Calgary Herald

MUSICAL’S SUBTLETY SHINES

Light in the Piazza a delicate delight

- LOUIS B. HOBSON

The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza running at Theatre Calgary until May 22 is as ethereal and delicate as its heroine Clara Johnson.

Clara is a young woman whose mental and emotional developmen­t were stalled on her 12th birthday when she was kicked in the head by a pony.

Physically, she has blossomed into a beautiful woman which, back home in North Carolina, has often proven to be completely at odds with her childlike innocence.

But Clara (Anwyn Musico) is not in North Carolina at the moment.

She’s in Italy on vacation with her overprotec­tive mother Margaret (Susan Gilmour), and Clara has caught not only the eye and heart of Fabrizio Naccarelli­s (Louie Rossetti), but of the young Italian’s entire family as well.

They are all dazzled by Clara’s bright-eyed purity and bubbly exuberance and, in no small measure, by the fact her father is in the tobacco industry.

Try as she may, Margaret can’t keep Fabrizio from declaring his love for Clara and Clara for him, nor can Margaret find a way to tell him and his family that Clara is special in a most fragile way, making this a Romeo and Juliet story with a potentiall­y tragic element.

Clara’s father Roy, who is back in North Carolina (Christophe­r Hunt), keeps insisting Clara can never marry, fearing she would be unable to cope with the responsibi­lities of marriage and especially of motherhood.

It’s quite a dilemma for Margaret because she’s convinced this is Clara’s one chance at a normal life filled with the kind of fairy tale love her own life lacked.

Though not quite an opera, The Light in the Piazza is anything but a typical Broadway musical.

It’s more Stephen Sondheim than Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstei­n or Lerner and Loewe.

The Naccarelli­s sing in Italian and talk in broken English, and some of Margaret’s songs in particular verge on arias but it all makes so much sense in terms of the story.

Margaret and Fabrizio’s mother (Kate Ryan) even address the audience directly, clarifying how they personally feel or, in the case of Signora Naccarelli­s, what her family is saying in Italian.

Gilmour makes Margaret the backbone of this production because she infuses her with such strength and selfless nobility, and vocally she handles all the intricacie­s of Margaret’s songs.

After a particular­ly cold telephone call to Roy, she sings Dividing Day admitting, “I’ve seen the winter in your eyes” breaking the audience’s heart almost as much as her own.

This is a woman who deserves love but has settled for so much less, which explains why she is so determined to give Clara this chance.

Musico makes Clara more childlike than childish, which explains why Fabrizio and his family are so captivated by her and she can eke out everything from joy to pathos in her songs.

Rossetti is a tailor made Romeo.

He’s every bit as youthful, vibrant, excitable and joyous as Musico, which gives the love affair such credibilit­y.

David Keeley’s Signor Naccarelli­s is a bit of a ladies’ man but not necessaril­y as much of a cad as his oldest son, the chronicall­y philanderi­ng Giuseppe (Michael Torontow).

As Giuseppe’s wife, Tracy Michailidi­s is quite a firebrand and she oozes sensuality, so it’s a wonderful and warm moment when Clara puts her in her place.

Michael Shamata’s staging is subtle, uncluttere­d and unobtrusiv­e and almost feels like choreograp­hy.

Christina Poddubiuk’s sets and costumes are beautifull­y evocative and Alan Brodie’s lighting showcases them with delicacy.

Theatre Calgary’s The Light in the Piazza is a gossamer experience so approach it with care to reap its ample rewards.

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 ?? TRUDIE LEE ?? Anwyn Musico as Clara Johnson is wooed by Louie Rossetti as Fabrizio Naccarelli­s in Theatre Calgary’s production of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza.
TRUDIE LEE Anwyn Musico as Clara Johnson is wooed by Louie Rossetti as Fabrizio Naccarelli­s in Theatre Calgary’s production of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza.

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