The Light in the Piazza tonight

[Brodybaby03]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:05am

I am kinda ashamed to say...
but I JUST saw Piazza for the FIRST time tonight and it will not be my last!
I am too tired to say too much. But basically I am in love with Aaronn Lazor....he was so completely exsquisite...the moment he sang his first note he had me in tears! I saw Patti Conehour...not Victoria...and I'm actually glad, Patti was phenominal and I am not much of a Victoria Clark fan. I loved Sarah Uriarte Berry....but I felt she was a bit vocally mis-cast but she was so beautiful and eloquent. Michael Beresse is the definition of charm and cool! Chris Sarandon was so incredible and his voice was lovely! Katie Clarke should've played this role from day one! Same with Lazor. He's just so....I don't even know....he sings like an angel and he looks like Adrien Brody....it was like HEAVEN!
I'm floating!

[ProducersFan]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 12:44am

Glad that you enjoyed it! I'm going to NY for a day with my roommates and we want to see a show - I want Drowsy Chaperone but I think they'll push for Piazza (which I've already seen). It's good to hear that it's still in great shape should I end up in the Vivian Beaumont once more.

[Kungaloosh1937]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 1:13am

Not a fan of Victoria Clark, and Berry vocally miscast?

Whaaaa?

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:46am

I 110% agree that Katie should have been Clara from day 1.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:48am

Booooo....no way.

Kelli was perfection.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:50am

No Kelli's voice was way to mature for the role she sounded 30 instead of young teens. Katie was believable where Kelli was not.

I am not saying Kelli is untalented because i think she is. I just found her Clara to be too old and refined for what i think of as Clara.

[andyf]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:55am

A not-talented-enough spaz?

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 3:00am

No, during the course of the show you should see Clara grow from being very niave to more trusting. Kelli started the show at the trusting point. Katie made a progression you saw why she falls for Fabrizo and how he changes her.

[astonishing1985]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 6:50am

Kelli is fantastic but I never saw her in Piazza.
But I did see Katie and never have I been moved by a performance so much.

[Brodybaby03]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:37am

Berry's role is this very sophisticated, Ava-Gardner esque' Soprano...and it just wasn't working. I don't know if it was the way she was forming her mouth around the words to hold onto her italian accent or just that it wasn't right for her....I don't know...but she was still wonderful none-the-less don't get me wrong. And yes I know....everyone loves Victoria....she makes me want to hurt myself, personally.
But I agree.....Clara has to grow during the show...and Kelli, though I never saw her...listening to it, she sounds 30, not like this young girl.....Kelly Clarke was brilliant!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 7:40am

Who's Kelly Clarke?

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 8:05am

I'm sorry, but I have to add in my two cents in defense of Kelli O'Hara. I saw her in the role four times, from the beginning of her run to the very end, and not only did she sing the role beautifully, but she acted it even better. What was wonderful about her Clara was that you knew something was slightly off, but it wasn't so blatantly obvious that it would cause the Naccarellis to question whether she was mentally all there. It makes sense that Clara has a trusting view of the world (and, in fact, that's how Elizabeth Spencer wrote her character in the novel) because she's never really learned not to trust--it's that openness that sort of allows all the events to explode. And it's not like her Clara was jumping on Fabrizio the second she met him, rather the courtship changed according to the actor playing Fabrizio: with Matthew Morrison it was hot and heavy, with David Burnham both were a lot more childish, and with Aaron Lazar the whole thing unfolded as slowly and beautifully as I'm sure it does now with Katie Clarke.

Glad you enjoyed the show, Brody!

[bdwybug55]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 9:30am

flaemmchen...you have got it down absolutely correct and I agree with you 100%. What I loved about Kelly's portrayal is that you didn't really know what was wrong with her. Perhaps her "slowness" wasn't even caused by the accident but by the her mother's constant protective nature. She is supposed to be 28 and I loved that her singing voice showed her actual age and the woman that was inside of her while her actions showed the girl. If she acts too young and childish the Naccarellis might think something is up. I LOVED her portrayal! I also agree that she has to open and trusting from the beginning....that is her nature and that is what causes Fabrizio to fall immediately in love with him and that is what she teaches her mother.

[whimsical]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:12am

They are both wonderful.

[vivs678]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 11:16am

I have only seen the show with Katie... she was fantastic.
Didn't see it with Kelli, but the soundtrack is wonderful

[jbloane]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 1:01pm

Kelli was far more right for the show in all aspects esp. singing. She isn't suppose to sound or look like a teenager. She is 26 in the show with the mentality of a 10 or 12 year old.

[Songsstresss]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 1:39pm

When I saw Kaite Clark it was quite obvious the music was a bit out of her league vocally. She wouldn't open up on any of her high notes and it felt like she was mixing the whole role. I was underwhelemed and there were points in the second act when her voice couldn't handle it and it seemed she would crack any second. Maybe she has gotten better, but my friend and I, both performers, left saying, "She should not be singing this role."

[jbloane]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 2:09pm

Absolutely agree with you. I saw both Kelli and Katie (very recently) and left feeling that Katie should not have been cast in that role. She was flat during most of "the beauty is" and went sharp at the end of "light in the piazza" She even fell behind the beat in "Clara's Tirade" The audience was not a fan of hers either. There was such a difference in response to her performance to that of EVERYONE else in the cast esp. Aaron. I also was very underwhelmed by her. Has the casting team seen her perform? I also read an interview where she said she was friends with the musical director that became the conductor and had been working on the material with her for sometime before she had actually auditioned.

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 4:22pm

Katie's voice teacher actually introduced her to Kim Grigsby (the current conductor), but they only met once and didn't see each other again until they began auditioning for the new Clara. Grigsby remembered Katie and got her the appointment, but that was it. The creatives obviously saw something in her that made them cast her as Clara after a long and exhaustive search.

Updated On: 4/26/06 at 04:22 PM

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/26/06 at 4:28pm

"Not a fan of Victoria Clark, and Berry vocally miscast?

Whaaaa? "

I thought the same!

Ummm, it's not bad if Clara sounds 30, she's 26. Even if you have amnetal illness, you don't sound 12. You sound your age, you just do different things.

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 4/27/06 at 2:13am

The Light in the Piazza is a wonderful show! Saw it three times, fell in love with it all times, listening to the recording every time.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 4/27/06 at 2:24am

Piazza is a fantastic show but I doubt I could ever sit through Katie Clarke's "interpretation" of Clara ever again. I've seen it 9 times now, 8 with Kelli and one with Katie and after seeing Katie in it I have less than no desire to see it again. She was "acting" the whole time. As in you sat there thinking she was completely unnatural in the role. She seemed to fluctuate way too much from perfectly normal to all of a sudden remembering she's supposed to be playing someone who got kicked in the head by a horse and she went to the opposite extreme. The way she plays Clara there is absolutely no way that Fabrizio and his family would have met her and not known there was something wrong with her.

Her acting aside, the music is vocally beyond her. She drops notes all over the place and if you had the misfortune of seeing a performance like I saw she was constantly in danger of cracking and you could hear it. To make it worse she cracked three (thats right, three) times during "The Light in the Piazza." Don't say it was just that performance because I don't believe it. It was ridiculously obvious that she's not meant to be singing that sort of music.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 4/27/06 at 4:21am

In general I definitely agree with flaemmchen.

I saw Piazza waaay back in August with Patti Cohenour (one of the best performers ever!) and Kelli and Matt. Kelli's voice and her characterization of Clara was so right for the age. It was true that I could not figure out what was wrong with Clara, so much that it nearly became a mystery to me. I loved that. She was the epitome of "mid-twenties" - you wouldn't want her voice to sound pre-pubescent, and the fullness of her vocals - just amazing. Matt has an incredible voice and I enjoyed his performance so much. And Patti - I thought she was a fantastic, gripping Margaret with an absolutely astounding voice. I have become such a fan of her work that I even have her solo cd from her website (patticohenour.com).

At the beginning of the month, I went to see the show again. It had been such a long time that it was funny how much I had forgotten. This time, I saw Katie, Aaron, and Victoria Clark. Katie is a budding performer who added a VERY naive side to the character that I don't remember so much from before. She was just SO vulnerable. Aaron has, in my opinion, a much better Italian accent, and he was a much different Fabrizio that I believe I liked, character-wise, better. I don't think I enjoyed his vocals more than Matt (but Aaron still sings fantastically), but there was just something dorky-cute about the his less "hot and heavy" performance (to quote flaemmchen). And Victoria - well, the little things that she does with Margaret were fantastic. I enjoyed her accent, her little mannerisms, and how could you NOT love her gorgeous voice?!

I've had the pleasure of going backstage with Patti to meet several cast members and tour the the Beaumont. The entire cast is fantasticly talented and it is THE show to bump up the bar of musical theatre.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/27/06 at 6:03pm

I was there last night too! It was my 2nd time.

AARON LAZAR (sorry) is wonderful. He should have been fabrizio from day 1.

Katie Clarke has improved immensely since I saw her in the role in December. Vocally, she struggled a little more than I remembered (almost as if she were getting sick). She is still wonderful.

I really liked Diane Sutherland's interpretation of Signora Naccarelli. She acts the role wonderfully, and her voice is beautiful. One point of her performance that I really liked (and preferred over Patti's) is during "Aiutami." When I saw Piazza the first time, Patti Cohenour spoke perfect English during the "I don't speak English..." bit. Diane kept her Italian accent. It might jsut be me, but I like that better.

And...

Patti Cohenour. Let me start off by saying that I DID like her. I liekd her interpretation of Margaret a lot. Her chemistry with Katie and Chris (in particular), was impeccable. Her vocals were amazing. However, I still liked Victoria Clark's interpretation better, as well as her vocals.

[mijofly19]

Posted: 4/27/06 at 6:09pm

I saw the show last night for the first time ever. Even though I knew how much everybody loved it on these boards, I was afraid I might be a little bored after hearing the cast recording. I was completely wrong! The show was amazing! Aaron and Katie were both fantastic, and even though I like Victoria's vocals better, Patti was amazing. Patti gives all her heart and soul for this production. She was crying at the curtain call, and I found that very moving. She was also very appreciative after the show. I will definitley be going back before it closes.