<b>THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA</b> Court House Theatre/Shaw FestivalRT SpeakupWNY | Buffalo NY and Buffalo News

Shaw Festival
Through October 13
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Court House Theatre/Shaw Festival

There's no excuse for the Shaw Festival production of “The Light in the Piazza.”
In a decision I'm usually supportive of, the Shaw chose not to put the cast on microphones.
However, it's a mistake in this case unless you are pretty close to the stage in the relatively small Court House Theatre.
From my seat in row H, you mostly can't hear the performers over the sound of the five-members of the band.
Judging by the applause, the farther someone sat from the stage, the less they were willing to applaud what couldn't be heard.
It's too bad because this is a hit musical about love under the searing sun of Italy in the years after World War II.
A damaged young American woman falls in love with a young Italian in Florence, a city visited in the pre-war years by Clara's (Jacqueline Thair) parents, Margaret (Patty Jamieson) and Roy (Shawn Wright).
Mom wants her daughter to have that same sense of wonder at Italy and that wonderfully bright light.
She doesn't but she's impressed with one young man, Fabrizio (Jeff Irving).
He's the son of a guy who owns a fancy clothing store in Florence and lives at home, something mostly still true in today's Italy.
They fall in love despite parental efforts, the love of youth and decide to get married.
Now, neither set of parents is thrilled with the idea but with the stubbornness of youth, they force the issue and the parents go along, until Fabrizio's family realizes there is something wrong with Clara, something they haven't been told.
She's brain-damaged, ever since a pony kicked her in the head.
That's why Mom has been so over-protective and Clara hasn't been willing to go along, not feeling there's anything wrong.
Finally, Mom and Signor Naccarelli (Juan Chioran) meet and decide to let the wedding go forward.
“The Light in the Piazza” comes from an all-star team, book by Craig Lucas and music and lyrics from Adam Guettel and heavily shaped for Broadway by Bartlett Sher.
Lucas has written a wide variety of plays and musicals, many staged locally.
Guettel is from a royal family of the Broadway musical, grandson of Richard Rodgers of Rodgers & Hammerstein and son of Mary Rodgers, writer of “Once Upon a Mattress.”
He's best known for “Floyd Collins.”
Lucas and Guettel are pros of the modern musical, less interested in the feel-good qualities so often and inaccurately ascribed to to Guettel's grandfather.
Every once in a while in this production, a number is so strong it overpowers the band, like Farizio with “Il Mondo Era Vuoto” and you realize what this production might have been, as well as some fine dancing from Kelly Wong as Fabrizio's brother Giuseppe.
It's a nice tale, told in the original short story, a novella and a movie.
Director Jay Turvey is a veteran of the Shaw's musicals, including “Floyd Collins” and should have known better.
Maybe he needed to sit in a higher row and try to listen.
“The Light in the Piazza” deserves help and there is enough time for someone to fix the sound.
The show deserves it.

A.W.