Light in the Piazza tour - Broadway transfer?

[orlikethecolorpurple]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 10:04pm

Anyone think there is a grand trajectory for this Renee Fleming tour of The Light in the Piazza? The Chicago Tribune raved and mentions it should be on Broadway. Has anyone seen it with Solea Pfeiffer as Clara? 

Tribune review

[Det95]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 10:29pm

I was lucky enough to see it while in London this summer, and will be seeing it in Chicago on Saturday. Personally, I loved it and can’t wait to see this production again. Renee Flemming is incredible and Rob Houchen steals the show. However, I don’t think that it belongs on Broadway in its current state. If you read the London reviews they were quite mixed. If it were to go the production value would have to be amped up a bit. I’m happy to answer any questions about the production.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 12/17/19 at 11:27pm

What makes the production value so bad? Just cause it’s built to tour?

[chernjam]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 1:13am

Id love to see this on Broadway even if for a limited run... so disappointed I missed the original production

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 1:37am

Leaving for Chicago on the 26th just to see this. I'd love to see it in NY but fear it may not happen.

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 1:37am

Updated On: 12/18/19 at 01:37 AM

[Owen22]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 3:09am

orlikethecolorpurple said: "Anyone think there is a grandtrajectory for this Renee Fleming tour of The Light in the Piazza? The Chicago Tribune raved and mentions it should be on Broadway. Hasanyone seen it with Solea Pfeiffer as Clara?

Tribune review"

Solea is wonderful. Really wonderful. Not the soprano Kelli is, but a better, naturalistic actress. The whole show is wonderful. What a treat to see it again.

 

[Det95]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 8:34am

SouthernCakes said: "What makes the production value so bad? Just cause it’s built to tour?"

I wouldn't say the production value is bad for what it is. This production started as a twenty performance run at a concert hall. The set is quite stationary.

 

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From what I remember the only automation is the statues on the sides of the set turning around to indicate what city we were in. Florence or Rome.

I just think there are ways to bump it up a little to make it feel right for Broadway. Like I said above I loved it and can't wait to see it again this weekend. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 8:58am

True! Tough to beat the original lavish staging. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 9:37am

I'm just grateful the title song can be transposed down so I can play Clara someday. As someone on the autism spectrum, her character is very close to my heart. In fact, it was on these boards that Adam Guettel told me he'd be cool with that!

Between Almost Famous, Evita, and this, Solea's career has really taken off, hasn't it?

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 9:40am

Saw a regional production of Light In The Piazzza- and was entranced- just loved every second of it. I missed it on BWAY- and I also missed The Bridges of Madison County- but if either of these productions make it to BWAY again- I will definitely not miss it this time.

[broadwayindie]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 11:57am

Between Almost Famous, Evita, and this, Solea's career has really taken off, hasn't it?

Don't forget about Songs For A New World!!

[singer234]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 12:11pm

And her new show in DC this winter! I can’t think of another actress her age who has worked so steadily on such a large scale the past year or so.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 2:51pm

Maybe city center or like BAM? I don’t see it coming to Broadway

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 2:57pm

Anyone know if it’s worth to rush this? Gonna try for tonight.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 4:12pm

Not that we couldn't get both, but I really don't want another production to get in the way of Kelli O'Hara playing Margaret in New York in 10-15 years. 

[orph3us]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 4:44pm

broadwayindie said: "Between Almost Famous, Evita, and this, Solea's career has really taken off, hasn't it?

Don't forget about Songs For A New World!!"

She was phenomenal in Hamilton, and I'm so happy she's gotten all this success. She was also just the kindest person ever at the stage door. Really humble and gracious

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 6:27pm

It’s usually overlooked but Kelli was so fabulous in the role, but Clara’s range isn’t all that high. It sets way more in a women’s mix voice then it does a “legit” head voice sound.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 12/18/19 at 10:47pm

Just realized I'll be in town on Sat 12/28 with a couple of friends who'd really love this show. Was looking at tickets and it's really pricey. Does anyone have a promo or discount code? Would really appreciate it.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 12:12am

No promo code or discounts. They aren’t even offering rush, since it isn’t apart of the lyrics official season. I ended up getting the cheapest ticket they had which was 49 dollars.... not too bad, but there were still plenty of empty seats and I felt ripped off a little bit.
Also, Solea was our tonight, which I was pretty shocked about as it’s so early in the run. Her understudy, Molly Lynch, was breathtaking though. She and Renée has such a beautiful relationship on that stage. Alex Jennings was fantastic. I agree with a previous poster that it was the fabrizio, Rob Houchen, who was the standout. He was not only charming, but he had the voice of a god. There are no words to describe how soothing it was.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 12:31am

I first fell in love with Light in the Piazza when I saw a recording of the PBS broadcast over a decade ago. It's been years since I've seen a production, so I was rather excited for this, especially considering Chris Jones's stamp of approval. I wish I shared in his admiration for this production.

Solea was out tonight (in the most bizarre understudy announcement I've ever seen, a man walked onstage with a handheld microphone and said that Ms. Pfeiffer "is indisposed and is unable to perform". Her understudy was fine but nobody in this production has any real fire or passion. The whole thing was cool to the touch. Clara seemed generally capable of handling herself despite minor freakout, Fabrizio seemed generally interested in Clara but not head-over-heels in love, and Margaret seemed generally concerned about her daughter but not shaken to the core by anything. Renee Fleming's acting has none of the woodenness of false "I'm really a singer first" quality her performance in Carousel did, and she does sound lovely and I could understand every word, I'll give her that, and she is probably the strongest part of the cast, but the whole thing kind of fell flat. I don't know if Solea's performance would have brightened things up (her understudy had a nasally placement and a wobbly vibrato that really grated on me), but the problems were deeper than any one person.

Daniel Evans's production just didn't feel very well staged. The blocking very "let's cross to the other side of the stage since we've been standing still for a little while" instead of being motivated by the text. The unit set looks pretty when you walk into the theatre but it doesn't really serve the piece. For a musical with multiple songs about walking, the set didn't really give them many places to go walking or for people to enter/exit from. There's a platform that's horizontally raked, on which all of the indoor scenes take place, so whenever we're in the Nacarelli home everyone slants to the left a little bit. And there were a few theatrical "tricks" that didn't do much for me--rather than the hat being swept away, actors sitting on stairs above Clara carry it away and pass it off to each other (my companion who'd never seen the show asked why others stole her hat), and during The Beauty Is, actors recreated paintings in the background, adding nothing to the story and upstaging Clara's performance of the song. And I couldn't stop wondering why there was a donut-shaped piece of sky suspended from the flies the whole evening (Evans of course directs Fleming to look at it when she sings of "a painted ceiling" in the final song--which earned a chuckle from me).

I have a lot of minor, nitpicky gripes I could list off, but really, I could forgive most of them if the production had more semblance of heart. I didn't buy that anyone was falling in love in this show, I didn't buy that Clara and Fabrizio's love for each other inspired Margaret to realize the problems in her own marriage, I didn't buy that Clara's happiness was so overwhelming that Margaret had to give her a chance and let her go, I didn't buy that Clara's problems would be anything that her new family couldn't handle. There was an alarming lack of conflict. This production just doesn't "get" what makes the show tick, and so this musical I love so much ended up kind of boring me.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 12:33am

Valentina3 said: "Just realized I'll be in town on Sat 12/28 with a couple of friends who'd really love this show. Was looking at tickets and it's really pricey. Does anyone have a promo or discount code? Would really appreciate it."

There are $29 seats on TodayTix

[MathGuy225]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 12:43am

Valentina3 said: "Just realized I'll be in town on Sat 12/28 with a couple of friends who'd really love this show. Was looking at tickets and it's really pricey. Does anyone have a promo or discount code? Would really appreciate it."

I used the code "TZOO" to get 20% off.  I'm pretty sure this will work for all non-premium seats.  Not great, but it brings the cheapest seats down to $39 in the very back and side of the main floor.  (As a side note, at the Lyric, if you're sitting in the back of the main floor, the sides are actually better IMO.  The seating is not staggered at all, so if you're sitting in the center section behind someone tall, their head will directly block the entire stage; I've been hurt by this before.  Fortunately they are renovating the seating in 2020.)

It's also on Goldstar at a discount, though some performances are selling out fast.

[orlikethecolorpurple]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 5:12pm

Glad I waited to get a ticket. I snagged a $35 ticket in row H for tonight. Deep side, but still! Those were very expensive before.

I’m very excited. Hoping Solea is back!

[Valentina3]

Posted: 12/19/19 at 7:41pm

^ thank you everyone. TZOO was slightly better than TodayTix for the seats that looked good so went with that. With any luck, there will be enough empty seats for us to move up but either way - I expect the voices to carry well.

Thanks again!