light in the piazza recording?

[hortonhearsasam]

Posted: 4/14/05 at 7:47pm

Hi,

I recently saw The Light In The Piazza and I basically think I'll go insane if I don't get to hear that amazing score again. Does anyone know if there are plans for this show to get a cast recording? Thanks so much!

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/14/05 at 8:35pm

The show will be recorded in late April/early May.

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/14/05 at 9:15pm

thank goodness it's being recorded

[midtowngym]

Posted: 4/14/05 at 10:58pm

I just returned from my 2nd Piazza visit. Word of mouth must be spreading--the theater was enthusiastic and full (or partially papered?) They've made changes--most important that Clara's 'problem' is revealed in Act 1--no dragging the obvious through an intermission. The Johnson's also visit the Naccarelli's home sooner, without Margaret obsessing (again) about whether they should be doing such things. So the show is tighter, and that GORGEOUS score still fills the theater. I want Piazza to succeed--if i'm stuck with shows like Brooklyn and Good Vibrations, i'll surely have to double my Zoloft prescription.

Updated On: 4/15/05 at 10:58 PM

Posted: 4/15/05 at 2:08am

that sounds like a whole lot of changes since I last saw it. I cant wait to see it again.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 2:48am

Except the score is still the least successful aspect of the show.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 2:51am

I think the score is the MOST successful aspect. The rest of the show is mediocre.

I'm glad they're making changes. Hopefully they can pull it together and put together a decent show. The way it is right now, they don't stand a chance with the critics.

Posted: 4/15/05 at 3:06am

i love how the reactions to this show are so varied.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 4:30am

I agree, Spouzic. I thought the score was brilliant in Seattle, but my friend (whom I respect) saw it in New York and hated it. Who do you think will record the CD? PS Classics maybe?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 6:38am

The performance was probably papered because it opens tonight. Although the gross did go up by something like 20% this week.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 8:30am

Adam Guettel (along with Sondheim) are the only Musical theatre composers that Nonesuch deals with. His first 2 shows received albums there and I would assume that LIGHT will have a home at Nonesuch as well.
Updated On: 4/15/05 at 08:30 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 10:18am

Piazza does not open tonight. It opens Monday, April 18th

[darren has a big butt]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 10:57am

OMG!! How is it? I cant wait to see it, I just love Kelli O'Hara shes amaazingg.

Hopefully ill be seeing it this week

<3 darren

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:16am

I thought Nonesuch stopped recording shows. They certainly stopped after Bounce, at least with Sondheim, who now seems to be recorded mostly by PS Classics.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 3:28pm

I'll bet on PS Classics. Would be shocked if a bigger label took the show.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 4:02pm

I still think it will be Nonesuch. Nonesuch already had a FROGS in their library and so they wouldn't rush out and record the competition. With existing recordings of both Assassins and Pacific Overtures, they probably couldn't justify committing them to disc (even though they deserved it). Strangely, they did the Into the Woods revival, but it was probably based on the strength of the title and Vanessa Williams name. As this is a new Guettel show without any previous incarnation on CD, I bet they stay with him. glad to hear that its filling up. Just wish the artier shows would make their way around the country a little faster (or at all).

Posted: 4/15/05 at 4:16pm

i dont know much about the different recording companies so I dont think I can really weigh in on that. If Adam has a history with a recording company, it may well be them, likewise if Lincoln Center has a history with some company, it might be that one. I just want a recording, no matter who does it.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:10pm

Lucas has done a respectable job of dramatizing a rather slender story. (However, the inconsistency at the top of Act Two is a bit of a cheat and rather dumb, as is the Italian pre-show announcement and title page acknowledgements in the Playbill, too twee for words). Assuredly, the designers are to be applauded for their evocative and often beautiful contributions. The cast is mostly terrific, most notably Victoria Clark who gives a lovely, unsentimental performance that manages to suggest depths of feeling without ever resorting to the maudlin. I must confess I didn't care for Kelli O'Hara as I thought she lacked...what? Charm? Purity of spirit? Vulnerability? Prettiness? Whatever the reason, I was unmoved by her as she has little 'simpatico.'
The show's greatest debit, however, is...well...an effective and memorable score. What's so disappointing about it is that every number starts our promisingly, with Guettel supplying tantalizing melodic ideas and accompaniments. But they either go nowhere or are spun out into extended, self-indulgent ariosos or pointless vocalise that dissipate the tension, resulting in slack and boring numbers that don't land and do nothing for the performers. One sits in the theater and hears the opening measures of a number and thinks, "Finally! This is it! A great musical theatre song!" But, inevitably, the balloon of anticipation deflates, expectations are crushed and stasis sets in. A very big part of the problem are the lyrics which lack poetic concision, a strong central idea or image, title resolution and emotional payoff. And the one number with a well-defined, if rather precious, lyrical motif, DIVIDING DAY, struck me as musically incongruous for the character. Though the score's impressionistic qualities (more reminiscent of Debussy than any other composer) support the romantic, fairy-tale nature of the story, it is, given the mood of the piece, unavoidably monochromatic in tone and lacking in variety. However intelligent and atmospheric, the score never excites, never moves and seems superfluous to the story, leading one to wonder if the piece merited musicalization in the first place. Finally, the transporting, transcendent, and spiritual release necessary to the story is not to be found in the musical and the score must take the blame.
Interestingly enough, the audience response at LCT reflected the split decision here and in other theatre chat rooms, with half of the audience on its feet at curtain (of course) and the other half firmly rooted in their seats. I'll be curious to see how the critics respond.







Updated On: 4/16/05 at 11:10 PM

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:59pm

MusicMan – Thank you for the incredibly insightful and valid review. While the points you make are very true, I must say I fell into that category of attendees who bought into the presentation at hand. Something about the mother’s plight struck a chord in me, and the various emotional depths were fully realized by Ms. Clark. I can also understand the impression of Ms. O’hara – one almost had to accept her condition on faith alone. I did feel, however, that she had a stunningly pure voice.

As for the score, your analysis is spot on, so I really can’t say exactly why it reached me so effectively. Maybe I’ve just had enough of the bombastic approach so common now in musical theatre, and was quite happy to just drift along on a quietly bubbling stream of melodic reverie. I agree that it never seemed to lead anywhere, but it did (at least for me) create the perfect atmosphere for the piece. And the production design, in all its manifestations, was breathtakingly beautiful.

In the end, perhaps because of my acquiescence to it, it moved me greatly. But your analytical view – which is obviously fortified by knowledge and experience – is of great value.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 4/16/05 at 11:00am

I blush.

[riv]

Posted: 4/16/05 at 12:55pm

I want to thank MusicMan for his notice as well. The show did very little for me. A big disappointment. At the performance I attended, almost nobody stood up at the curtain and the applause was basically of the polite variety.

A few quick thoughts...

The story is far too small for the full-length treatment it receives. Neither the mother nor daughter elicited sympathy or interest at the start and I believe this was seriously damaging to the work. What we got was basically the tired old (if often true) business of "dumb clueless Americans abroad," which went on and on. And Clara's father in the piece was a totally undeveloped cardboard cliche. Those telephone scenes were frankly embarrassing to watch.

No sense of 1953 was ever evoked in it except for passing references to "the war." It might as well have been taking place today.

Doing one number in Italian and having another translated for us while it was taking place (in an attempt at humor) was pretentious.

It's true that Guettel's music never soars when the opportunity calls for it. Numbers start out fine but never take off, as if Guettel wanted the score to be overall muted and of one piece (a common problem with contemporary theater composers), without any break-out, stand alone songs. This slight story needed strong melodic songs to carry us along. The arty approach doesn't usually work for stories with this little depth to them.




Updated On: 4/16/05 at 12:55 PM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 4/16/05 at 3:23pm

"...a common problem with contemporary theater composers..."

Absolutely. It's the bane of musical theatre today. Integration is great but not at the expense of theatricality or audience engagement. Though TLITP is certainly a show with self-contained songs (however disappointing), the practice of recitative-driven musicals is a dodge as far as I'm concerned, not only because writing structured songs is damn difficult but because it suggests the property doesn't offer much in lyrical terms and
needs an approach that covers a multitude of sins.

Posted: 4/16/05 at 4:41pm

i thought 1953 was evoked in the costumes as well as the overall concern with appearances and being mild mannered. even margaret trying to get the family to listen to her try to reveal the secret comes off as an outburst. but love stories are timeless...