Light in the Piazza Reviews- Page 4
Light in the Piazza Reviews
#75The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 12:29amWe're missing the post!
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#76The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 12:38am
USA Today, Newsday, The NY Post, The Washington Post, the Journal News, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, the Hartford Courant, the Jersey papers et al
It's very good slate so far, though. Hopefully it'll sell some tickets.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#78The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 12:43am
Bergen Register in Mixzed:
"It's rare, and refreshing, to find a relatively young, sophisticated composer-lyricist writing a romantic musical.
And there are times in "The Light in the Piazza" when Adam Guettel, who is Richard Rodgers' grandson, has written songs that are as exquisitely lovely as any heard in a new musical in many seasons.
But there's also something about Guettel's sensibility that prevents him from plunging fully into the passion that his story suggests.
The show, which opened Monday night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, is based on Elizabeth Spencer's 1959 novella - also made into a 1962 film - about the romance of a young American woman, visiting Florence with her mother, and an eager young Italian who falls in love with her at first sight. There are two radiant songs, the title number, sung by the young woman, Clara (Kelli O'Hara), and "Love to Me," sung by the man, Fabrizio (Matthew Morrison). They have a melodic beauty and a lyrical directness that convey a sense of rapture, combining the emotions of two people with the energizing euphoria of post-war Italy.
But the majority of the score is in a different vein. Melodies are harder to find in songs that are musings and reflections about feeling rather than vibrant expressions of feeling. Often elegant and even poetic, these numbers come across as art songs - several are in untranslated Italian - rather than theater songs. Their effect is to distance the characters from us.
__________________________________________________________
"Clark, a familiar figure in Broadway musicals, usually in comic character roles, gives a quietly lovely, nuanced performance that lets us feel all of Margaret's conflicts. In one of the show's most expressive songs, "Dividing Day," she touchingly reveals the downward path of Margaret's marriage, and establishes the emotions with which she lives.
The Clara-Fabrizio story is much harder to respond to. Except in the love songs, which are beautifully sung, it's presented externally; the characters don't come to full-bodied life. And Clara's subtle handicap proves to be a tough affliction to dramatize. She must appear totally normal to Fabrizio and his family, while revealing her defects to us. The best O'Hara can manage is to make Clara seem high-strung.
There are lovely and thoughtful moments in "The Light in the Piazza," which has been staged with care by director Bartlett Sher. But too often, it has a low-key, contemplative quality that lacks the life force that the show is celebrating."
apdarcey
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/10/04
#79The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 12:48am
alright, i know what i said before... but i thought you'd all like to know that next fall i'm taking a theatre criticism course with peter marks, the lead theatre critic for the washington post...
back to piazza
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#80The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 12:50am
leaving the snippet job to margo... heres the link to the washington post...
Washington Post
Jazzysuite82
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/6/05
#81The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:01amsaying that melodies are hard to find is a rather ill-informed thing to say. It's very amateurish to say. Finding a melody in a song is the most basic of skills. Now if you don't like the melody you hear, then that's something else entirely. Write about THAT not about the absence of one because to any informed person or musician, you come across as very foolish.
apdarcey
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/10/04
#82The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:02amwell said jazzy... apparently people like sondheim don't write melodies...
#83The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:06am
i know this will NEVER happen in a MILLION years- but i would DIE if pbs captured this peice for great performances.
anyone have any connection?!?!?! lol.
if they can record that HORRID london production of kiss me, kate- they can record piazza!
Updated On: 4/19/05 at 01:06 AM
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#84The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:20am
did we mention the theatermania one?
CLICK ME TO READ
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#85The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:22amKyle - I had EXACTLY the same thought! This would seem to fit very nicely into their programming . . .
#87The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 1:40am
Ooh, Jazzy, bingo! I think the word they're really reaching for here makes them sound rather simplistic, which is why they stick to saying these songs have no melody; they're really referring to hummability, or catchiness.
As Sondheim said, "there's not a tune you can hum, there's a not a tune to go bum, bum, bum-de-dum."
The only problem is that these clearly uninformed "critics" (I call them reviewers for nearly none of them are true critics in a real sense of the word) can easily sway people who will think, "let's just go see that Elvis show."
MusicMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#88The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 3:20am
"...they're really referring to hummability and catchiness.."
No, they're referring to quality and distinction.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#90The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 4:36am
Re: The Post review...
Are you KIDDING me?
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#91The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 5:15am
not a review of course, but broadway abridged is always funny..
CLICK ME TO READ
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#92The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 5:20am
Please don't be upset. Barnes is a very, VERY old man who has fallen asleep at nearly every single show he has reviewed in the last three decades. I don't exaggerate -- I've personally witnessed his head tilted back with his eyes closed and his mouth drooped open at least three dozen shows in the last 20 years myself ... including shows he's eventually raved about, as well as shows he's panned.
It's no secret -- EVERYBODY in the industry knows about it. He goes to shows, falls asleep and writes whatever madness he's going to write based on what he finds in the press packet they give every critic when they walk into the theatre. That and his general incompetence is the reason the Times fired him as lead critic over a quarter of a century ago (1978, wasn't it?).
Yet, he continues on delivering his often baffling, misguided, entirely somnolent missives every week with the Post. But then, they really don't care about "journalistic excellence" in any shape, manner or form do they?
Could someone please force mandatory RETIREMENT on these idiots before they destroy the American Theatre????? PLEASE????
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#93The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 5:27am
*can think of a few ways to get rid of a critic who falls asleep at shows*
none of them are legal tho.
#94The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 5:28am
Thanks Margo, I appreciate you telling me that. I mean, I accept pans or what have you - but to say "Guettel's modish music is the show's fatal flaw: It doesn't fly." just kills me.
"Could someone please force mandatory RETIREMENT on these idiots before they destroy the American Theatre????? PLEASE????"
Amen.
#95The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 6:41am
The Broadway Abridged made me laugh out loud!
Set Designer: I am totally awesome.
Plot: I am totally not.
QueenMuppet
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/29/04
#96The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 8:50am
I'm just very relieved that they didn't get the bad reviews that some posters on here hoped for or expected. I loved this show and the performances, I'm so happy it got at least fairly good reviews with a few raves. That's good enough for me. 
And thanks Margo for your excellent review thread.... once again.
QM
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#97The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 9:12am
<
Thank you. I've never understood that man. Finally it made sense.
Honestly, how could anybody say the music was the worst part of the show? Elements of the show may be flawed, but the music is reason enough to go see it!
QueenMuppet
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/29/04
#98The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 9:31am
The Post review is so 'off', it's ridiculous. After reading what Margo said, I'm not surprised anymore though. I think you can tell in his review that he didn't even see the show (as he was probably asleep). It sounds like someone gave him a bad summary afterwards...
QM
LouW95
Leading Actor Joined: 9/27/03
#99The Light In The Piazza
Posted: 4/19/05 at 9:35am
Let's not fall into the trap of making too much of these critics. Most people, outside our circles, never read them or even heard of them. Ticket sales usually come from good advertising, hype, and especially word of mouth. Look how well poorly reviewed shows have done (Beauty & The Beast, AIDA, All Shook Up) and then look how highly acclaimed shows had very short runs. Very few out of towners or people outside our community know of or care about the critics--let's not give them too much attention.
Updated On: 4/19/05 at 09:35 AM
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