Sweetness and Light
REVIEW: The Light in the Piazza
Mark Garvin
The Light in the Piazza
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For post-war Americans, it was axiomatic that The Trip to Italy was life-altering. History, street life and especially the prospect of romance were the stuff of dreams. Also a little apprehension, since for better or worse, no one returned unchanged. Two dramatic pieces gave voice to this phenomenon — Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo, and The Light in the Piazza, a novella by Elizabeth Spencer, which was turned into a movie.
Almost 50 years later, composer/lyricist Adam Guettel and playwright Craig Lucas adapted Light as a musical. I'll admit I was surprised at the prospect.The novella, a story of an American mother, Margaret Johnson, traveling abroad with her mentally challenged daughter, Clara, was sweetly sincere but also melodramatic and dated. What would two contemporary artists make of it?
Something simply gorgeous, that's what. Guettel's work is a miracle of light and shade, a Sondheimian score in the best sense — that is, magically nuanced and poetic. But Guettel's gifts are uniquely his, including a sense of soaring melody that would do his grandfather, Richard Rodgers(yes, the Richard Rodgers), proud.
This Light is no period piece, but a timeless evocation of a continental love affair. More than that, it captures the complex emotions of a protective woman who now must let her child become an adult.
PTC gives Light a fine production with an ensemble of excellent singing actors.It's small-scale — eight performers play all the roles and the orchestra is reduced, understandable economies that inevitably reduce the vibrant scale of that piazza.Director Joe Calarco re-creates the nervous energy of the original production, but it's a little over-busy on this intimate stage.
Never mind. These are trivial issues compared to the opportunity to see Light in such skilled hands. Whitney Bashor (Clara) is visually and vocally lovely. Matthew Scott is an adorable, ardent Fabrizio — truly the perfect Italian lover. Sherri Edelen is a wonderfully sympathetic Margaret.
If the economic downturn makes a trip to Italy unlikely, consider a trip to Light in the Piazza. It's life-changing at a fraction of the price.If you can afford both — well, lucky you. Through Dec. 13, $51-$69, Philadelphia Theatre Co. at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., 215-985-0420, philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
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