Light In The Piazza — Page 2

Ravenclaw said: "Kad said: "Beautiful score, but the show always left me sort of cold. It’s a marble statue of a show for me.


(I do think the revelation about Clara is borderline camp, though, in both detail and execution)."

Borderline camp, you say?

....I'm just gonna leave this here...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0ZyPozPNXd/?igsh=aWVzejUxMmFuNDVj"

OMG haha.

But yes, I think this and the 'borderline camp' comment kind of illustrates it for me. There is something just a little off about it. And I WANT to love it of course.

Ruthie Ann Miles’ “Fable” still lives in my head..

Huntington Theatre - Piazza cast

Had the chance to see the original production but chose to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels instead. After hearing the OBCR I was ready to kick myself for not seeing it while there. (Although I loved DRS). So glad I finally got to see it at City Center. That production made it worth the wait to finally see it.

Globefan said: "I wouldn't be opposed to a movie version."

The Huntington shared a “Tell a friend 25% discount” for Light in the Piazza so here you go. Use code TELLAFRIEND25

Updated On: 5/20/25 at 07:53 PM

Georgeanddot2 said: "The kicked by a Shetland pony reveal is so camp and I LOVE IT!"

Is it meant to be camp though?

They try so hard to be earnest with the pony reveal and it makes it even more camp. I can play back that moment in the cast recording and just start to laugh. Of all the things to keep for fealty to the source material. An accident? Sure. That accident? Camp. Pure camp.

I don't think it being camp detracts from the dramatic weight of the story at all. Honestly, the whole show is pretty camp.

I'm still saddened that I only came upon this show after seeing it air on PBS and by then it was near the end of its run on Broadway and never got to see it live. The score truly is spectacular and a favorite of mine. It's too bad that the Renee Flemming revival was never recorded. I've seen some clips of that online and would love to have another cast recording.

I watched the Broadway proshot, and....this musical IS a masterpiece! Victoria was amazing, and the book and score were so good. I mean, well, kinda. The score is beautiful, but...I would not say exactly memorable. I can't remember any melodies. But I only heard all the songs once, and sometimes songs become more popular on a repeat listens. It just reminds me of how today's musicals seem to have the music all over the place and not much repetition. But at least it was pretty. I did not know I could have my heart broken by musicalized crying when Clara cries in her wedding dress. Fabrizio sang astoundingly. I thought the pony injury was not camp, but had I not been prepared for it by reading about it here first, would I have laughed? I don't know. I certainly like it better than the idea Clara was born with developmental problems. The horse injury is more dramatic.

I do wonder, though, has anyone ever lobbied the criticism at the story that is at all...pedophilic? That Clara would be a forever 10 year old and be in a romantic relationship to a man who grew older and older while she didn't? I don't think it is pedophilic, I would like to believe, much like her mother, that she blossoms into an emotional and mental state of someone at least of age, but...I was just wondering.

Updated On: 5/26/25 at 03:28 PM

The person offered a factual observation that does not merit the "fun police" comment.

MagicalMusical said: "I do wonder, though, has anyone ever lobbied the criticism at the story thatis at all...pedophilic? That Clara would be a forever 10 year old and be in a romantic relationship to a man who grew older and older while she didn't? I don't think it is pedophilic, I would like to believe, much like her mother, that she blossoms into an emotional and mental state of someone at least of age, but...I was just wondering."

Well, this is the very crux of the show's conflict, for Margaret and, I suppose, for audiences. Is Clara an overgrown child who needs to be forever protected and never allowed to make decisions for herself? Or is she a capable free agent who can choose the life she wants to lead?

Throughout the first act, Margaret believes the former proposition, but the happenings in the second act convince her that Clara deserves to choose her own path. The title song does a lot of work in convincing Margaret to change her mind about this; she goes from a mother reluctantly indulging what she hopes is a passing infatuation to a mother willing to stand up for her daughter's right to marry the love of her life.

I've always taken it for granted that Clara is a fully competent adult, despite her limitations and eccentricities, and that Margaret's concerns are misplaced and shaped by her poor relationship with her own husband. So the possibility of "pedophilia," or, more precisely, lack of consent in her relations with Fabrizio, never really entered my mind.