(I haven't been able to see The Light in the Piazza yet, but my mother did and she loved the show, so I asked her to write a review. (Just in case you are wondering about her credentials, while my mother has never worked in the theater, I inherited my love of it from her. I would say she averages seeing a performance every other week, if not more. She sees a LOT of theater.)
Review
When I was asked what I thought of The Light in the Piazza, my first thought was – It’s like a bonbon. I don’t know that I have ever tasted an “official” bonbon, but I always think of them as something that would awaken every sense, and that is just what The Light in the Piazza did for me.It was a real feast for sight. The simple set was fun to watch as it transformed itself many times. Costumes could have paraded on stage by themselves and you would have understood the character portrayed. Victoria Clark gets to wear some of the greatest clothes, shoes and hats. (By the way, I miss dressing up in hats and gloves – “women of a certain age” had presence when they dressed like that). The lighting captured what you either know is Italian light or what you imagine it would be like.
It is, after all a musical, so sound is an easy sense to achieve. Don’t get scared off, but when they started the first song I looked up over the proscenium to start reading the libretto in English and it took me a minute to realize this wasn’t an opera and that I could understand the words without having to read along. By the time they were really singing in Italian, I didn’t care that I didn’t know exactly what the words said, the music told me what I needed to know. If you want anthem-like songs, you aren’t going to find it here. Instead you will get beautifully crafted and playful pieces. The octet was wonderful.
Smell, touch and taste are perhaps harder to achieve when you are sitting in a theater, but the lighting, set, costumes and music were so evocative that your mind conjures up remembrances of Italy (or at least the best Italian restaurant you’ve eaten in).
That leaves touch. Interestingly enough, I was very touched by this story. Usually in a musical, it is about the next song. In The Light in the Piazza, I was carried away by the story, told in song, silky and smooth, an occasional nut, milk chocolate and bitter sweet.
Smell, touch and taste are perhaps harder to achieve when you are sitting in a theater, but the lighting, set, costumes and music were so evocative that your mind conjures up remembrances of Italy (or at least the best Italian restaurant you’ve eaten in).
That leaves touch. Interestingly enough, I was very touched by this story. Usually in a musical, it is about the next song. In The Light in the Piazza, I was carried away by the story, told in song, silky and smooth, an occasional nut, milk chocolate and bitter sweet.
