The Light in the Piazza at South Coast Rep

I can't speak to this production but I have seen several shows there. Their productions are always very professionally done and it's a very nice facility. Broadway veteran Erin Mackey who I happen to like a lot headlines this production so I'm thinking it should be pretty good assuming you are already familiar with the play and like the story.

I really wish I could see Patti Cohenour as Margaret!

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best12bars, I totally agree with you! Patti was my first Margaret in the Broadway production, and she was my favorite. She is just an amazing performer and her voice is gorgeous. I wish I could be there!

Oh I forgot about David Burnham being Fabrizio! I got to see him on one time (somehow I saw something like 3 or 4 different Fabrizios) and he was just a breath of fresh air with a 1000 watt smile! Loved him. Ugh, I'm so jealous.

I had no idea Victoria Clark and Katie Rose Clark did the tour. Christine Andreas and Elena Shadow were lovely when we saw it on the Chicago stop of the tour. Did they play the tour out West?

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Thanks KJisgroovy and DottieD'Luscia for pointing out my mistake with Victoria Clarke not being in the touring company when I saw it in Costa Mesa. The confusion came because I saw both Victoria and Christine Andreas in cabaret and they spotlighted their time in "The Light in the Piazza", but it was Christine Andreas who I saw as Margaret Johnson in the OC. Corrected my original post.

Here's a look at the costumes that were designed for this production.

http://southcoastrep.blogspot.com/2014/01/costume-design-from-renderings-to.html?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01.28.14:PiazzaCostumes/JamesCast/5MileLake&utm_content=version_A#.UubhlPbTlGE

Guess when I see it again on February 4th I'll have to take at look at this...

"As the musical progresses, Margaret and Clara’s costumes parallel their growth, inspired by the European culture that surrounds them. Piehl also decided to focus on the relationship between Margaret and Clara by placing the two in subtly matching palettes—Clara in softer tones and Margaret in saturated tones."

That being said the costumes were stunning!

What's up with those clips? Did they specifically not want to show Patti Cohenour singing? She's the lead in the show, in case they didn't know.

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This definitely looks like a fist-class production, and as the reviews mention, it ranks right up there with the Broadway/touring productions.

I really wish I was there to see it!

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I saw the show at Lincoln Center, on tour at the Ahmanson and at Southcoast Rep on Sunday night, Feb 2. Even though the orchestra is scaled down I thought this was an excellent production with very good lead performers with strong Broadway credits and/or previous ties to the production and good supporting cast. Erin Mackey is announced as Johanna in the NY Philharmonic "Sweeney Todd" concert with Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel. So we're lucky to have this cast. The set was in the style of the original, and the period costumes were striking. Charles McNulty faulted the production in his LA Times review for not having the sweep of a full orchestra, but that didn't bother me. The music and songs are still so unique and lovely and the production still very moving.

Updated On: 2/5/14 at 11:19 AM

This morning I attended SCR's Inside series spotlighting Light in the Piazza. The moderator interviewed two people associated with the production: Leah Piehl who designed the costumes and David Burnham.

The 1st hour was chatting with the costumes designer who talked about many of the things that were highlighted in the article that I posted earlier.

http://southcoastrep.blogspot.com/2014/01/costume-design-from-renderings-to.html?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01.28.14:PiazzaCostumes/JamesCast/5MileLake&utm_content=version_A#.UubhlPbTlGE

Many things discussed in the article were then further developed by Leah and were displayed to us on a rack which contained the costumes that Margaret and Clara wore which parallelled their growth and were inspired by the European culture that surrounded them. As she stated in her article Piehl decided to focus on the relationship between Margaret and Clara by placing the two in subtly matching palettes—Clara in softer tones and Margaret in saturated tones. We could also see them closer during the break when we were allowed to peruse the environs of the stage on and off.

Two sets of costumes were not done in the style of 1953 when the play takes place which was a director's choice who wanted a bit of Fellini in the play those for Frabrizio and for Franca. The costumes for Franca were worn elegantly by the actress Melina Kalomas and close up were to die for.

After the break David Burnham took center stage and he had the audience hooked on his every word. I had heard many of the stories told by him at concerts before, but today many were detailed even more including his starry beginning as Donnie Osmond's replacement in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Canada to a complete fall from grace when treading the boards in NYC for the 1st time and a return to the farm in Fontana, CA where he grew up.

Then came a story I had not heard about his time in "Light on the Piazza" on Broadway as Matthew Morrison's understudy which then led to a discussion of understudies at SCR. There are none and you go on when you're sick or the show will have to be canceled. That was when David said he had a bad bout with bronchitis during previews and his worst performance which made him very sad was on Sunday evening, January 26th when I saw it as had the moderator. He had a temperature of over 101 when performing that night. Now that's a trouper. Then there's Matthew Morrison who I discovered is NOT a trouper. When LITP opened he missed the 2nd night and Burnham went on without knowing any blocking to be led around the stage by Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark. Morrison went on to miss 60 performances which allowed Burnham to list LITP on his resume. He got a big laugh when he said that he was offered the role on the Tour and he made sure his understudy never got to perform once during the run. Wonder if Burnham and Morrison will reconnect next weekend as Matthew is performing with the Pacific Symphony in the big concert hall next Thursday thru Saturday evening?

Really was a great inside look at the show with two of the show's team. So glad I went and will definitely be seeing it one more time before it ends so I can look for all the little things that I discovered from the discussion.

Updated On: 2/8/14 at 06:23 PM

Did they change the naked man statue to a half naked woman? Blasphemy. It's the land of naked marble boys!