necessarily devoted to Lourdes, we spent some time there together and everyone left a bit shaken up. We all had dinner together and started to tell the story of Bernadette and realized that there was a fantastic story to be told.”

As its name suggests, the musical “Bernadette of Lourdes” tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, at the age of 14, the little shepherdess had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary in the nearby Massabielle grotto. According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 clothed in a white robe with a blue sash; who had yellow roses covering her feet and a large rosary on her right arm. On March 25 she told the young, poor, and uneducated girl: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Since 1858, thousands of pilgrims have come to the grotto of Lourdes every year, seeking a cure for their illnesses and asking for the intercession of Our Lady. 

Ciurleo further explained the origins of this musical, saying, “And after this moment in front of the grotto, we went to discuss the character and life of Bernadette, and one of the authors of Robin Hood said to me, ‘this story is incredible, it's like Les Misérables, you should make a musical of it.’ And Éléonore de Galard, my associate, said: ‘Listen, if Robin Hood is a success, maybe we’ll owe it to this moment in front of the grotto and we’ll have to give thanks,’ it so came to be that Robin Hood was a huge a success: we had a million spectators in 8 months. And we kept our promise, our word, but not without difficulties.”

Despite the producers’ fervent enthusiasm, the musical faced significant obstacles. The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns hindered progress, and skepticism from the public posed additional challenges.

“It's has been 10 years of challenges,” Ciurleo told EWTN Vatican, “In fact, there were a lot of obstacles, and whenever we were moving forward all at once, we were somehow always blocked. They didn't want us in Lourdes, the sanctuary did not really want us there either at first, and nor did the town. Some people said that they had heard too much about the story already. But even with all these obstacles, we somehow made it.”

De Galard, regarding the Italian production, shared that, “Currently the main challenge is to find good actors and the right production team that is going to work with us, but mainly good actors, because finding a Bernadette who wants to take on this role, which is a magnificent but difficult role to carry on one's shoulders, is not easy. But we found Gaia, a fantastic young girl, whom we are very happy to see join the cast, as will soon be revealed.

Gaia di Fusco, the actress playing Bernadette, shared her apprehension about taking on such an important role, saying, “When I joined this production, I realized that the role they had given me was really an important role [...] Initially, before knowing this character, I was a little bit intimidated by her, but after watching the French performances I realized that she is a girl [...] like any girl who got to see a light, something special, and what set her apart was her courage in imposing herself in a difficult society.”

In the musical, producers and actors find parallels between Bernadette's struggles and those of people today, regardless of their religious beliefs. In fact, they all agreed, similarly to how people are today subject to rumors, disbelief, and hostility, Bernadette's narrative remains profoundly relevant to any audience, regardless of their faith.

Ciurleo noted, “What's most important is that the show is not a show by Catholics for Catholics, since the director himself is not a believer, but he went to Lourdes and saw the written transcriptions of the interrogations. Every time Bernadette was questioned, the interrogations were transcribed. In fact, the strength of the show lies in the fact that it tells the story of a young girl from the most underprivileged background as possible, who was ill, who didn’t speak French, but who is going to have a destiny for herself, but above all for others.”

Underneath her sanctity, the producers agreed, Bernadette is after all only a little girl. But not just any little girl. She was a girl who saw something extraordinary, a girl who believed in what she saw and a girl who stood up for what she believed in.

Adapted by Jacob Stein