Help me understand The Light in the Piazza- Page 2

[IssaMe]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 7:34am

By the way, Margaret most certainly does NOT pay off Fabrizio's father to take Clara off her hands...she tries to increase the dowry to tempt him to approve of the marriage (out of her own savings of course...even the original $5000 dowry comes from her own savings since her husband Roy would NEVER agree to any dowry or marriage for Clara). But Signor Naccarelli turns down the increased dowry quite strongly...the $15,000 does not change his mind that this marriage is "not to be!"

It is what they talk about on their subsequent walk that convinces him that the marriage of Fabrizio and Clara can be permitted - the deciding factor is NOT the money (as Margaret notes to her husband on the phone - the Naccarelli family is well off).

I love how at some performances when Margaret tries to increase the dowry, after Victoria Clark looks into her purse to announce the tripled dowry amount, she then snaps the purse shut loudly and decisively, as if to say "so THERE!" It is a very funny moment but she doesn't always do it that way.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 8:22am

Thanks, IssaMe for clearing that payment thing up.

I didn't remember any of that so I was shocked when I read the post that Margaret pays Fab's father.

Also, why is everyone saying that the show is depressing? It leaves us with a happy ending. Margaret sees how in love the two young people are and it makes everything OK.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 10:35am

i was bored to tears

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 11:36am

gothampc and Gclef are bored and looking to confuse people for their own amusement, scooter. Ourtime has the answer you're looking for.

Unfortunately many people here are not helpful and can be down right mean. You've got to sift through to find the good, true stuff - just don't look for it in the two above-named posters.

I thought it was a lovely if flawed show, with fabulous performers. Enjoy!

edited to credit issame, too.

Updated On: 5/24/06 at 11:36 AM

[Labashier]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 11:44am

I love the show, but I think it's a dramaturgical mess.

Plot points like Sr. Naccarelli seem to exist only to lengthen the show, as the story is a bit weak to stand on its own. There is an awful lot of watching individual people on stage alone singing solos in spotlights. The whole "I'm sorry, I don't speak English but I just HAVE to tell you what's going on" bit is incredibly corny.

However, I still think it's a good show. Guettel is such an expressive composer that the music communicates to you in a way that the mess of a story couldn't dream of. They could cut the dialogue and put all the music in Italian and the show would still be just as amazing. You'd be hard-pressed to deny the sheer energy and emotion found in "Say It Somehow", despite the fact that half the song has no words.

[Damselfly0]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 11:54am

I have to disagree - the plot is not 'lame,' and the message is certainly not 'dump your handicapped daughter in Italy'. The plot is on a smaller scale than many musicals these days, and it doesn't cover hundreds of years, but I defy you to find a show these days that deals with perhaps the biggest topic in human history, love, better. Yes, Clara has been kicked in the head and is disabled because of it, and no, Margaret doesn't tell the Italians. But listen to the song that Fabrizio sings to her at the end - he loves her for what she is, regardless of whether he knows or not the details of her mental state. Contained in this one show you get myriad variations of love - the intense bond between a mother and daughter, the flushed infatuation of first love, the tempestuous combination of love and lust (in Giuseppe and Franca), and two variations on love which has lost its original bloom. Each is explored beautifully, and I always come away from the show with a sense of tempered hope - love isn't easy, ever, but ultimately we all have to keep looking for it. This, to me, is far more beautiful and valuable a theme than anything else I've seen in the past five years. There may be no green witches or singing vampires, but the Light in the Piazza is, to me, a stunningly beautiful show.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 12:49pm

About Signor Naccarelli's change of mind: when he and Margaret go for a walk, he realizes that young people are just prone to falling in love when it makes no sense, and there's no telling what tomorrow holds or what path will ultimately lead to happiness. All any of us can do is continue down the path we're on and see where it takes us. "We might as well walk" speaks of this metaphor as well as the literal walk he and Margaret are on. I also think he is brought to a realization of his own hypocrisy when he finds himself falling for Margaret.

About the other issue, of the Clara-Fabrizio relationship: I think "Love to Me" really holds the key to why Margaret isn't just dumping Clara on an unsuspecting guy. Clara tries to tell Fabrizio that something -- though she can't name it -- is wrong with her, and he won't hear of it. Even there in her most distraught state he tells her ("NOW I see as I have never seen before, since that moment in the square..." how he loves her.) Why now, when she's freaking out?

I have always interpreted that final stanza ("when you hat is carried in the air, just so I can chase it, just so I can be there") to mean, the first time I met you, fate (the wind) blew you (or at least your hat) into my arms, and you needed me to help you (catch it), and here you are again, upset and needing me, and that need doesn't bother me. I just want to be here to hold you and help you forever. "This is how I know, this is what I see...this is love to me." Maybe that's a little codependent, but it's valid and genuine nonetheless. Notice that Margaret's wish for Clara is not to find someone to hold, but "arms to fall into forever." This is the nature of their relationship, the roles they each will play. Fabrizio is the light that opened Clara's eyes, and she is the light that fills him.

For anyone who has ever truly, completely fallen in love, this rings true with incredible power, no matter how slight the plot may otherwise be. It may take you several viewings or listenings to really absorb it all. As an obsessive Guettel fan, I pay attention to those details and try to really understand why he chose each particular word and phrase. Then again, the musical has moved a lot of people who knew nothing going in. Hopefully you'll be one of those who sees it on June 15th and comes away bawling.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 2:40pm

Yes, "Love to Me" was a good addition, as was "Say It Somehow," which is why I said that the musical handles the plot better than the book and the movie. But the plot still has its flaws and one cannot deny that. In making Clara more mature, the musical makes her condition more unrealistic. But in leaving Clara immature and obviously mentally ten years-old, it makes the plot unrealistic. It's a double-edged sword.

I, personally, just enjoy the love story for what it is, and the gorgeous music. It's not something I'd analyze to death. Just a beautiful, light-hearted show.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 2:49pm

the horrible thing is, Margaret sings Fable- which is basically telling us that love is all you need in this life. Yet, all the OTHER marriages in the play are crumbling.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:06pm

Well, that's what the show is... Margaret coming to terms with love. She isn't just afraid for Clara in the beginning because of her condition, but because her own marriage is falling apart and she doesn't want Clara to ever experience that. "Fable" is basically saying that, even though love is fake and a children's fairytale, you still need to look for it and cherish it when you find it.

Though, honestly, I never thought Noel/Roy was as bad as the book or musical want us to think he is. I thought Signor Naccarelli was sleazier. And the whole Giuseppe cheating on Franca thing is only in the musical, not the book.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:10pm

the Giuseppe/Franca plot line is underdevloped and and simply muddles everything up a little

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:18pm

It's not that I live to analyze things to death, it's that Adam Guettel leaves me 7 freaking years between shows to listen to these OCRs and I find myself picking up on the details.

The Light in the Piazza is not the finest musical ever written, but it is fantastic, and you mark my words: one day Adam Guettel WILL compose the finest musical ever. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:33pm

Ourtime992: I wasn't referring to anyone specifically when I said that.

His next musical is the Princess Bride, supposedly... I'd be a little apprehensive if it were anyone else, but I'm sure Guettel will do a fantastic job with it.

[GClef2]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:41pm

I forgot about the sub-plot with Leo Frank and Fannie Brice!!!That was the best part!!!

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:50pm

I forgot about the sub-plot with Leo Frank and Fannie Brice!!!That was the best part!!!

Ahahaha, ahaha, ha. Your maturity slays me.

Updated On: 5/24/06 at 03:50 PM

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 3:51pm

c'est tres amusante

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 4:56pm

I do think this show needs a green witch and some singing vampires. ...or how about a green singing vampire witch?..... with a falling chandlier?

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 4:57pm

...that way my ADD wont get in the way.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:01pm

I think you need a time out, adam chris, while the adults discuss the subject thread. If you have nothing relative to the thread, go play somewhere else. Or take your meds, at least.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:08pm

wow. that was a kind thing to say.
thank you.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:39pm

It is about time though. You asked, I answered, yet instead of thanks I just get another childish answer after another with no thanks and just rudeness. I think this show is great and the music is soaringly good for the place it is set in and the characters that inhabit it. If you don't like the things you have heard so far then either go see it yourself to pass judgement or stop replying here.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:42pm

"Sadly, I dont under much of it."
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sadly, I don't under what you're trying to say.

[GClef2]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:48pm

COMPANY...I LOVE YOUR AVITAR!!!!

[C is for Company]

Posted: 5/24/06 at 5:52pm

Thanks, they're both incredibly perfect in it. Bernadette and Mandy make one of my favorite teams in any show, their roles in Sunday are two of the most captivating performances to watch. Thus, they must be my avatar

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/25/06 at 10:44am

Hi. I just need to say thanks to everyone who contributed to my original question. I really did appreciate your time to answer my questions. Sorry I didn't say that sooner. Also I'm sorry some of you felt like I was being silly. Because of your time I now understand what Piazza is about. Thanks.

On my latter posts I was responding to two things:
1) someone else mentioned green witches and singing vampires
2) this show doesn't have a gimmick ( falling chandeliers and helicopters landing )

Having been introduced into musical theatre by means of Phantom at the age of 15 it seemed every other musical had some sort of splash. That expectancy has carried over 15 years later. So in sort, Im saying that is probably why I didn't understand the recording of The Light in the Piazza. The musical, to me, is not punctuated in the manner I'm use to. I hope I am making more sense now. I guess I thought people could read between the lines.

Again thanks.
Adam Chris