Could two men of such Italian immigrant backgrounds receive a fair trial in 
light of the anti-immigrant social background of the 1920s?  
<http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/Sacco-Vanzetti/sacvan.htm>

Vanzetti:I have suffered [this seven years of prosecution] because I was an 
Italian, and indeed I am an Italian.

But more than an Italian, he was an Idealist, striking back against the 
"Robber Baron" greed mentality of that era.

The "Reforms" that "Sacco & Vanzetti" gave their lives for, that resulted in: 
Social Security, Unemployment, Medicare, Unions, etc., are now "taken for 
granted", as we 
advance (albeit in a zigzag manner) toward an even more "humane" society.
We too must be willing to guard against further Gordon Gecko "Greed is Good" 
Wall Street Baron induced Dot.Bomb/Enron/Gobal Crossing etc. Fiascoes.

Vanzetti:" The evil of the present organization of society,... to oppress the 
simple-minded and idealistic among their fellow men, ... to perpetuate a 
system which enabled (the few) to exploit the many".

Statement by Vanzetti shortly before his Execution: "If it had not been for 
these things, I might have lived out my life talking at street corners to 
scorning men.  I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a failure.  Now we are 
not a failure.  This is our career and our triumph.  Never in our full life 
could we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man's 
understanding of man, as now we do by accident.  Our words--our lives--our 
pains--nothing!  The taking of our lives--lives of a good shoemaker and a 
poor fish-peddler--all! That last moment belongs to us--that agony is our 
triumph." 

Emma Goldman: The real history of progress. Its heroes are not the Napoleons 
and the Bismarcks, not the generals and politicians. Its path is lined with 
the unmarked graves of the Saccos and Vanzettis of humanity.

===========================================
Thanks to LindaAnn Loschiavo at <www.NonstopNY.com>

NYC's Lark Reads Belgian  Sacco and Vanzetti Musical 'The American Dream' 

Christine Ehren, Playbill On-Line 

 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti - the subject of a new musical The 
American Dream - were Italian immigrants and anarchists who, in 1920, found 
themselves framed for a robbery and murder they did not commit. Although the 
defense produced many witnesses who pleaded the men's innocence, Sacco and 
Vanzetti were executed in 1927. This great miscarriage of American justice 
inspired the ire of such writers as John Dos Passos and poet Edna St. Vincent 
Millay, who recognized that Sacco and Vanzetti died for their politics and 
not for any crime. 

Composers, too, have picked up on the story - American operas by Marc 
Blitzstein (The Cradle Will Rock) and Anton Coppola have been performed and 
folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote a famous ballad about the pair. 

But Belgium brings in the first musical about Sacco and Vanzetti, The 
American Dream, written by Dirk Brosse, Frank Van Laecke and Paul Berkenman. 
New York City's Lark Theatre Company reads Tony Giordano and Neil Thomas 
Proto's adaptation of the musical April 4-8 in a BareBones production. 

Giordano directs The American Dream. Featured in the cast are Tom Zemon (Les 
Miserables), Tom Flynn (How to Succeed in Business  Without Really Trying), 
John Antony, Jimmy Demers, Lenora Eve, Kelly Famolaro, Jonathan Hammond, Tom 
Galantich, Lauri Landry, Mark Peters and Wayne Shroder. 

The American Dream, under the title Sacco & Vanzetti, debuted in Belgium in 
October, 1996. Stijn Connix (Oscar nominee for "Daens") directed. Composer 
Brosse and director van Laecke also worked together on the recent musical 
Tintin and the Temple of the Sun. 

BareBones productions are fully-staged with suggestions of set, lighting, 
costumes and music. Recent BareBones stagings have included Pera Palas 
playwright Sinan Unel's Tolstoy's Den, KNEPP, Hilly Hicks Jr.'s A Hole in the 
Dark and David Rambo's Rhinebeck.   

$15 tickets are available by calling (212) 246-2676. The Lark Theatre is 
located at 939 Eighth Avenue and on the web at http://www.larktheatre.org. 

"The Lark supports new voices, not just new plays.  The Lark is a divine 
incubator." David Simpatico