Bella Firenze - The Light in the Piazza

Ciao a tutti,

This week I got to go see the Tony Award winning musical "The Light in the Piazza" which had been receiving rave reviews in the press. I was interested in seeing it for many reasons. First of all the story takes place in Italy, Florence Italy to be exact, with a scene in Rome.

Secondly, I heard that there were songs sung in Italian as well as spoken Italian in the play. Finally, I was interested in interviewing one of the lead actresses, Elena Shaddow, who plays the part of Clara Johnson, because I was told that she is Italian-American.

Well, the musical lived up to everything I had read and heard about it. It was wonderful to see Italian spoken and sung in a theater here in the States. The scenery depicted very well the mood and feel of Florence streets and squares, excuse me, Piazzas.

I enjoyed the music very much. The music reminded me however, of when I was minoring in vocal performance at the University of California, San Diego. The music department there was very much on the forefront of experimental music and I was not only exposed to many new styles of music but was encouraged to learn and sing some myself. I remember inviting family to the recitals. Granted, some of the music was hard to grasp, but I remember them always commenting on how they missed not hearing a melody.

Well, though I am very educated and open to all kinds of music, I have to agree with certain family members on this one. I missed a good melody. Especially since the musical takes place in Italy the Country of romance, and especially since the story was so romantic, I would have enjoyed leaving the theater with a romantic theme running through my head.

Don't get me wrong, the music was wonderful, but even in Italy today, melodies are still very strong and memorable and I missed that in this show. Still the music, the story, the costumes, the sets, and the acting did make for a very enjoyable and worthwhile musical to see, worthy of praise.

I went to see the show with a friend of mine who is a romantic as well and I enjoyed watching her swoon during parts of the show. Since she doesn't understand Italian, I expected her to be nudging me asking me what they were saying or singing about during certain parts of the musical. But the truth of the matter is that I might have enjoyed not understanding the Italian too because it added to the drama and the effect of being in a foreign country. That part was well done indeed.

Still, like I said hearing the Italian spoken, though some of the accents and hand movements etc. may have been a tad bit exaggerated, was very fun. I would recommend this musical to anyone. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet or interview Elena Shaddow for our Filippo and the Chef Show, and find out if she really is Italian-American, I hope to catch up with her another time.
She was very good by the way and so was Christine Andreas in the part of Margaret Johnson, Clara's Mother.

Enjoy,

Filippo

P.S. Here is a clip from Youtube.com of the Television Broadcast of the Tony Awards performance of "The Light in the Piazza."