‘Light’s’ Last Gleaming
By Jane Norris, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.
Jul. 17–When the curtain rises on “The Light in the Piazza” Wednesday night in Culbreth Theatre, Heritage Theatre Festival audiences will find layered themes of family devotion and romantic love. So it’s no surprise to find a sentimental family tie at the heart of the show.
The Tony Award-winning show’s music and lyrics are by Adam Guettel, who’s being hailed as a major new talent since the show first opened at Lincoln Center in April 2005.
Guettel is the son of Mary
Rodgers, known for penning “Once Upon a Mattress” and other musicals.
You might remember his grandfather’s name, too. Broadway icon Richard Rodgers is one of only two people (the other being Marvin Hamlisch) to have won Grammy, Tony, Oscar and Emmy awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Rodgers’ partnership with Oscar Hammerstein II yielded “South Pacific,” “The King and I,” “The Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel,” and his works with lyricist Lorenz Hart included “Babes in Arms” and “Pal Joey.”
Looks like the family business is in secure hands. Guettel’s musical, based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer, picked up six Tonys on Broadway, including best original score and best orchestration.
Robert Chapel, Heritage’s producing artistic director, is in the director’s chair for the challenging musical.
“It isn’t your typical classical American musical,” Chapel said. “It’s a very interesting score, and it’s a very difficult, complex score. I think Adam Guettel is certainly one of the new up-and-coming composers.”
The show fits nicely into Heritage’s traditional third-musical slot, Chapel said, adding that it will offer audiences something different.
“I’m glad to try to bring new things to our theater-going public,” he said.
Chapel and his cast will sweep listeners into a story set in 1953, when a young American tourist and her mother head to Italy for a vacation.
Young Clara Johnson, played by Katie Emerson, is visiting Florence and Rome under the watchful eyes of her mother, Margaret Johnson, played by Constance Barron.
Margaret is an attentive and protective mother, and Clara is young and vulnerable. There are hints that Clara has some sort of impairment that prompts a little more hovering, so it’s no surprise that when Clara falls in love with a dashing young Italian man — Fabrizio Naccarelli, played by Rob Marnell — her mother is not pleased.
Everybody wants to weigh in on the new romance. Fabrizio’s parents are portrayed by local favorite Lydia Horan and Charles Sutherland, a Heritage veteran. Eric Morris plays Fabrizio’s brother, Giuseppe, who has a tumultuous relationship of his own with Franca, portrayed by Christina Caravella, and plenty of opinions on young relationships.
Margaret has her reasons for opposing the romance, and as the story unfolds, audience members will get glimpses of heartbreak and tragedy that shaped her responses. Letting go of her daughter is not a simple proposition for Margaret.
“Does she really want to keep yanking her daughter away from potential happiness in case it doesn’t work out?” Chapel said.
Bringing the characters to life requires credible chemistry, which Chapel said his stars have.
“Katie Emerson is just an absolute delight,” he said. In her scenes with Marnell, “the two of them really have great chemistry.”
Listeners are likely to come away with some charming musical memories. “Some of the songs are absolutely gorgeous,” Chapel said.
—–
To see more of The Daily Progress or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailyprogress.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.