Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
#0Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:06pm
Hi there. About six months ago I read from many posters on these boards how great The Light in the Piazza was. So about 2 months ago I bought the CD hoping to enjoy it as many others have.
Sadly, I dont understand much of it. Clara got kicked by a horse as a kid? Haha. That's suppose to be some kind of family secret? I guess I just dont understand. Why is her mother trying to discourage Clara from falling in love with Fabrizio? What is the message of the show?
If someone can please help it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks -Adam
Updated On: 5/25/06 at 05:06 PM
#1re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:09pmFor not wanting to spoil anything, you'll actually be able to see for yourself when it airs on PBS on June 15th.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
#2re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:10pm
the music is great. the cast is great. the direction is great. the set is great. the lighting is great.
everything about the show is just fantastic.
except the plot. which is one of the weakest for such a gorgeous show.
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#3re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:13pm
Margaret fears for her daughter as any mother would, especially with her problem of under-developed intelligence due to the accident. Also, she wants to protect Clara from ever having a life like she did where she pains from having a husband 'there', but not and wants to her to find happiness. She eventually sees this in Fabrizio after initially not allowing Clara to see him.
Margaret also doesn't let the secret be known how old Clara because, as I remember, 26 year olds obviously are not that behind. The Nachiarelli's(sp) are shocked because they expected a younger bride for their son. However, with some personal heart-to-heart with his father, Margaret persists and it happens.
And I suppose the "message" would be what Clara is told indirectly by her mother in Fable. To just find love and keep it and learn to be loved as she was not
#4re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:14pm
Here's the deal.
Clara gets kicked in the head which disables her mind from maturing. Therefore, Margaret doens't want her to be with Fabrizio because she emotionally can't handle it, or so she thinks. It would be like Fabby with a 10 year old.
Hope that helps.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
#5re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:14pmCaroline, I recently saw the movie on ACM and the plot was very similar. I haven't read the novella though.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#6re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:16pm
**Spoiler alert***
"However, with some personal heart-to-heart with his father, Margaret persists and it happens."
No, she pays him to take Clara off her hands.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#7re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:17pmI think "Piazza" is one of those shows you need to see live first. I bought the CD when is was first released and could never get further than the first few tracks. Then I saw the show this past January and fell in love with it! "Piazza" is a show well worth seeing!
#8re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:17pm
i wanted to get a hold of the novella but never quite found it anywhere...
hmm... the movie was also on TCM a while back, but, alas and alack, i missed it!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#9re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:19pmTCM, you're right. It was on like 5:30 in the morning! I knew exactly what it was without knowing it was on. I caught it shortly after it started.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#10re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:20pmWHAT? Lol she PAYS him? I never caught that. Oh that makes me a little sadder, I always thought in the show the effect of love could do miracles. Guess I forgot what world I was living in. Thanks for the reality check Gothampc.
#11re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:21pm
a while back someone posted a link to a TCM trailer for the movie... and i got SO pissed off cuze it wouldn't load, so i vowed to not miss the movie when it aired.
and i did.
LITP is so unfortunate. what a WASTE. i love the Broadway Abridged Version. i'm reading it right now...
VICTORIA CLARK
Look. There is duomo stuff.
KELLI O'HARA
Yes, there is.
ITALIAN ROMANTIC LEAD BOY
(enters)
Come visit me in my father's shop.
(leaves)
KELLI O'HARA
See? Your English is getting BETTER and BETTER!
...Fricking again!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
circusliz
Broadway Star Joined: 11/19/05
#12re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:22pmThe book that contains the original short story is available for purchase. Lincoln Center had it for sale when I saw the show in August...I'm assuming they still do. My mom bought me a copy from our local bookstore. I think it had to be special ordered, but then again our bookstore is small and independent. One of the bigger chains might have it in stock.
On the road of life, do not pause for suicidal chipmunks who freeze in your headlights, seeking death by your tires...
#13re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:22pm
So essentially, Clara has brain damage from a childhood accident? Fabrizo doesn't realize this because she speaks english and he speaks italian? Clara doesnt know she has a learning disability?
Margaret doesnt believe Clara should puruse true love because she doesnt believe her to be emotially mature enough?
If so, ok I think I got it now.
Updated On: 5/23/06 at 05:22 PM
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#14re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:24pmFabrizio doesn't realize she has problems because he does not know her age. He probably suspects she is 20. Clara probably knows something is wrong with her, I don't remember specifically though, I saw it last July.
#15re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:27pmO no, this show sounds so depressing.
#16re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:27pm
Jean Valjean (played with conviction by Victoria Clark) leads Fosca(Kelli Ohara) through the jungle to reclaim her thrown on pride rock, however the journey is interupted as Amneris (Matt Morrison in convincing drag)buries them in a tomb.
beautiful.
"The only way we live beyond our lives is to connect and carve ourselves into the souls of those we love." -Little Fish
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#18re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:30pmIt was so depressing I had to run over to Sweeney Todd to cheer me up. Then I read the Pillowman on my train ride home before I could fully recover from my near suicidal experience at Piazza. Bring the tissue box.
#19re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:30pm
well G,
you know what they say: every story is a love story.
no matter how f*cking screwed up! 
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#20re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:30pm
well G,
you know what they say: every story is a love story.
no matter how f*cking screwed up!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#21re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 5:34pm
yes bring a tissue box...
You can hear them scream through the sand...
"The only way we live beyond our lives is to connect and carve ourselves into the souls of those we love." -Little Fish
#22re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 6:03pm
The message of the story is that love is wonderful, transformative, healing, and if you ever find it you should throw yourself into it forever. That's hardly depressing. This theme is especially clear in Fable ("if you find in the world, in the wide, wide world that someone sees, that someone loves you...love and be loved!") and the Octet, where the family members find their own relationships renewed by seeing the young couple hopelessly in love.
Margaret has her misgivings from the start because 1)Clara's accident has permanently damaged her maturity and intelligence and 2)her own marriage has been empty and loveless. But then she sees what loving Fabrizio has done for her. She says of her mentally 10-year-old daughter: "She's learned Italian, for god's sake." She also realizes that just because Clara isn't the same as most young women that she can't be consigned to a life of loneliness and misery. When she really sees that Clara has found love and acceptance in Fabrizio and his family she puts her own fears aside, stops trying to endlessly protect Clara, and sets her free to be herself and live her own life. It is an enormous leap of faith for Margaret to make, but she finally lets go and allows Clara a chance at happiness.
The show is not about a convoluted plot with a lot of twists and turns. The idea that Clara's condition is a huge plot twist or spoiler is sort of absurd, as it is clear from the first scene that there's something off about her. It's a slight, little story even in the novella. The plot is really just a springboard into the issues at the heart of the show: love, trust, faith, restoration, and nobody writes about those things better than Guettel.
Maybe it's because I'm a special educator who spends his life trying to see beyond disabilities into the humanity of my students. Maybe it's because I'm a parent who wants to see his own children find that eternal love. Or maybe it's because I think Guettel's score is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But each time I saw the show, I was emotionally devastated and transformed myself.
I can't promise that seeing the show or understanding more about the plot will make it as incredible for you, but I'd at least encourage you to give it another chance.
#23re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 11:18pm
The whole Clara/Fabrizio relationship has nothing to do with age. Age only becomes an issue for Signor Naccarelli when they're filling out the forms to get married. As far as Clara and Fabrizio are concerned, the relationship is all about young love blossoming and exploding.
And Clara doesn't fully realize that something is wrong until the Naccarelli family storms out of the church. It gets worse when she overhears her mother and father on the phone talking about her illness. But Fabrizio tells her that he loves her for who she is and all ends well.
The reason why the Naccarellis don't see the problem with Clara is stated in the novel and I think translates to the stage: she blends in with other Italian women. They don't have the same concerns as American women and are a lot more open and carefree, which Clara is naturally because of her mental defect.
Also, if the role is played right, the defect will be enough for the audience to see but not so pronounced that the Naccarellis will start wondering if something's wrong.
"Peace! The charm's wound up."
--Macbeth
Updated On: 5/23/06 at 11:18 PM
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#24re: Help me understand The Light in the Piazza
Posted: 5/23/06 at 11:31pm
Don't see the movie; it is terrible. I admit that LitP has a lame plot, but I love it anyway. The novel's good, but I have to admit the basic message is "If your daughter's mentally handicapped, go to Italy because she'll fit right in!"
The musical handles it better than the novel, I think, and definitely better than the movie. The movie is just... ugh.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
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