This post begins with the fractal called Spinz 10. I picked it because the show is something of a lemon and it laid a complete egg. If that gives you an idea of what I think of the show (as if the review title didn’t!) then you are probably right.
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I always go into a show planning to enjoy it: sometimes it’s harder than others (Starlight Express was particularly difficult for a number of reasons best not discussed here). But I have to admit, I went into The Light in the Piazza (we saw the Matinee Saturday May 5) with a bit of a troubled heart: what I’d heard of the plot really disturbed me.
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Here’s the story in a nutshell . . . Margaret Johnson is escorting her simply beautiful (and simple) daughter Clara on a tour of Italy. In a certain piazza in Florence they meet (thanks to a wonderful bit of stagecraft) Fabrizio Nacarelli--a handsome young Florentine who falls instantly and madly in love with Clara (as only an Italian man can do--especially in a Broadway show) and Clara is smitten as well. Margaret (who, of course, hasn’t told her daughter that she’s not quite all there) at first tries to thwart the romance but eventually gives in and supports the relationship after Clara throws a complete fit and acts like a brat.. Complications ensue--Signior Nacarelli was unfaithful to his wife and has problems with Clara’s age (she 26, Fabrizio has just turned 20) but eventually the marriage takes place and--the show ends.
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There’s a word--verisimilitude--that often comes into play when watching Broadway Musicals (and summer blockbusters for that matter) in which the audience buys into the reality of the show--at least for a while. The “willing suspension of disbelief” allows them to enjoy the show even when the situation is so completely implausible that it could NEVER happen in the real world. I couldn’t do that with this show: I wanted to, I tried--really I did, but it just didn’t happen
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WARNING!!! The paragraph below contains major plot spoilers! Anyone expecting to see the show should skip it if they want to be surprised.
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Yes, the action takes place in 1953--a simpler time where the realities of mental retardation weren’t so well known but I just couldn’t buy the fact that Margaret failed to disclose Clara’s “condition” to the Nacarellis. (Her reasons--Clara is “blossoming”, Margaret wants to give Clara “hope” and wants someone to “take care” of Clara after her parents are gone just don’t wash with me. I’m sorry--this is simply a recipe for disaster. Margaret in effect "sells" her daughter for $15,000 and that didn't go down well with me at all.
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Maybe I’d have liked the show better if it had been better. The set is pretty, the costumes are pretty, the music is pretty (even though you are forgetting it even as you are listening) and prettily performed. The pit band only had five members but they used different instruments than what you usally hear (violin, harp and cello) that made for a lush, creamy sound.
-
I always go into a show planning to enjoy it: sometimes it’s harder than others (Starlight Express was particularly difficult for a number of reasons best not discussed here). But I have to admit, I went into The Light in the Piazza (we saw the Matinee Saturday May 5) with a bit of a troubled heart: what I’d heard of the plot really disturbed me.
-
Here’s the story in a nutshell . . . Margaret Johnson is escorting her simply beautiful (and simple) daughter Clara on a tour of Italy. In a certain piazza in Florence they meet (thanks to a wonderful bit of stagecraft) Fabrizio Nacarelli--a handsome young Florentine who falls instantly and madly in love with Clara (as only an Italian man can do--especially in a Broadway show) and Clara is smitten as well. Margaret (who, of course, hasn’t told her daughter that she’s not quite all there) at first tries to thwart the romance but eventually gives in and supports the relationship after Clara throws a complete fit and acts like a brat.. Complications ensue--Signior Nacarelli was unfaithful to his wife and has problems with Clara’s age (she 26, Fabrizio has just turned 20) but eventually the marriage takes place and--the show ends.
-
There’s a word--verisimilitude--that often comes into play when watching Broadway Musicals (and summer blockbusters for that matter) in which the audience buys into the reality of the show--at least for a while. The “willing suspension of disbelief” allows them to enjoy the show even when the situation is so completely implausible that it could NEVER happen in the real world. I couldn’t do that with this show: I wanted to, I tried--really I did, but it just didn’t happen
-
WARNING!!! The paragraph below contains major plot spoilers! Anyone expecting to see the show should skip it if they want to be surprised.
-
Yes, the action takes place in 1953--a simpler time where the realities of mental retardation weren’t so well known but I just couldn’t buy the fact that Margaret failed to disclose Clara’s “condition” to the Nacarellis. (Her reasons--Clara is “blossoming”, Margaret wants to give Clara “hope” and wants someone to “take care” of Clara after her parents are gone just don’t wash with me. I’m sorry--this is simply a recipe for disaster. Margaret in effect "sells" her daughter for $15,000 and that didn't go down well with me at all.
-
Maybe I’d have liked the show better if it had been better. The set is pretty, the costumes are pretty, the music is pretty (even though you are forgetting it even as you are listening) and prettily performed. The pit band only had five members but they used different instruments than what you usally hear (violin, harp and cello) that made for a lush, creamy sound.
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Christine Andreas does the best she can with the thankless role of Margaret. Katie Ross Clarke (reprising the role she originated on Broadway) is nothing short of gorgeous and she has a beautiful Soprano voice. David Burnham displays a fine tenor voice and gets to chew the scenery as Fabrizio. The rest of the cast is adequate but leave about as much of an impression as the rest of the show--which is to say not much. Who knows? Maybe this is the “chick flick” of Broadway Shows: as we were walking out I heard several men making negative comments about the plot. (Oddly enough I didn’t hear a lot of positive comments from the distaff side but that’s just me.) All in all The Light in the Piazza isn’t a complete dog but it sure is a puppy.
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FINAL GRADE: D-
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