"The Light in the Piazza" ...- Page 2

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 9:04am

Did you get to see Katie live bjh?

[kasim]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 9:30am

get it ... the singing is beautiful ... i am sooo glad i was able to see it with the original cast.

btw .... you may be able to find online somewhere a recording of it ... since it was on PBS last spring.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:25am

Did you get to see Katie live bjh?

Yes I did. And I was so embarrased because I had been raving about the show to the person I went with...I thought they would love it. And then we saw Katie Clarke, and she was awful. Nobody compares to Kelli O'Hara in this role. It just can't be done.

[sidjones09]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:53am

Get it. Get all of it. Get it now. Don't walk, run.

And having seen all the casts on Broadway including original and replacements. The original cast was by far the best IMO. I know there are a lot of people out there with love for Katie, Aaron, Celia, Elena, David, and Christine but no one can recreate the magic of Vicki, Kelli, and Matt on that stage and on that recording. Sublime.

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 1:38pm

Did you see her early or late in her run?

I was horrified at the PBS broadcast, but when I saw her live right before it closed I was BLOWN AWAY.

I am delighted she is now on tour and that I will be able to see her in Chicago!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 1:40pm

Well it was after the PBS Broadcast, so I suppose late in her run. I was extremely unimpressed.

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 1:43pm

I'm glad you had the opportunity to see Kelli in the role then!

I know how you feel, nobody can compare to Celia in the role for me. Can't be done. :)

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 1:50pm

I really do wish I had gotten to see Celia live. I don't think the clip of her does her justice, as I love her in everything else I have seen her in. I would have loved to see her emotional range from "Piazza" to "Hysteria" to "The Beauty Is" etc. "Hysteria" is always the song that makes it or breaks it for me, and Kelli delivered that song like nobody's business.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 2:20pm

One of my favorite cds.

I also have the score, which I play all the time.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 2:21pm

Kyle, you are so lucky to have seen Celia.

I saw the show last week in Seattle, and Katie was in fine form. Her acting was top notch, and her vocals have definitely improved since the Broadway run.

[galindagirl2]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 2:28pm

Get it! It's some of the most gorgeous Broadway music this decade has known!

Wow...didn't know I was that passionate...

[chino]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 6:47pm

Ok, I got the CD today!!! I can't stop playing it. I really love it.

So, I want to thank all of you for sharing your thoughts.

And forgive me if I sounded crazy on some of my posts, was having a bad day yesterday, I know I should not reflect it in anyway, so I am really sorry for doing so.

Once again, thank you guys! You all are a blessing for convincing me to buy it

I hope they release the DVD!

GOD BLESS!
Updated On: 4/25/07 at 06:47 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 6:58pm

GET EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THIS SHOW! Get the novella, get the album, scavage a copy of the PBS broadcast, see the 1962 film. It is a brilliant story and film and an even better musical. It's probably the best that will be written this decade.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:15pm

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding you, Kyle, but the PBS taping and the closing were only a little over 2 weeks apart. Sorry, but your post just makes it sound like the PBS taping could have been much earlier in her run with the closing coming later; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't reading that wrong.

That being said, I saw Clarke two months into her run and she was bad. I saw her a month later and she was still bad (probably the worst I would see her). I was actually at the taped performance, and she was just as bad then as she was every other time I had seen her (three times, at that point).

I think she'd have made a really great Belle in Beauty and the Beast, but she could not sing that score. I liked some of her ideas acting-wise, but hated her execution.

And to whoever said, no one can compare to Kelli O'Hara in the role, I think Elena Shaddow does quite a fine job living up to Kelli's little legacy. At the end of the day, Kelli sang it better (mostly because, as others have pointed out, it seemed like Elena sacrificed perfect singing for her acting during the title song), but Elena still clearly has a gorgeous voice.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:18pm

I agree that of all the people I have seen in the role, Elena comes the closest in quality to Kelli and she has a perfectly nice voice. But, in my opnion, Kelli still takes the cake. I have said numerous times now that the one song in the show that really makes it or breaks it for me is "Hysteria" because it involves both a solid voice and a solid acting foundation and lots of emotions. For me, Kelli is the only one who performed that song in a way that moved me.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:48pm

Plus before Aaron started the show, he was always a bass,a baritone at the highest. "Love to Me" is a tenor song. And it was beautiful.

How many times did I see the show? Well, it's an embarrassing numer, but I saw Katie a few times and she never once impressed me. Very pretty, and a good actress, but compared to Kelli O'Hara? Plus, even though Aaron did a fantastic job with playing a passionate 20 year old, Katie just did not look 26 compared to him. Maybe that's not her fault, but it didn't work for me because I was like "this girl is a baby compared to him". she's really not THAT much younger than him, but her presence wasn't enough.

As much as I love Matty Morrison, he should stick to Hairspray.

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:56pm

My wording did suck! I'm sorry.

I guess what I was trying to say is that I think nerves once again got to her on the PBS broadcast.

I just don't understand it. I heard she was awful in the beginning, I didn't enjoy her on PBS, but the two performances I saw 2 days before closing were amazing. She blew me away.

Piazza is my favorite show, I have seen it 20 times, I like to think I am a good judge when it comes to it. I went in expecting the worse and I came out ADORING her in the role. It is crazy! I don't know... She certainly was NOT the same girl that is on the PBS broadcast.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:01pm

I was never a fan of Katie's either in the vocal department, but after seeing the show twice last week in Seattle, her vocals have definitely improved since her run on Broadway. I agree, during the Broadway run, her top register was shrill. Now there seems to be much more ease and freedom with the top notes. I always found her acting to be fine, and her charaacter choices are spot on. She makes a very believeable and vulnerable Clara.

[Andante]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 10:03am

GET IT! Absolutely, no hesitations. Such a GREAT cast recording; I think that both Clarke/O'Hara and Lazar/Morrison are excellent. Can't wait for the DVD to come out...if any.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:44pm

LiTP is the best musical theater piece we have seen so far this century, and for most of the latter part of the 20th century as well.

If you want to be in on what Musical Theater will be, then it behooves you to become familiar with LiTP. It is the future of musical theater, and thank god, because it's the smartest, cleverest, most excruciatingly beautiful thing I've seen and heard in years and years.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:59pm

To me, LiTP, just gets better and better with each successive viewing. Just last week, I noticed and heard things I hadn't in my previous viewings. I loved this show from the minute I saw it for the first time.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:10pm

I really wish I'd enjoyed the show as much as all the dozens of you in this thread. I saw it on PBS, I have the cast recording, and I saw the tour twice. Sorry, wasn't thrilled even once.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:30pm

Oh Lizzie, you know I love you, so I'll let the lack of Piazza love on your end slide!! At least you gave it a shot (twice, no less).

I totally understand where you're coming from. There have been other shows that people have loved (Grey Gardens is a perfect example), and I just didn't get those. It happens.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:35pm

Such a gorgeous show. Should have taken home the TONY for Best Musical.

I actually very much enjoyed Katie Clarke and Christine Andreas on the tour.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:36pm

LOL...Well, one time I saw the show was when I won tickets, so does that count as a point against me?

I do listen to the cast recording at work. I really do like it out of context. I'm not sure why.