The Light In The Piazza: Lush Romance Returns to Broadway

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to announce that lush, romantic musical theatre has returned to Broadway. In the past few seasons, Broadway has been doing especially well with musical comedy and lighthearted fun. That's great. Keep it up. But what's been seriously lacking is a new musical filled with real live grown-up romance. The kind that recognizes the bitterness that goes hand in hand with the sweetness. The kind where happily-ever-after is replaced by
and-they-worked-really-hard-to-try-and-make-it-work. The Light in the Piazza not only has a sumptuously textured score by Adam Guettel and a charming, but knowing book by Craig Lucas, but director Bartlett Sher has swirled all the creative elements together in a production as crisp and breezy as gusts of burnt autumn leaves. It's the kind if musical that sends you out of the theatre hoping for a bit of a spring shower so that you and your date can huddle under a single umbrella as you walk past the Lincoln Center reflecting pool on your way to the subway.

Based on Elizabeth Spencer's novella, The Light in the Piazza begins with a set-up that was oh-so-popular in the 1950's, the time in which the story takes place; the American tourist looking for love, or finding it unexpectedly, in Europe. While traveling through Florence, Italy with her daughter Clara (Kelli O'Hara), North Carolinian Margaret (Victoria Clark) is able to take a breather from her crumbling marriage. Though in her 20's, a childhood head injury keeps Clara at the emotional level of a 10-year-old, but when handsome, young Florentine Fabrizio (Matthew Morrison) shows an attraction for her, the language barrier between them makes her condition unapparent to him. Though protective of her daughter, and fearing the consequences if her secret is revealed, Margaret eventually encourages a marriage for the young couple and takes steps to ensure her own romantic happiness.

In these days of shrinking Broadway orchestras trying to replicate a larger sound through technology, the ambrosial, string-dominated chamber orchestrations written for fifteen musicians by Guettel and conductor Ted Sperling (additional orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin) are intimate and graceful, supporting a score that effortlessly floats and soars with tingle-inspiring melodiousness. When Italian-speaking characters are among themselves, lyrics are sung in their native language with the music serving as the greater emotional thrust to support the visuals for the English-speaking audience. At other points, even with American characters, lyrics are withdrawn and replaced with ooo-ing and ahhh-ing, expressing pure wordless feeling.

When they do sing in English, Guettel's lyrics are appropriately simple for these characters, most of whom have only a rudimentary knowledge of the language. His best lyrical work comes in a dramatic solo where Margaret uses standard romantic imagery to describe the lovelessness her marriage has dissolved into. Shortly afterward, Fabrizio, in his struggle to communicate with his new lover, sings the most gorgeous line of the season, "I hear the sound of wrap your arms around me."

The three major players all contribute exceptional work. Kelli O'Hara finally gets a chance to play an interesting character on Broadway and proves herself an extremely capable musical actress, but the remarkable ease in which she handles Guettel's flourishing soprano role is what makes her performance especially memorable. Matthew Morrison also gets a first chance to show some serious acting chops on Broadway and delivers realistic youthful warmth and sincerity in both Italian and broken English. As Margaret, Victoria Clark gives a wonderfully subdued performance; the kind you don't normally see done so well in a musical. Carrying the responsibility of not being in the right place to prevent Clara's childhood accident, she internally battles her protective maternal urges with a want for her daughter's happiness. This woman who is accustomed to being in control seems caught off guard at the prospect of her daughter being in love, while developing a sense of her own right to romance.

The supporting cast, featuring a smoothly dignified Mark Harelik as Fabrizio's father, is filled with fine and enjoyable performances.

The physical production is quite simply divine. Catherine Zuber's costumes recall a time when people dressed for travel in their most stylish ensembles and men wore suits for an evening stroll. Michael Yeargan's sets move in lovely synchronism with Guettel's music and suggest the imposing beauty of old Italy without overwhelming. Christopher Akerlind's lights not only create lovely moods, but define emotional boundaries.

Every Broadway season should feature at least one show like The Light in the Piazza, if only to give us a reason to hold hands in the theatre.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Morrison
Center: Victoria Clark
Bottom: Victoria Clark and Mark Harelik