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

[Zev Valancy]

Fiends, Arts Lovers, and Fellow Pontificators,

Several issues have come up in this exchange thus far which have  
moved me to spout off, as I will do.

I want to make clear that I have not seen this touring production of  
"The Light In The Piazza," and will not while it is in Cleveland,  
though I hope to see it when it comes to Chicago this summer. It is  
quite probable that the production has lost much of its effectiveness  
in moving from the 1100 seat thrust stage of the Vivian Beaumont in  
Lincoln Center to the Palace, a proscenium house with over 2000  
seats. (I'm not sure of the number.) Ms. Brockman may not have had  
the necessary rehearsal to live up to Victoria Clark, who won a Tony  
for her Broadway efforts, or Christine Andreas, reportedly luminous  
in her performance on the road. There is also no doubt that the story  
of the play can get soapy (though why Roy Berko chose to give away as  
much of the plot as he did, I do not understand), and that Craig  
Lucas' book is not as deft as Adam Guettel's score. My comments  
relate to the score itself, and how it relates to the state of the  
modern musical theatre.

First of all, why does hummability equal quality? As Stephen Sondheim  
himself said, the best way to make a song hummable is to repeat it.  
Sometimes this is done with skill and necessity--I would say that the  
reprises in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals are an excellent  
example of this--and sometimes it is done in a cynical attempt to  
make the music memorable, despite a lack of need for it in the story-- 
such as Andrew Lloyd Webber's "composition by numbers" approach in  
countless musicals. Even the songs seen as standards were not always  
that way: West Side Story, for instance was considered to have an  
overly complex and unhummable score until the movie version made the  
music inescapable. When people finally listened to the music, they  
recognized it for the beautiful work of art it was. Complexity does  
not rule out music being attractive--and if you listen to some of  
Rodgers and Hammerstein's music, you realize how tough it can be to  
hum--I'd like to see anyone hum the "Soliloquy" from "Carousel"!

The first time I heard the score of "The Light In The Piazza" on CD,  
I only got a general impression of it--I knew that it was beautiful,  
with sharp and incisive lyrics, but I might not have been able to hum  
any of the tunes for you. However, as I listened to it more and more,  
I caught the exaltation in "Statues and Stories," the lyricism in  
"Passeggiata," the heartbreak in "Dividing Day," the torrential  
emotional intensity of the "Octet" (my personal favorite), and the  
painful beauty of "Fable," to choose only five songs from a superb  
score. While the score does not necessarily give up all of its riches  
on the first hearing, it does do a wonderful job of telling the  
story--perhaps a better job than the book--and singing the emotions  
of the characters.

However, even a score far less accessible than "The Light In The  
Piazza" can still create a stunning theatrical experience. For  
example, "Highway Ulysses," produced at Dobama in 2004, features an  
extraordinarily complex score that  contains very few easy melodies,  
but, at least in my opinion, made for smashing theatre. Songs that  
could easily be sung in concert would simply be wrong for the dark,  
disturbing story being told. An intelligent and skilled musical  
theatre composer writes music for the play, not for its own sake.

Nobody will write new Rodgers and Hammerstein shows because the world  
is not what it was from 1943-1959. Art reflects the world in which it  
is created, and this is not a bad thing. America in the 1940's and  
1950's was the right place for Rodgers and Hammerstein, America in  
the 1970's was the right time for Stephen Sondheim, the 1990's was  
the right time for Jonathon Larson, and perhaps the 2000's will be  
seen as the decade of Adam Guettel.

And by the way, take one more look at the themes that Rodgers and  
Hammerstein addressed--America's growing pains in "Oklahoma," poverty  
and abuse in "Carousel," racism and war in "South Pacific," and  
cultural imperialism in "The King and I," to name just a few. These  
are tough shows with difficult to digest ideas, a fact which has been  
obscured by their canonization.

"The Light In The Piazza" is in many ways a benchmark show: one of  
the first of the shows by what is commonly considered the "new  
generation" of musical theatre writers to reach widespread critical  
and popular success. It says something heartening about the state of  
the Broadway theatre that a musical with a score that is not the  
usual poppy chirpfest, little dancing, emotional complexity, and an  
ending that is ambiguously happy at best can run over a year, popular  
among a wide selection of the populace, not just musical theatre  
junkies, and spin off a tour.

As for the question of what the message is? I think Guettel makes it  
perfectly clear to the audience in the final song, the heartbreaking  
"Fable": Love isn't perfect, and it may not even be possible, but if  
you get the chance, for God's sake, take it. Not exactly a smiley  
face, but profound and true.

I hope that people will see the production, or at least buy the CD to  
make up their own minds about its merits, and hopefully be inspired  
to find Guettel's other wonderful works, the song cycle "Myths and  
Hymns" and "Floyd Collins," perhaps the finest musical of the past 15  
years. I hope even more that a theatre in Cleveland--the Play House?  
Great Lakes? Beck Center?--will choose to do "The Light In The  
Piazza" and give Cleveland's extraordinary singing actors a chance to  
perform it and give its intelligent and discerning audiences a more  
intimate production in which to assess its merits.

Thank you all for your indulgence, and bring on questions, comments,  
compliments, complaints or anything else!

All the best,
Zev N. Valancy
On Jan 17, 2007, at 1:00 PM, Allen White wrote:

> I was one of the fortunate people who got to see the show in New  
> York, and again last night.  After seeing the NYC production I told  
> people the show was "stunningly beautiful", and the performances,  
> especially Victoria Clark and Kelli O'Hara, were incredible.
>
> My wife did not see the New York production, and didn't understand  
> what I saw in the show.  She was mostly bored, and felt that  
> Margaret was completely lost.  On the way out of the theatre I  
> heard others who wanted to know why this show won the Tony Award  
> for best musical, because it certainly wasn't very good.  (It  
> didn't, but it was nominated for that honor - Victoria Clark did  
> win the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical.)
>
> Mr. Berko's review was accurate, because the beauty of the show was  
> mostly lost in last night's performance.  I fear much of that was  
> because of the understudy not having the range to portray a role as  
> complicated as Margaret.  I can say that I love the song "Dividing  
> Day", because of its complicated message of love somewhere lost,  
> and I barely recognized it last night.
>
> The show requires the woman playing Margaret to have incredible  
> range, both in acting and in singing.  Perhaps the woman scheduled  
> to play her has that range, but Ms. Brockman certainly does not.  I  
> wouldn't say that you should avoid the show, because it's a  
> wonderful show, but last night was certainly not representative of  
> that.
>
> Allen White
>
> At 12:09 PM 1/17/2007, dsm wrote:
>> Dear Mr Berko (et al),
>>
>> Perhaps you disliked "The Light in the Piazza" because it is a  
>> delicate, sophisticated piece of work without "hummable  
>> tunes."  (How many tunes did one hum after a first viewing of  
>> "Pacific Overtures" or "Passion"?)  Or perhaps you dislike it  
>> because it doesn't have a big, boffo ending like "Dr Doolitle,"  
>> one of the worst shows ever to hit the boards (sorry, Tommy), but  
>> which got the requisite standing ovation.  Ms Brockman's singing  
>> of this extremely difficult role was merely competent, it's true,  
>> but her acting was exquisite and deeply felt, even from our seats  
>> 2/3 of the way back.  And ALL of the other performances were spot- 
>> on, absolutely excellent in both singing and acting, not to  
>> mention the creative and evocative sets, lighting, costumes, and  
>> staging, or the beautifully crafted book and superior music.
>>
>> This is merely a difference of opinion from someone with a  
>> different sensibility.  If the point of going to the theater is to  
>> be manipulated into jumping up and cheering, you're correct, Mr  
>> Berko, in warning people off.  I'd just as much like to feel  
>> deeply, be led to think along different lines, and go home  
>> pondering the intricacies of the human condition, while  
>> celebrating a composer who might be Mr Sondheim's long-awaited heir.
>>
>> I recommend "The Light in the Piazza" highly, particularly to  
>> those who have a sophisticated comprehension of drama and music -  
>> contemporary classical as well - or who just want to see a modern,  
>> beautifully crafted piece of musical theater.
>>
>> Folks, it's a gorgeous show.  Run, don't walk, to see it.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>> Deborah Magid
>
>
> _____________________________________
> 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