«If you cure a disease you can win or lose. If you cure a person, you always win.”
Patch Adams’ most famous phrase tells of the thin line between the medicine that cures and the humanity that it accompanies. And it is precisely from this idea that Besta On Stage takes shape once again, the company made up of doctors, nurses, researchers, employees and family members of the Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, ready to return to the stage in the Milanese capital with the musical Dream, a journey to the heart of Africa, scheduled for 9 and 10 May at the Silvestrianum Theater and on 4 June at the Giorgio Gaber Lyric Theatre, where they will be accompanied by the Fanfare of the 1st Air Region of the Air Force.
THEThe show was created with a specific purpose: to raise funds for the Dream project, which Besta carries out in Malawi and Mozambique together with the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Mariani ETS Foundation (aimed at child neurology) to guarantee care and medical training for children and adults suffering from epilepsy. The proceeds from this new production will serve in particular to support the treatment of 150 pregnant women affected by the disease for a year.
For some years Besta On Stage has chosen to transform theater into a different form of proximity. They are not just benefit shows. These are evenings that manage to leave something even for those sitting in the audience: deep questions, real emotions and the feeling that doing good for others ends up doing good for ourselves too.
This year with the Dream project and with the support of CBDIN onlus, an association born within the walls of the infantile neurology of the Milanese institute, the company hopes to replicate the success of the musical Mary Poppins, staged in 2024.
The director and script are directed by Dr. Veronica Redaelli, a neuro-oncologist for twenty-one years at Besta, who has written an unpublished story set in Africa, where seven boys between the ages of 5 and 15, children of the same professionals on stage, embark on a journey to rediscover what has been stolen from them, going through fears, transformations and inner growth.
«Dream was born from a request from Doctor Leone. In the Dream centers everything is missing, especially drugs: this show is dedicated to them”, says Redaelli.
Veronica Redaelli.
Doctor Massimo Leone, a neurologist at the Milanese institute, has been following the project in the field for years. In African centers, epilepsy is not just a neurological pathology, but often a condition that leads to social isolation, exclusion and stigma. The work of Italian doctors consists of training local professionals and building a stable assistance network.
«We doctors, employees and our families help each other as if we were a large extended family. It is an extraordinary relationship that continues after work, during rehearsals and does not end with the debut”, explains the neuro-oncologist.
The music will be led by Professor Fabio Moda, Besta researcher and director of the «Ida Milanesi» choir. A path that makes this project something more than a simple charitable initiative: a way to transform the profession into testimony.
It’s not the first time the company has achieved concrete results. The previous show had made it possible to finance a bioreactor now used for personalized therapies in childhood brain tumors. But this time the journey looks even further ahead.
«Our work is a question of humanity. Perhaps it is also for this reason, in addition to research and professionalism, that we are the sixth neurological institute in the world”, concludes Redaelli. «During the preparation of the show we needed a scenic volcano and, among the many selected, we ended up in a laboratory in Brescia where a technician had been treated by us years ago. Only later, when he offered us part of the work for free, did we discover his story and in that gesture we read something that went beyond simple coincidence. Even so, Dream reminded us that good, sooner or later, always finds a way to return, always finds its way.”
