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Hope vs. fear in Florence
"Light in the Piazza' by PTC (1st review)
Steve Cohen
The Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of The Light in the Piazza is a unique accomplishment. While this organization has done notable work with some world premieres, this enterprise is, in its way, an even more difficult feat.
The Light in the Piazza, you see, attracted attention for the look of its spacious 2005 New York production on the very deep and thrusting stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center. The PTC confronted the task of adapting the piece to the much smaller and conventional shape of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre stage. For this difficult job, PTC's Sarah Garonzik called on Joe Calarco, who previously had performed logistical magic with another musical that debuted at Lincoln Center, William Finn's Elegies.
The Light in the Piazza is a gentle story about fragile people. A North Carolina mother takes her daughter Clara on a vacation to Italy. In Florence, Clara and a young Italian boy fall in love. The mother wants to keep them apart because Clara has been mentally and emotionally handicapped since an accident when she was 12. The mother is afraid to leave her daughter unsupervised. The boy's family is also opposed to a marriage, for a different and surprising reason. Hope dispels fears and love conquers doubts for a happy ending.
Even though many of the lyrics are Italian, as the story takes place in Italy, this is far from an operatic presentation"“ but it does require voices with operatic range.
A different musical standard
In the old days, a Broadway score would be judged by its hit tunes. An Irving Berlin or a Richard Rodgers show would impress by how many of its songs could be sung on the way out of the theater. This is not the way to assess an Adam Guettel score. His lyrics and music for The Light in the Piazza capture human characteristics that are innately Florentine: the artistic, the romantic and the bureaucratic. Guettel eschews the "hook" concept, whereby a title and a musical phrase are repeated until they're hammered into the consciousness of listeners. Instead, he creates a lush tapestry of subtle sound.
This is the fourth Guettel musical that I've seen, and each creates its own unique musical language. The one common characteristic among his Floyd Collins, Myths and Hymns, Love's Fire and The Light in the Piazza is a musical yearning for something that seems to be beyond reach. Guettel uses a palette that's more extended than other theater composers, with unexpected leaps of melody and harmonies. His score connects cleanly to our emotions, so directly that Guettel sometimes omits words altogether and has his characters vocalize with "ah" sounds as the melodies soar.
The Light in the Piazza was originally arranged for a good-sized orchestra by Guettel, Bruce Coughlin and Ted Sperling. Here Guettel and Sperling have reconfigured the musical as a smaller chamber piece.
The fragile heroine
Sherri L. Edelen, who plays Clara's mother Margaret, has impressed us before (in PTC's Elegies), and here she rises to new stature that compares with the best talent on Broadway. As Clara, Whitney Bashor is a new name to us and just what the part calls for— slender, blonde and beautiful— and she adds a fragility that even surpasses what Kelli O'Hara supplied at Lincoln Center. Matthew Scott portrays Fabrizio sympathetically, with a good tenor voice.
Charles Pistone is perfection as the Italian father, while Philadelphia favorite Fran Prisco is excellent as the suave brother. Kyra Miller supplies beauty and a gorgeous voice as the brother's tempestuous wife, and Maureen Torsney-Weir adds to her list of fine theatrical accomplishments as the Italian mother.
Colarco's direction moves some of the action out into the auditorium, and he keeps the stage swirling with moving arches as well as diaphanous curtains that the actors pull across the back wall. This is a great re-interpretation.
Eric Ebbenga deserves kudos for precise and lovely execution of the score by the cast and by his small instrumental ensemble. My only quibble is that the orchestra is backstage, and its amplified sound almost sounds like it is a pre-recording. Couldn't the players be placed at the side of the auditorium, costing the loss of only a few seats?♦
To read another review by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read responses, click here.
The Light in the Piazza, you see, attracted attention for the look of its spacious 2005 New York production on the very deep and thrusting stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center. The PTC confronted the task of adapting the piece to the much smaller and conventional shape of the Suzanne Roberts Theatre stage. For this difficult job, PTC's Sarah Garonzik called on Joe Calarco, who previously had performed logistical magic with another musical that debuted at Lincoln Center, William Finn's Elegies.
The Light in the Piazza is a gentle story about fragile people. A North Carolina mother takes her daughter Clara on a vacation to Italy. In Florence, Clara and a young Italian boy fall in love. The mother wants to keep them apart because Clara has been mentally and emotionally handicapped since an accident when she was 12. The mother is afraid to leave her daughter unsupervised. The boy's family is also opposed to a marriage, for a different and surprising reason. Hope dispels fears and love conquers doubts for a happy ending.
Even though many of the lyrics are Italian, as the story takes place in Italy, this is far from an operatic presentation"“ but it does require voices with operatic range.
A different musical standard
In the old days, a Broadway score would be judged by its hit tunes. An Irving Berlin or a Richard Rodgers show would impress by how many of its songs could be sung on the way out of the theater. This is not the way to assess an Adam Guettel score. His lyrics and music for The Light in the Piazza capture human characteristics that are innately Florentine: the artistic, the romantic and the bureaucratic. Guettel eschews the "hook" concept, whereby a title and a musical phrase are repeated until they're hammered into the consciousness of listeners. Instead, he creates a lush tapestry of subtle sound.
This is the fourth Guettel musical that I've seen, and each creates its own unique musical language. The one common characteristic among his Floyd Collins, Myths and Hymns, Love's Fire and The Light in the Piazza is a musical yearning for something that seems to be beyond reach. Guettel uses a palette that's more extended than other theater composers, with unexpected leaps of melody and harmonies. His score connects cleanly to our emotions, so directly that Guettel sometimes omits words altogether and has his characters vocalize with "ah" sounds as the melodies soar.
The Light in the Piazza was originally arranged for a good-sized orchestra by Guettel, Bruce Coughlin and Ted Sperling. Here Guettel and Sperling have reconfigured the musical as a smaller chamber piece.
The fragile heroine
Sherri L. Edelen, who plays Clara's mother Margaret, has impressed us before (in PTC's Elegies), and here she rises to new stature that compares with the best talent on Broadway. As Clara, Whitney Bashor is a new name to us and just what the part calls for— slender, blonde and beautiful— and she adds a fragility that even surpasses what Kelli O'Hara supplied at Lincoln Center. Matthew Scott portrays Fabrizio sympathetically, with a good tenor voice.
Charles Pistone is perfection as the Italian father, while Philadelphia favorite Fran Prisco is excellent as the suave brother. Kyra Miller supplies beauty and a gorgeous voice as the brother's tempestuous wife, and Maureen Torsney-Weir adds to her list of fine theatrical accomplishments as the Italian mother.
Colarco's direction moves some of the action out into the auditorium, and he keeps the stage swirling with moving arches as well as diaphanous curtains that the actors pull across the back wall. This is a great re-interpretation.
Eric Ebbenga deserves kudos for precise and lovely execution of the score by the cast and by his small instrumental ensemble. My only quibble is that the orchestra is backstage, and its amplified sound almost sounds like it is a pre-recording. Couldn't the players be placed at the side of the auditorium, costing the loss of only a few seats?♦
To read another review by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read responses, click here.
What, When, Where
The Light in the Piazza. Book by Craig Lucas; music and lyrics by Adam Guettel; directed by Joe Calarco. Philadelphia Theatre Co. production through December 13, 2009 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St. (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
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