Light in the Piazza Pre-BroadwayOut of Town

[jv92]

Posted: 7/11/06 at 9:08am

I recently watched an old promotional clip from Piazza's run at the Intiman (sp?) Theatre in Seattle a few years ago. I've read articles on that run and the run in Chicago and while they've given me an idea on how the cast and design changed along the way, were there any specific song changes or strutural changes? Were things cut and were there songs added? I've also heard the orchestra was much smaller. How was that used?
Thanks.

[kyle.]

Posted: 7/11/06 at 11:30pm

What happened to all the replys on this thread that were here this morning?

[Just_John]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:05am

They lost a bunch of them by accident while renovating the site. It's all good it's making the site better. Now I want to know the answer to this question. lol

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:10am

give me like a half an hour and I'll re hash my seattle thoughts and kyle and I I'm guessing are always willing to go on about how much we loved Celia.

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:13am

There was a song that (as far as I've been told) was called Margaret, and it was basically The Beauty Is(Reprise) but in the first act. She instead sang about turning to get the phone, etc. It came before Say it Somehow, when instead of going to the hotel bar, she took a taxi ride.

[Max4903]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 1:17am

It was a great production with great cast.. but the design was much better on Broadway.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 1:20am

I agree about the design. Can someone post the link to the video? I found one on youtube, but I know there's a longer video out there. I'd love to hear Celia singing. Who plays the Fabrizzo in this cast? I don't like his voice as much as the Broadway Fabrizzos.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 1:33am

Ok, so basically we all know that the casts were different in the other cities (Seattle had Steven Pasquale as Fabrizio who in my opinion was easily the best Fabrizio and as others have said he WOULD have won the Tony and Wayne Wilcox (sp?) played Fabrizio in the Chicago run b/c Pasquale left to do Rescue Me have only heard wonderful reports on Wilcox in the role, Celia Keenan Bolger as Clara also amazing and beautiful and could go on for hours about her, and Kelli O'Hara was playing Franca at the time and was a hoot) The show was directed by Craig Lucas in Seattle and some things that I noticed were changed were Celia played the role younger and very innocently (think Katie Clarke) Il Mondo was not in the Seattle run and as we learned today it was not in the Chicago run either and that Adam wrote it last (he wrote the title song first) and it is Fabrizio's version of Light in the Piazza.*got that from this mornings posters I do remember what almostxfamous is talking about and thought that worked. The orchestra was smaller and had less string players which gave it a more intimate like feel which worked very well for the venue it was in. the sets were different and smaller and let you use more imagination but to me the NYC sets were the best i've seen in my life.
There were obviously little lyrical differences (I do remember that Fable was not in it's final form at all)and scenes were not in finished forms. There was no Clara's interlude. I think the most breathtaking moment in seattle (and trust me there were many)was Steven Pasquale's Love to Me...he took a very tiny pause that I have never seen or heard any other Fabrizio do in the same way there have been others that take the pause i'm sure they all do b/c of the rythym but the way he sang "This is how i know, This is what I see...this...is love...to me" his emphasizing this and then the pauses following were sooo effective and I'm crying just thinking about it. You could just feel the love between him and celia...best chemistry in my opinion. I probably am missing some other differences but those were the main ones.

Updated On: 7/12/06 at 01:33 AM

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:31am

When NPR had that clip of Adam Guettel singing Love to Me, he also took the pauses where Pasquale did. I don't know if they were Guettel's which Pasquale picked up on, or if it was the other way around, but I agree, they're very effective.

And for those looking for the legal link, it's about the tenth entry on this page of clips from the Seattle TV station:
KCTS video segment

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:36am

OMG were they effective! Seriously, it was such a perfect moment and the power of pauses b/c you're heart just broke in that pause. Pasquale is amazing and I wish more people could have seen him in the role. I had a hard time putting into words what i meant about the pauses but seriously if you were there you know what i'm talking about

[LadyLizaElliott]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 9:01am

Wow, thank you so much for posting that!

[AshleyBrownFan123]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 10:14am

Wait, Kelli as Franca? Scary!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 10:29am

Wow, thanks for posting the link. Both Steven and Celia are wonderful. What a beautiful voice Celia has. It's interesting to see the transformation the women's costumes made from the Seattle run to Broadway.

I don't think Kelly as Franca is scary at all. I'm sure she was excellent.

Gustof777, your description of Love to Me (which is probably my favorite number in the show), gave me chills.

[chernjam]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:29am

First off, never knew that Steven Pasquale was Fabrizio - kind of came on as a fan of Light in the Piazza recently (when I saw the PBS Live from Lincoln Center- and now I cannot get that music out of my head!)

At any rate- I was stunned to read that Pasquale originated the role and enjoyed the brief clip from above. I watch "Rescue Me" every week and could never have imagined the same guy playing Sean Garrity played Fabrizio.

Too bad he didn't get to originate the role on Broadway. It's been interesting to read how the show changed and developed.

Jim

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:31am

Jim, glad you got to see the PBS version. It's even better in person. Hope you go to see the tour.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:53pm

chernjam yeah I was extremely dissapointed that not many people got to see his take on the role...although I think Matt and Aaron were excellent as well. Yeah Steven Pasquale is by far one of my favorite actors and without a doubt one of my favorite singers. If you haven't heard the "A Man of No Importance" w/ him you should go pick it up. His "Streets of Dublin" is stunning. I really hope that he keeps coming back to the theater although he's great on Rescue Me. Oh trust me AshleyBrownFan123 Kelli was a wonderful Franca and she has even said that she loved playing the part and that she wasn't even sure if she wanted to switch to Clara. She had a very similar take on it as Sarah did and was very very funny and sounded beautiful as usual. Jim, I hope you get to see the tour because nothing compares to seeing the show live. and David Burnham is doing the tour and I've heard he's amazing as Fabrizio

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 1:07pm

Having seen David go on as Fabrizio, I can attest he is wonderful!!

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 1:50pm

hey just thought I'd share a review of the Seattle run

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/seattle/se136.html

maybe that would give a little better idea at the production

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:01pm

Reading that review makes me wonder why Celia was not brought to Broadway.

[chernjam]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:24pm

gustof777 - I'd definitely go to see it if it comes around - hopefully it will stop in Newark at the NJ Performing Arts Center (they just had Chicago there a few weeks ago, even though Chicago is still playing in NY only 25 miles away) If not, I might take the trip to Philly.

I can't tell you how when I watched it on PBS how I was kicking myself that it only had two more weeks to it's run, and I knew I couldn't get in there to see it. Would love to see it live, but am happy to have it on Video (although, I'm hoping for a DVD release with better sound/picture quality than my staticy cable version)

Never knew Pasquale was such a singing talent either... Interesting to read the articles on the show's development.

Wonder if they'll bring it to London...
Jim

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:30pm

cool, well then you'll probably see me b/c I'll be in Philly and will try to see it as often as I can lol! yeah, Pasquale is quite the talent...I'm always a little suprised that he's not talked about more on these boards but he hasn't done a Broadway show yet so that's probably it. But, he was in the reading of the Roundabout's revival of "110 in the Shade" with Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris and Michael Arden so hopefully we maybe will some him on B'way next spring but who knows?

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:34pm

It'll be nice if it comes to NJPAC. It wil be coming to Philly.

Anyway NJPAC has such a terrible Broadway line-up for 06-07. I'm so dissapointed.

And regarding Chicago.. it's very rare producers would bring a tour so close to Broadway where the same show is playing. But the Weisslers did it as a marketing ploy. If the people who saw it at NJPAC liked it so much, they could always go 12-15 miles to NYC and see it again, or they could reccomend their friends to see it on Broadway.

Great marketing idea in my opinion.

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 3:27pm

In regards to Celia, did she decide to take Spelling Bee over Piazza?

[bjivie2]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 3:33pm

I'm not sure if she took Spelling Bee instead, but I had heard that she was replaced on good terms by Kelli O'Hara partially because Kelli had the natural soprano to tackle the role, where as it didn't come as naturally to Celia. I saw Celia here in Seattle and thought she was brilliant. I was so sad when I had heard she wasn't going to Broadway, but was so happy when she got a nom for Spelling Bee. So deserving of everything she gets. So talented.

And Steven Pasquale was great as well.

There also was no ensemble in Seattle, the set was much more simple and intimate.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 3:53pm

yeah...there is much MUCH discussion about Celia's depature from the show and if you search you'll find a lot of stuff and Kelli o'hara discusses it sort of in her downstage center interview...I don't think we'll ever know what really went down but basically the reason they gave was that she came across too youthful and that when clara's handicap is revealed it wasn't suprising. (although, Celia did a very similar take as Katie Clarke so why they couldn't just keep celia is beyond me) and they said that she wasn't a born soprano which she's not but in my opinion she sounded great and had no vocal issues. But either way she found Spelling Bee and I know remained close w/ the Piazza family.