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Direct from Broadway and the winner of six 2005 Tony Awards, the romantic new musical THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA will illuminate the Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square Center January 16-28, 2007, as the second production of this season’s KeyBank Broadway Series. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA visits Cleveland as part of its 50-week North American tour, which kicked off in August in San Francisco and is playing more than 25 cities across the continent, including Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston and many more. The new musical opened on Broadway in April 2005, and instantly became a favorite of critics and audiences alike, extending its “limited” run four times, at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. The multi-award-winning show draws upon some of the greatest talents working in modern theater: composer and lyricist Adam Guettel (grandson of the legendary Richard Rodgers), book writer Craig Lucas (Broadway and Hollywood’s Prelude to a Kiss) and acclaimed director Bartlett Sher. In addition to its six Tonys, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is the winner of five Drama Desk Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards for its New York run, and was seen nationwide on the PBS show “Live From Lincoln Center.” Set in the summer of 1953, the story is based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer and is both simple and profound. It tells the story of Margaret Johnson, an over-protective but tender Southern woman, on vacation in Florence with her beautiful daughter Clara, the daughter’s romance with a handsome, high-spirited Florentine, and the mother’s determined efforts to keep the two apart. The beautiful songs echo the romantic feelings of love and have been the key to winning the hearts of audiences. Composer/lyricist Guettel has been praised for capturing “that transcendent, irrational state familiar to anyone who has fallen head over heels in love” (The New York Times) in his score for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. Noted author and critic Frank Rich praises the show’s timeless beauty, the sweep and grandeur of its music: “It’s as if Guettel were determined to capture the golden light of Tuscany in a bottle.” Leading the cast of the touring production in Christine Andreas as Margaret Johnson, the protective Southern mother; Chagrin Falls native Elena Shaddow as her daughter Clara, a beautiful 26-year-old American traveling to Florence and Rome; and David Burnham as Fabrizio Naccarelli, a 20-year-old Italian who barely speaks English and is the source of the romantic tension central to the story. Burnham comes from the Broadway production, where he understudied his current role and was a member of the ensemble. In addition to the stellar triumvirate of Guettel, Lucas and Sher, the touring production reunites the award-winning creative team from Broadway. The musical has sets by Michael Yeargan (2005 Tony Award winner), costumes by Catherine Zuber (2005 Tony Award winner), lighting by Christopher Akerlind (2005 Tony Award winner), sound by ACME Sound Partners, orchestrations by Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin (2005 Tony Award winners), music direction by Kimberly Grigsby and musical staging by Jonathan Butterell. The brilliance of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA seems to shine most brightly in lines both sung and spoken by the mother toward the end of the play: “Love! Love! Love if you can, oh my Clara,” she sings as the book begins to close. “Love if you can and be loved!” It is the emotional backbone of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. As The New York Observer said: “THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is a great new musical that touches the heart and lifts the soul.” Act One THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA tells the story of Margaret Johnson, a middle-aged woman from North Carolina, who takes her beautiful daughter Clara to Florence, Italy, for a vacation in the spring of 1953. In the early morning of their first day there, they arrive in an empty piazza. Clara notices a dedication etched into the street. She asks her mother about the events that the words commemorate, and Margaret fumbles through her guide book as she tells her daughter about the Statues and Stories that form part of the history of the town – as, indeed, their story will become intertwined with the culture that seems so foreign to their own. The piazza around them is waking up and coming to life, and Clara explores the vibrant life that is presented to her (The Beauty Is). A breeze carries Clara’s hat off her head and across the square where a young Italian man, Fabrizio Naccarelli, miraculously catches it, mid-air, and returns it to her. The two are instantly smitten, and when Margaret notices this she quickly rushes to them before things can go any further. She takes Clara back to their hotel, leaving Fabrizio in the piazza. Alone, Farbrizio sings in Italian his declaration of love at first sight for Clara, along with a heartfelt cry of fear that she could never love anyone as lost and without position as he (Il Mondo Era Vuoto). The Naccarelli family, who own a local clothing shop, are amused and delighted to hear about Fabrizio’s experience of “love at first sight.” Fabrizio begs his father and brother Giuseppe to help him dress more presentably for Clara (American Dancing), then convinces his father to help him meet Clara again – if Signor Nacarelli can distract Margaret, then Fabrizio and Clara may have some time to get to know each other better. This works out remarkably well and Clara and Fabrizio are able to share a tender moment together (Passeggiata), while Margaret accepts an invitation to the Nacarellis’ home. Signor and Signora Naccarelli welcome the Johnsons, where it becomes clear that all is not entirely well between Fabrizio’s brother, Giuseppe, and his wife Franca. Franca takes Clara on a tour of the apartment, and alone in a separate room, she warns Clara about ever trusting a husband (The Joy You Feel). Though the Nacarellis are completely impressed with Clara, Margaret tries without success to share her deep reservations. When she looks into Fabrizio’s eyes and sees the love there, she can’t bring herself to disappoint him, though she feels she must: there is something about Clara that no one knows. Back at the hotel, Clara receives a note from Fabrizio asking her to meet him at the piazza. While Clara dreams of the things that lie before her, Margaret calls her husband Roy, who is back in the states, to give him an update on their trip. She tries to tell him what is happening with Clara and Fabrizio, but the conversation reveals that their love has grown cold over the years, and, after hanging up, Margaret contemplates her own love life and marriage (Dividing Day). She looks in Clara’s room, and finds that the girl is gone. Clara tries to find her way to Fabrizio, but she gets lost and finds herself in a seedy part of town, where prostitutes and pimps roam the streets closing their sordid deals. Frightened, Clara becomes disoriented in the maze-like streets of Florence, losing all poise and control, becoming hysterical, screaming like a child (Hysteria). Margaret finds her before she comes to any harm and takes her back to the hotel. As Clara sleeps, Margaret reveals the source of her daughter’s “difference.” When Clara was a young girl, she was kicked in the head by a Shetland pony, and the accident caused her mental and emotional abilities to develop abnormally. Margaret feels that she must take Clara away from Florence at once, and she steps down to the hotel lobby to have a drink. While she is away, Fabrizio comes to Clara’s room; upset, he cannot find the right words to express his feelings, and Clara urges him to use any other means (Say It Somehow).Clara accepts Fabrizio’s proposal of marriage, and the two are embracing, half undressed, as Margaret walks in on them. Act Two Margaret, who feels that the more distance she can put between her daughter and Fabrizio the better, makes plans to take Clara to Rome. When Fabrizio hears the news of their departure from Florence, he desperately begs his family for their help (Aiutami). In Rome, Clara won’t cast her memories of Fabrizio aside, and, after an argument with Margaret in which daughter tells mother to leave her alone, she dwells on her treasured moments with Fabrizio (The Light in the Piazza). This causes Margaret to relent, to set aside her doubts and considerations, and to no longer stand in the way of the wedding. The two return to Florence to discuss the wedding with Fabrizio and the Naccarellis. Clara is instructed in the Latin catechism in preparation for converting to Catholicism, while around her everyone in the extended family sings of their feelings, stirred up by the immediate presence of such intense young love (Octet). Franca, in an attempt to arouse her husband’s jealousy, kisses Fabrizio right on the mouth, and Clara witnesses it, causing her to break into a furious rant (Tirade). Her fiancé comforts her with an assurance that she is the only one he loves (Octet – reprise). At the wedding rehearsal, Clara and Fabrizio are filling out the necessary forms when Signor Naccarelli sees something on Clara’s form that causes him to call off the wedding and take his family away at once. Clara wants to know what is wrong with her, but her mother says there is nothing at all wrong. With Clara sobbing and broken, alone in one of the pews of the church, Margaret reveals her worst fears and her shame at having been the source of her daughter’s lifelong suffering (The Beauty Is – reprise). She resolves to do whatever it takes to give Clara a chance for happiness. Margaret tries to reason with Signor Naccarelli. He admits that he saw Clara write her age on the forms – 26 – and that this makes her an unsuitable bride for his son who is only 20. Relieved that he has not discovered their secret, Margaret begs him to change his mind, but he will not. She invites him to take a walk with her, and the two wander from one end of Florence to the other as the sun slowly sets and the night comes on (Let’s Walk). By giving him time to mull things over and by not pressuring him, Margaret succeeds in putting the wedding back on track; Signor Naccarelli says he will meet them at the church the following morning. From the hotel room, Margaret calls Roy to tell him about the wedding. As expected, he insists that Clara cannot handle the responsibilities of marriage. Clara, in her wedding dress, stands in the shadows listening to her mother’s side of the conversation. Magaret says, “Just because she isn’t normal, Roy, doesn’t mean she’s consigned to a life of loneliness. She mustn’t be made to accept less from life just because she isn’t like your or me.” Shattered, Clara slips out of the hotel room and runs once more through Florence (Interlude), meeting Fabrizio at the church in order to tell him that she will not marry him; she won’t allow herself to cause him any pain. Fabrizio calms all her fears (Love to Me). Moments before the wedding, Clara tells Margaret she can’t leave her; Margaret assures her that she can. Left alone, Margaret breaks open all the pent-up doubts and yearnings that she has carried for years on end about love (Fable), realizing at last that the chance of love somehow outweighs the terrible risks. As she joins the ceremony, Margaret speaks aloud her prayer for her daughter’s marriage: “May it last forever.”
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