Charly Chiarelli identified instantly with what he was talking about.

While Benigni is Italian, Chiarelli is a Sicilian. Both storytellers have a profound gift for siphoning joy from histories of struggle.

Cu’Fu? means "so who did it?" and is a collection of stories that the Hamilton native describes as "an accident waiting to happen". Chiarelli thought of himself first and foremost as a harmonica player but little did he know his personal experiences of growing up in Steele Town could land him a four-week run at Toronto’s Artword Theatre.

"I only meant to perform it once," explains Chiarelli. "But all the ingredients for making it happen were there. I thought it was just sitting on the veranda and shooting the sh*t with your friends. I didn’t realize the relevance a life has to the universality that can be extruded from a very personal story. It’s the crossroads between my culture, my harmonica playing and my desire to make a comment about the different stratas of society."

His accounts depict a Sicilian family’s struggle in a strange land. While some newcomers prospered, Chiarelli’s family faltered. His father soon took ill after arriving in Canada which ultimately put the family on the skids. Poverty, welfare, hospitals and death can force a young person to grow up almost overnight.

When Cu’Fu? aches for compassion, it delivers comedic cheer. Life may cheat some of privilege but Chiarelli always took it on the chin.

"Audiences that come to see it are surprised by the lack of angst. [But] it’s a reflection that there wasn’t angst in my life," he affirms. "It’s not so much they want to see the story in a bitter perspective. It’s making them look at their own lives and say ‘Where’s the joy? Why aren’t I reflecting it?’"

The harmonica prodigy kicks out a foot-stomping blues bonanza to break up the tender anecdotes. While paying homage to traditional numbers including "Sciuri Sciuri", "La Tarentella", and "Bo Laddi Bo", Chiarelli dispenses ferocious air into his silver companion to create an authentic Mississippi Delta persona inside the 150-seat theatre.

Take note, the storyteller/musician wants theatregoers to exit with more than just a few notes to hum on their way out.

"Perspective," Chiarelli adds. "And I want them to take home the fact that I’m using my Sicilianism as my model for these struggles and joys. And that we are all strangers in a strange place. We’ve all come from somewhere else."