The Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre will hold its next Live and Local event ‘Once Upon a Time in Italy’ tomorrow evening at 7pm.

The free show is developed by Italian musician and educator Giovanni ‘Nanni’ Calandro and is the pilot show before a bigger production next year.

The show will take the audience on an audio-visual journey through the golden age of iconic Italian cinema from the 1950s to 1970s.

Images will be accompanied by live music by Mr Calandro’s band, which includes local musicians Scott Maxwell, Gavin Clarke, Jodi Swiggs and Isaac Bruggemann.

Mr Calandro said he was excited to bring the show to Mount Gambier and said he used to spend lots of time watching old Italian movies with his grandfather.

“I am an immigrant and I think the best way to integrate into a new culture is to show something about yourself,” he said.

“So this is not something I am doing just for pleasure because I like it, but also because I think the best way for me to be a part of a new community is to show something about myself.”

Mr Maxwell believed a show like Once Upon a Time in Italy was exactly what the community needed.

“We need people like Giovanni to share these types of stories to bring the wide world into our community,” he said.

“It would not matter if the audience just sat there and just closed their eyes and zoned out and had the cinema screen behind their eyelids.”