Sem Benelli

Who was Sem Benelli?

Sem Benelli was an Italian playwright, essayist and librettist. He provided the texts for several noted Italian operas, including Italo Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re and L'incantesimo, and Umberto Giordano's La cena delle beffe, based on Benelli's own play of the same title. He was a native of Prato.

The play The Jester's Supper was a great New York theatre success in 1919 under the tile The Jest, starring Lionel and John Barrymore. In Italy a great actress was the best male protagonist of La cena delle beffe: one night in 1913 the leading man collapsed before playing the character of Giannetto, than she took his place achieving resounding success. Ever since Paola Pezzaglia carried on doing the same role again and again.

He wrote the screenplay for the 1942 film The Jester's Supper based on his own famous play.