The Light in the Piazza

In musicals, all is forgiven. Continuity and logic are willingly exchanged for grandiosity and exuberant performances. In Keller Auditorium’s touring Broadway show The Light in the Piazza, things are not much different. The extremely talented cast spins a story that sometimes doesn’t make sense but makes up for it with spectacular singing and dancing.

Fred Meyer, Broadway and Keller Auditorium have come together to bring touring Broadway shows to Portland. The Light in the Piazza comes off of Broadway after winning six Tony awards in 2005, including best score. Other shows later this year include Chicago, Stomp, Mamma Mia and Camelot.

The Light in the Piazza is about a mother named Margaret Johnson and her daughter, Clara Johnson, touring through Florence, Italy. Clara meets a boy named Fabrizio Naccarelli and they fall in love. Comedy ensues, as Margaret doesn’t want her daughter falling in love with a non-English-speaking man.

The real reason Margaret doesn’t want Clara to fall in love is that she had been injured when she was a little girl and hasn’t developed the proper mental function that allows people to deal with emotion and confusion. It is strange that the writers chose this idiosyncrasy as the device to follow throughout the story. However, the story of overcoming this mental hardship and finding your one and only ended up making for a pretty great romantic-comedy musical.

The singing and music was absolutely phenomenal, especially David Burnham’s, who plays Fabrizio. When he sang he gave me chills. Christine Andreas, who plays the mother, Margaret, was a stunner also. Her song that closes out the first act was good enough to put shoes on an orphan.

Katie Rose Clarke, who plays Clara, had a beautiful voice as well, but every time she sang her hands would stretch robotically. Whether it was a happy, upbeat song, a love ballad or a sad song, her hands always looked like they were being used for the first time. Her performance was overshadowed by the overall production of the show. The mostly string-laced score by Adam Guettel absolutely captures Italy’s romantic ambiance.

Large pieces of art and statues were recreated to represent the historic setting as well as beautiful Tuscan backdrops that added to the entire production.

The biggest complaint that I can make about this fun musical is that the writers play heavily on the fact that because it’s a musical, people will not care about the logic of the play. That Clara and Fabrizio fall in love and plan to be married after one sensual love song is crazy. One song! That jump compounded the fact that this was a mother and daughter vacation that seems to be going for much longer than a month, and whether either would ever be returning home is never explained. The other problem that I had with the show was that it is not clear which characters the show is centering on, a mother letting go of her daughter, or a couple finding love?

However, the number one rule of musicals is: All will be forgiven as long as the music rocks and the dancing knocks off socks.

The Light in the PiazzaApril 15, with matinees on Saturday and SundayTickets: $27.50-$78