[NEohioPAL]Berko review: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (Playhouse Square)

[Roy Berko]

A dim ‘LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA’ at the Palace

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

A rather surprising thing happened at the Palace
Theatre in Playhouse Square on the opening night of
the touring production of ‘THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. 
During the curtain call following the show, no one
stood up.  Yes, it was Cleveland, Ohio, the home of
the automatic standing ovation, and nary a soul jumped
out of a seat!

‘THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA,’ Craig Lucas and Adam
Guettel’s musical, based on the novel by Elizabeth
Spencer, tells the story of a mother ((Margaret)  and
daughter (Clara) traveling through Italy, the
daughter's romance with a Florentine (Fabrizio), and
the mother's determined efforts to keep the two apart.
  

Margaret is in a loveless marriage and has brought her
daughter to Florence, home of art and beauty, to
escape the mother’s reality and flashback to a happier
time. Clara was kicked in the head as a child by an
errant pony at a birthday party.  Though she has the
body of a woman, she has the emotions of a 10-year
old.  Fabrizio is a twenty-year old Italian who, in a
chance meeting, falls in love with Clara.  As happens
in all good soap operas, true love wins out in the
end.

The show garnered six 2005 Tony Awards.  The score by
Adam Guettel, who is the grandson of Richard Rogers of
‘SOUND OF MUSIC’ fame, has been praised for its
ability to create the mood of falling in love and
evoking strong emotional feelings.  

So, with all these positives, why did the touring
production receive luke-warm applause from the less
than sold-out opening night audience?  
	•Maybe it was the fact that the play is an intimate
experience, which was nurtured by the small New York
theatre in which it was performed, while it was lost
in the vastness of the Palace.  
	•Maybe it was because the role of Margaret was
portrayed by Jane Brockman, an understudy who gave a
stiff, one-dimensional veneer to the character and had
only an acceptable singing voice.  
	•Maybe it was because the score, in spite of the
superlatives that have been used to describe it,
doesn’t have a single hummable or memorable song.  
	•Maybe it was because the soap-opera/melodramatic
story line didn’t evoke the emotional response in the
audience that it should have because the show is
almost more operetta than musical theatre.  In fact,
this show may have given life to a new format in
theatre, the soap operetta.  
	•Maybe because the show failed to live up to the
image of the traditional musical.  There is no dancing
or show stopper in this vehicle, no message to carry
from the theatre..

That is not to say there are not highlights in the
production.  Handsome David Burnham has a strong and
well-trained operatic voice and develops a
well-textured Fabrizio.  And, as Clara, Elena Shadow
is totally believable as the waif-like woman/child. 
She has a lovely singing voice.  The duo are worth
seeing.

The full orchestra was excellent.  The sets and
costumes quite acceptable.

Capsule judgment:  Don’t Go To See ‘THE LIGHT IN THE
PIAZZA’ with the expectation of being “blown away.” 
It is a pleasant diversion which never reaches the
level of expectation of a six Tony Award winner.

‘THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA’ runs through January 28 at
the Palace Theatre in Playhouse Square.  For tickets
call 216-241-6000, 800-766-6048 or go on line to
www.playhousesquare.com.


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2006, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.  His dance reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


 
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