I did not find The Light in the Piazza, based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer, with book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, to be very engaging, except for the visuals and the voices of the performers. Director Bartlett Sher is very good at staging: keeping the principals and extras moving around the stage in interesting patterns. The set by Michael Yeargan gives us views of Italy that are a fascinating travelogue and a profound comment on the action in his wonderful visuals of space and light on Italian ruins, piazzas and buildings.
Lighting by Christopher Akerlind illuminates much more than the text and is a perfect blend with Yeargan. The 1953-era costumes by Catherine Zuber beautifully create the era.
The principals, Victoria Clark as the mother, Kelli O'Hara as the beautiful but damaged daughter, and Matthew Morrison as the Italian suitor, all sing well and clearly, especially Clark in her final big number -- opening up and lifting the theater in this poetic piece, "Fable." All the voices are Broadway level, with a touch of the operatic (including Sarah Uriarte Berry) slipping in. For me, the story is simplistic, without surprises, with not a lot happening but a lot of unmelodic singing of prose passages, conversation set to music, and too much dialogue in Italian. The final conflict is absurd. As the showbiz adage goes, I walked out humming the set and the costumes.
