Reviews

The Light in the Piazza

Christine Andreas and company give memorable performances in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical.

Christine Andreas inThe Light in the Piazza
(© Joan Marcus)
Christine Andreas in
The Light in the Piazza
(© Joan Marcus)

What has made composer Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’ Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza, which has just begun its national tour this month at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, so seemingly unconventional is that it is so very conventional. Without a touch of cynicism, the show tells a relatively simple love story — boy finds girl, obstacles ensue, love rises to the occasion to conquer all — using a clean musical score. Essentially, Piazza is a variation of the same time-tested formula that Guettel’s famous grandfather, Richard Rodgers, relied upon to create his stream of Broadway blockbusters. In doing so, it dances a lovely tango between the traditional and the modern.

Based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer, Piazza tells the story of Margaret Johnson (Christine Andreas) and her daughter Clara (Elena Shaddow), a tightly-knit duo from Winston-Salem, North Carolina traveling abroad in Florence, Italy during the summer of 1953. Their relationship starts to become unraveled when Fabrizio Naccarelli (David Burnham), a dashing young man who speaks barely a lick of English, becomes enamored with Clara.

This burgeoning relationship, for reasons that become more obvious as the musical progresses, is a double-edged sword for Margaret. “You have no idea what it does to me to see her happy like this,” she says directly to the audience, upon witnessing her daughter’s delirious love. The line is a great example of Lucas’ often clever writing, which is often called upon to deliver the plot’s numerous twists.

At times, however, the storyline becomes rather over-the-top and Lucas overdoes his reliance on Italian stereotypes for comic relief. Moreover, there are few gigantic numbers characteristic of traditional musical theater. “Aiutami,” the song that begins Act II, is perhaps the production’s most robust number, and features the entire Naccarelli family at home, succinctly choreographed so that their actions replicate some of the world’s most famous paintings.

As Margaret, the charming, yet overbearing Southern matron who keeps an obsessively watchful eye over her daughter, the stunning Andreas is so charismatic and confident that it is hard to imagine the actress didn’t originate the role on Broadway, Sadly, on opening night, her vocals did not shine as they should have. In her first-act solo “Dividing Day,” she fell flat in key places and some of the song’s more demanding upper range came off as shrill rather than crisp. Meanwhile, “Fable” the show’s shattering closing number, didn’t deliver the punch it should have. Shaddow is appropriately delightful as Clara, and her rapport with Burnham (who understudied the role of Fabrizio on Broadway, going on many times), is infectious and undeniably magnetic. The play’s supporting actors and actresses are equally memorable.

Fashionistas should fall down on their knees before costume designer Catharine Zuber, who has delivered one of the best-dressed casts in a very long time. Her costumes, which are highly evocative of the show’s 1953 setting, are as buzz-worthy as the actual performances. The same goes for Michael Yeargan’s elegant, albeit sparse, set design. They come together to deliver an aesthetic that is nearly edible.

Piazza raises the bar for touring productions in its levels of accomplishments. It’s a welcome addition to both the San Francisco and national musical theater scenes.