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

Wed Jan 17 10:07:54 PST 2007

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I just love what Roy wrote about a musical not having a single, hummable song.

  That is a problem in musical theatre that no one seems to want to correct.

  Musical theatre professors today pooh-pooh the old classics, the R&H that did have the hummable song, that sold tickets, that enabled the show to be sold in other medium including a movie, sheet music, records (now CDs).

  Last year I read an article on the occasion of Sondheim's 75th birthday.  When he was asked about his songs not being memorable, hummable etc, he scoffed and said that Richard Rodgers wrote a song, then reprised it three or four times.  What's wrong with that?  I dare say one knows a Rodgers waltz better than a Sondheim sixteenth note number.

  Adam Guettel has said in some interviews that he intentionally does not want to follow the path of his grandfather.  Too bad.

  But, I''m not a purist.  I just want musical comedy to flourish for the rest of the century, not for it to go the way of opera.

Roy Berko <royberko at yahoo.com> wrote:
  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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<div>I just love what Roy wrote about a musical not having a single, hummable song.</div> <div> </div> <div>That is a problem in musical theatre that no one seems to want to correct.</div> <div> </div> <div>Musical theatre professors today pooh-pooh the old classics, the R&H that did have the hummable song, that sold tickets, that enabled the show to be sold in other medium including a movie, sheet music, records (now CDs).</div> <div> </div> <div>Last year I read an article on the occasion of Sondheim's 75th birthday.  When he was asked about his songs not being memorable, hummable etc, he scoffed and said that Richard Rodgers wrote a song, then reprised it three or four times.  What's wrong with that?  I dare say one knows a Rodgers waltz better than a Sondheim sixteenth note number.</div> <div> </div> <div>Adam Guettel has said in some interviews that he intentionally does not want to follow the path of his
 grandfather.  Too bad.</div> <div> </div> <div>But, I''m not a purist.  I just want musical comedy to flourish for the rest of the century, not for it to go the way of opera. Roy Berko <royberko at yahoo.com> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/ _____________________________________ Winter classes and workshops at Fairmount Center taught by top pros - Andrew May, Seth Gordon, Tom Fulton, Mitchell B. Fields, Marc Moritz,
 Dana Hart, Lissy Gulick and Arian Steiner. See http://www.fairmountcenter.org/mayfield/theatre.htm for complete details. ______________________________________ Neohiopal is SELF-SERVE. If you need to unsubscribe, change from digest to one-at-a-time delivery or vice-versa, go on hiatus while out of town, switch from mime to plain text or vice-versa, etc. check out the FAQS at http://www.fredsternfeld.com. ______________________________________ There is a sister site to this list called the "NEoPAL Bulletin Board." Occasionally when "hot-button" discussions go on more than a day or two, the bulletin board is used: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/neopal/ _______________________________________ Disclaimer: The facts and/or opinions expressed in this message are solely those of the person in the "from" or "reply-to" header. The fact that this message is posted should in no way be taken as an endorsement by the administrator of this list. Subscribers should
 perform due diligence for all goods, services and activities promoted on NEohioPAL. NEohioPAL mailing list NEohioPAL at lists.fredsternfeld.com http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal </BLOCKQUOTE>

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