Piazza: Weston Playhouse video

Well, to give my own review (because I don't remember seeing any threads about it), it wasn't a bad production. I felt it could have been tighter. I wasn't a huge fan of Theresa McCarthy as Margaret because I didn't find her as convincing. Her facial expressions didn't vary. It made "Dividing Day" feel pointless. The Act One ending suffered for the same reason... it just looked like "oh, look who is here." But she did have an excellent voice. Lauren Worsham looks very young to be playing Clara, but I felt she was effective. The rest of the cast did an excellent job. The stand out WAS Sarah Uriarte Berry, but that is a given since she originated Franca.

My only real issue with the production is the sound. The orchestra sounds excellent, going from a full orchestra to a 5-piece. Nothing sounded lost involving them. However, the actors needed to be miked (miced? mic'ed?). It looks like they are in the video, but those had to only be for monitoring purposes. It was hard to make out a lot of what they were singing.

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Updated On: 7/22/08 at 06:41 PM

...says the person with Katie Clarke in her avatar.

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Weston Playhouse is like 30 minutes from me! So of course I saw Piazza there REALLY, really gorgeous production. I'd never seen the show before, and it was just fantastic.

Wasn't a fan of the woman who played Margaret, but omg Lauren Worsham who played Clara is THE most adorable thing! She is SO uber cute and fantastic and I love her to death :) She IS admittedly a tad bit young for the role (she READS very young), and her voice, though lovely, might not be the strongest, but she's got MAD acting chops. She was just so.. charming.

Kevin Worley was also fantastic as Fabrizio. INCREDIBLY lovely voice

And um, Sarah Berry is basically the awesomest. She has the most PERFECT comedic timing and SO much spunk. It was such a treat getting to see her in the show :)


So yeah, if anyone lives anywhere near Weston, I highly recommend seeing the show! It's wonderful

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Updated On: 7/22/08 at 08:38 PM

I actually liked her somewhat in the tour; on Broadway her vocals were just wretched.

I suppose I should change my avatar at some point so as not to further that impression.

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It's kind of neat how the piano player from the "Piazza" tour is now the music director of this version. Also from the tour, the violinist (Shih-Hung Young.) Is it just me or does the violinist on this video sound terrible. The violinist from the tour didn't sound at all that inexperienced and weak (minimal vibrato, bad intonation.) Sorry...i'm a pit geek.

The violinist was very good when I saw it.

I saw the original production with Kelli and only saw the PBS airing with Katie. The Clara at Weston probably is older than Katie, but the way she carries herself onstage projects more of a child. The people I was with (there were 4 of us, sitting 2 and 2 with distance in between) all said the same thing at intermission about her.

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