Light in the Piazza Reviews — Page 2

Me too, DGrant.

QM

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I think Clark is probably the front runner, but again its not a very accesible show. Still, her competition is weak. Sutton Foster won't win a second Tony so soon with such a limpid show as LITTLE WOMEN. Clark's closest competition may be Christina Applegate if she can pull off a coup -- but that remains to be seen.

sure the reviews can definitely give her a leg up, but why give it to someone when the audience wont be able to go see her, if the show does close on schedule, a week after the awards ... thats something that unfortunately comes into play more than it should.

maybe im just optimistic (ive been called much worse in life) but i figured the lead getting great reviews would lead to the sales boost, thus the extension.

i dont know exactly when they need to announce such things, maybe the nominations will be the deciding factor...

Updated On: 4/18/05 at 07:41 PM

Mistress -- It's good to be optomistic! But the truth is, that top reviews for a Broadway performer who is not a recognized name doesn't typically boost ticket sales.

That goes for PR as well. When it was announced that Miss D'Amboise was taking over CHARITY, the NYTIMES did an enormous story on her, pushing her as an unsung star getting her chance at last.

The story did absolutely nothing for the show's box office.

Even if the reviews for LIGHT had been through the roof raves, its still a tough sell. Audiences are fickle. And tourists typically like a different sort of musical.

Yes I agree Margo about orchestrations. Unless there is some sentimental old favorite attached to one of the other shows who hasn't won yet.

Is it completely out of the question that Sondheim will win Best Score for The Frogs because it is eligible and he IS Sondheim? Not saying this is going to happen, just wondering..

I think that's an open question. With all the attention Sondheim has gotten this year with 75th birthday celebrations all over the place, the incredible level of love and respect there is for him in the Broadway community and the fact that "The Frogs" could possibly be his final new (-ish) score for Broadway, I don't know that we should count him out just yet for a possible nomination this year. Not to mention, it's not as if there have a whole bunch of stellar original scores this year. If it were me -- not to say that my tastes will in anyway reflect the nominating committee's -- I'd give score nods to Piazza, DRS, Spelling Bee and The Frogs. But, again, that's just me.

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No one is going to yell at you

I just know that for me, most of the critics and most of the people on the board, the score of "Little Women" was pedestrian, monotonous, uninspired and down-right sleep-inducing.

"The Frogs" score includes "Invocations and Instructions to the Audience," "I Love To Travel," "Ariadne," "Dress Big," "Hades" and several other highlights that it would be a shame to overlook at nomination time.

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The Brantley review might not be a traditinional "money" review, but in the current climate, it's a kind of validation of the piece's notable ambitions. These days, in a season with VIBRATIONS and ALL SHOOK, ambitious is high praise, if through the stage door.

As for Clark, well, this time last year, Tonya Pinkens, with a not dissimilar reception, was a shoo-in. Remember? At this very board, it was a done deal, with Donna the dark horse. Or perhaps, the same two, in reverse. Donna, shoo-in (blessed by Brantley), Caroline, blessed by cogniscenti. Then, the closer we got, Idina moved forward, from way behind, against many odds. Perhaps it's increasingly hard to call in April.

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Updated On: 4/18/05 at 08:56 PM

Of all the contenders Victoria Clark may not be a shoo-in yet. We are still yet to be decided on Applegate on SWEET CHARITY. As of now, Clark has the upper-hand and no one is pulling an Idina Menzel like last year (in response to what Auggie said). Who knows? My money's on Clark though.

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Updated On: 4/18/05 at 09:18 PM

Such a shame that Pacific Overtures will be forgotten (although, I doubt it would have had a chance even if it was still running).

Updated On: 4/18/05 at 09:26 PM

Kuchwara from the AP is a RAVE:

"Funny where love may turn up. In "The Light in the Piazza," which opened Monday at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, it arrives on a gust of wind, blowing a young woman's straw hat across a Florentine plaza and into the hands of a handsome, almost fairy-tale fellow.

This enchanting musical celebrates the unexpectedness and intensity of it all, no matter what the roadblocks, and does it with style. "Piazza" is a show of considerable beauty -- more melodically, emotionally and visually satisfying than any other musical this season.
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In a Broadway season awash in clever if strenuously constructed silliness -- "Monty Python's Spamalot" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" come to mind -- "The Light in the Piazza" stands out as something more: a truly adult musical with serious intentions.
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And Guettel, who wrote the off-Broadway musical "Floyd Collins," has provided some intricate yet gorgeous melodies for them to warble. The composer has a distinct musical voice, not flashy, but quietly insinuating. His songs sneak up on you, capture a character or a moment and then quickly move on. Yet the memory remains. And his lyrics refuse to find their way to easy rhyme.

The cast serves this material with astonishing skill, starting with a perfectly realized performance by Victoria Clark as the distraught American mother. Clark, a musical-theater veteran of such shows as "Titanic" and the Matthew Broderick revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," flourishes here.

The tremulous, pent-up Margaret brims with love, for her daughter and for her husband, a love that is not consistently returned. In "Dividing Day," one of the show's pivotal musical numbers, Margaret realizes love has disappeared from her marriage. It's a shattering moment that the actress turns into an aria of devastation.

Kelli O'Hara is lovely as the childlike, impetuous Clara, the show's most vocally demanding role. Matthew Morrison is properly ardent as Clara's newfound love. And there are firmly etched portraits by Mark Harelik and Patti Cohenour as the youth's parents, Michael Berresse as his wandering brother and, particularly, Sarah Uriarte Berry as his spitfire of a sister-in-law.
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Bartlett Sher has directed the show with remarkable fluidity. Designer Michael Yeargan's elegant sets float effortlessly across the vast Beaumont stage. Columns and arches, along with a statue or two and drops of Italian renaissance paintings, represent the glories of Florence. Catherine Zuber's costumes, particularly for the women, are witty time capsules, instant reminders that we are in 1953, an era of full skirts and trim, tight suits.

"No one with a dream should come to Italy, no matter how dead and buried you think it is. ... This is where Italy will get you," Margaret says during one of her many asides to the audience. That bright Italian sunlight will expose, for better or worse, all your secrets. In "Piazza," those secrets -- and how they are dealt with -- make for an entrancing, affecting musical.

AP REVIEW

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Although I disagree with such positive reviews, I'm happy for them.

As far as the "Tony" talk above in this thread regarding orchestrations, I still think ALL SHOOK UP has the best orchestrations of the season so far, and they are my pick to win.

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