In TuttoDante, which means "Everything About Dante," the actor-director "recites and ingeniously expounds verse from Dante Alighieri's 'Divine Comedy,'" according to the industry paper.

Benigni, who has performed the stage work in London, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Athens, will bring the show to San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall (May 26), New York's Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom (May 30), Boston's Berklee Performing Center (June 6) and Chicago's Harris Theater (June 12).

The recitation of "Divine Comedy" is preceded by a stand-up routine based on current events. Benigni will perform most of the show in English for U.S. audiences, although the verses of Inferno's Fifth Canto "will be performed in the original medieval Italian with English subtitles projected on a screen," according to Variety.

About TuttoDante, Benigni joked, "I feel it's sort of like Jim Carrey coming to Rome to recite Walt Whitman."

He added, "Dante is not just classical. He comprises all styles. It's like hearing Bach and Jimi Hendrix. There is rock, rap; it's a universal language."