#1
Posted: 11/2/05 at 12:45am
When I first saw this show in previews, I thought it was an uneven, confusing bore. It wasn't until I purchased the cast recording that I was really taken in by the deceptive simplicity of the story - and the alarming complexity of it's characters.
I thought the score was brilliant the first time I saw the show - that was never a question. What I didn't see last time were characters that I cared about. I failed to see why the story was being told, and who on earth would want to write a show based on a story so bland. I didn't care for any of the characters, and I thought most of the performances were all over the place.
It could have been that it was a bad night, and it could have been that the show wasn't yet solidified. Either is possible, but my hunch is that the show was exactly the same then as it was tonight. The change wasn't in the show, but inside of me.
Last April, I was a person very afraid of love - very dismissive of love. Very cynical about the entire possibility of two people connecting with each other on such a level that the world suddenly looks like a different place. Where although everything around you has remained the same, through your eyes, it will never again appear the same.
When love comes into your life, as I'm sure many of you know, everything is a little brighter. Everything is a little more significant, and you tend to have more confidence about your entire life. The only thing you need to know for sure is that the person that brought these feelings out in you will remain by your side indefinitely. Obviously, that doesn't happen often - and with me, is begining to look like it WON'T happen. This time. What I have learned through my experience is that although the people you love and share yourself with will undoubtedly change - and will absolutely come in and out of your life (sometimes at the most unexpected and inopportune moments,) the lessons you learn from them will remain inside you forever. Once you have felt an extreme love for another human being - you begin to love yourself - and you begin to see that there is beauty everywhere and in everything - and when watching a movie, or a show - you suddenly know how important love is to different characters. I find that since my experiences, I cry more often, I smile more often, I hurt more often, but I allow myself to LEARN more often. And maybe that's what love is all about...learning to grow, learning to allow things to be, and learning that it's okay to be afraid sometimes.
Tonight watching PIAZZA, I witnessed what I am quite certain is the most beautiful and exquisitely delicate piece of musical theatre that I am likely to see in my entire life - surely of what I have seen in my mere 20 years. The entire cast, from top to bottom, gives brilliant performances. Adam Guettel's absolutely brilliant, pristine score has the uncanny ability to send perpetual shivers down my spine and to form a constant lump in my throat. Individually and collectively, his songs put tears in my eyes.
And finally, I urge any of you that haven't seen this yet (is that possible?) to do so immediately. It leaves you feeling so pensive, so satisfied, and so unbelievably content with life absolutely nothing can take away from you.
I thought the score was brilliant the first time I saw the show - that was never a question. What I didn't see last time were characters that I cared about. I failed to see why the story was being told, and who on earth would want to write a show based on a story so bland. I didn't care for any of the characters, and I thought most of the performances were all over the place.
It could have been that it was a bad night, and it could have been that the show wasn't yet solidified. Either is possible, but my hunch is that the show was exactly the same then as it was tonight. The change wasn't in the show, but inside of me.
Last April, I was a person very afraid of love - very dismissive of love. Very cynical about the entire possibility of two people connecting with each other on such a level that the world suddenly looks like a different place. Where although everything around you has remained the same, through your eyes, it will never again appear the same.
When love comes into your life, as I'm sure many of you know, everything is a little brighter. Everything is a little more significant, and you tend to have more confidence about your entire life. The only thing you need to know for sure is that the person that brought these feelings out in you will remain by your side indefinitely. Obviously, that doesn't happen often - and with me, is begining to look like it WON'T happen. This time. What I have learned through my experience is that although the people you love and share yourself with will undoubtedly change - and will absolutely come in and out of your life (sometimes at the most unexpected and inopportune moments,) the lessons you learn from them will remain inside you forever. Once you have felt an extreme love for another human being - you begin to love yourself - and you begin to see that there is beauty everywhere and in everything - and when watching a movie, or a show - you suddenly know how important love is to different characters. I find that since my experiences, I cry more often, I smile more often, I hurt more often, but I allow myself to LEARN more often. And maybe that's what love is all about...learning to grow, learning to allow things to be, and learning that it's okay to be afraid sometimes.
Tonight watching PIAZZA, I witnessed what I am quite certain is the most beautiful and exquisitely delicate piece of musical theatre that I am likely to see in my entire life - surely of what I have seen in my mere 20 years. The entire cast, from top to bottom, gives brilliant performances. Adam Guettel's absolutely brilliant, pristine score has the uncanny ability to send perpetual shivers down my spine and to form a constant lump in my throat. Individually and collectively, his songs put tears in my eyes.
And finally, I urge any of you that haven't seen this yet (is that possible?) to do so immediately. It leaves you feeling so pensive, so satisfied, and so unbelievably content with life absolutely nothing can take away from you.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
Updated On: 11/2/05 at 12:45 AM
