The Light In The Piazza - SF 1st Preview — Page 4

From what I've heard about David, I agree that he needs to work on the transitions in his voice and also his Italian accent.

Btw, isn't that Elena's natural hair?

I'm really getting sick of people saying that she looks "too Italian." In the book, there's this scene where Margaret doesn't even recognize Clara once she's gotten tanner and is wearing Italian clothes, etc, because she blends in so well.

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That's not her natural hair. For one, a month ago they posted a rehearsal picture and she had short hair, she couldn't have grown it that fast. And 2, in the pictures you can see the wigline.

"I thought David Burnham's accent was just fine"

Lizzie, so far I have agreed with you on this show. I thought he was excellent in the role!

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So glad everyone enjoyed themselves! Can't wait to see this when it comes to Philly!

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And I thought I was the only freak who had an affinity for "Clara's Tirade"! Glad to know I'm not alone.

I had a feeling Christine would soar in "Dividing Day", but falter somewhat in "Fable". Her voice can be very haunting and soothing, but I don't know if it's got the powerhouse quality that Vicki Clark had to bring down the house in the final "LOVE!". Patti Cohenour found her nitch in the song by stressing different words with her voice. I hope Christine can find hers too.

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I'd not seen the show before last night, so I don't know what the chemistry is "supposed" to be like, but I thought the two had a very, well, I guess you could say, cute connection. It worked pretty well considering the parameters of the characters.

On the topic of the glasses, they were definitely Clark Kent-ish. Or maybe Buddy Holly-ish. It's nice that they are period-looking, but they are kind of distracting.

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my playbill~ sorry about the faulty link, it's fixed!

Updated On: 8/2/06 at 05:35 PM

I LOVE it. I wish they were using different pictures of the leads (I think they look a little odd in those publicity shots) and I think that's still Michael and Sarah in the background, but it looks great! Now lets hope they issue a poster!!

Thank you so much jochang! That was very nice of you!

Hello All--

Whew! I'm tired from last night. My friend drove me to the city (this was his first time driving and he got incredibly lost). So the show was phenomenal and the audience received it quite nicely. Bartlett (Director) gave the speech which explained about their very recent arrival into the city and how they should share their anxieties with us. LOL. I was teary eyed from the moment I saw the beautiful scrim/curtain. The scrim is a landscape of Italy depicting beautful buildings and really sets the mood for the show. As the lights dim, the curtain rises and the scrim stays put. We see Christine Andreas (Margaret) enter from up right and make her way progressively down stage center as the Scrim rises.

THE FLUBS
Very few were made. Yet they were noticable. For instance: a few people have pointed out the lighting cues were missed (spots) for Christine when she did her aside,a few thuds were heard backstage, a line stumble or two, and other than that everything seemed to flow rather smoothly. And was the curtain supposed to come down immediately after Act Two? It went down a few minutes into intermission. I would've preferred it to go down immediately--though I guess its for effect.

THE SHOW/THE AUDIENCE
I have never seen the show live, just the PBS Broadcast. Phenomenal! Absolutely fantastic! I loved every minute of it and I was completely emotionally invested the whole time.

The audience really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The one thing that I found amusing last night in the audience was during a scene change directly after Signor Nacarelli storms off because he finds something he doesn't like on Clara's papers; an old woman said quite loudly "WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WAS?! HER AGE? YOU THINK IT WAS HER AGE!???" hehe

THE ACTORS

Laura Griffth (Franca)
Has stage presence like no other; sheer sex appeal. She fit very well into her role. All of her gestures were firm and you couldn't help but keep your eyes pasted on her. I much preferred her voice over Sarah Uriate Berry's. Don't get me wrong, Sarah has a gorgeous voice. Though Laura's was soft, belty, and perfect!

Jonathan Hammond (Giuessppe)
Hillarious! Great comedic timing. He handled his role quite nicely and fit very well into the cast.

David Ledingham (Signor Nacarelli)
I very much enjoyed his performance. Very firm and precise. I couldn't help but see a strong similarity to Chris Sarandon's (Hopefully the right actor I'm thinking of)interpretation of the role.

Elena Shaddow (Clara)
I did not expect to be blown back by her performance, yet I was indeed [blown back]. Her voice was absolutely sensational and stronger than the other Clara's I've heard. Her rendition of "The Light in the Piazza" left me teary eyed and my hairs were literally standing up.

David Burnham (Fabrizio)
Loved him, his voice seemed sort of thin in the beginning. Though when he sang "Il Monda Era Vuoto" it was pure magic. He was very invested in the emotional journey that this character takes. It was a truly inspired performance. I thought the glasses added a lot to the character...

Christine Andreas (Margaret)
As someone noted before; her voice is much more huskier than Victoria Clark's. It took me just a little while to grow onto her. In the beginning, I felt she went down at the end of her lines in songs and dialogue and it was sort of difficult to make out what she was saying. Though she more than made up with it with her soaring range and beautiful presence. What really got me was at the end when she looks up and sings "May it last forever..Clara...The Light in the Piazza". Her face just made me ball up inside; it just said so much.

My friend and I were the very first to give a standing ovation.
The actors the received the loudest applause were Laura Griffths, David Burnham, Elena Shaddow, and Christine Andreas.

I met Bartlett Sher. He was super nice. I spent the entire night trying to find Adam Guettel. I didn't find him sadly. I couldn't remember what he looked like anywho..so that didn't help me very much. The Actors were especially kind at the stage door and were encouraging us to spread the word of Piazza.

To answer a previous question; They were not selling merchandise in the theatre. Not that I could find at least. My friend did happen to grab a few extra playbills..though I'm not sure if they were for intended for others...

yay! it works now!

Updated On: 8/2/06 at 05:59 PM

Bump! Anyone see any of today's shows?

Until new ads can be designed (all the elements are there - witness the SF Playbill cover even though it has NY and tour cast members combined), the current ads in SF have added a line (barely readable) identifying Katie and Aaron in the photo.

Hopefully they didn't hire an older gentleman and left out his stupid, random, pointless part and Clara's lines that go with them. Probably not though.