Theatre: Light In The Piazza
Tender, sweet – if a tad saccharine – and sunny sums up the lavish musical extravaganza now at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank.
American girl meets Italian boy on vacation with her mother in Florence, where decades earlier Mum had spent her honeymoon.
Love blossoms, but there’s a dark secret that haunts the lovers. Will they marry, or is the affair doomed?
The Light in the Piazza’s passionate score is lyrical and entrancing, and described by the New York Times as “the most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story”. But the rather clunky set, with it glowering grey naked statue dominating the stage, is out of step with the lightness and froth of the 1950s costumes, magical music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and the performance of the 34-piece Orchestra of Opera North.
Undoubted star of the show is soprano superstar Renée Fleming as mother Margaret, with Disney’s The Descendants’ star Dove Cameron providing the touching naivety of a daughter with problems.
She’s suffered a childhood injury that keeps her, thanks to her over protective mother, in a state of childhood innocence until Fabrizio, played by the engaging Rob Houchen, awakens her senses.
It’s rather a Disney Sleeping Beauty cliché, that any modern re-telling would update by exploring arrested development and mental impairment. But theatre audiences, especially musical audiences, are prepared to forgive for an evening of delightful escapism.
The ensemble cast are creditably versatile as Italian characters, one playing a bicyclist, servant, prostitute and nun, another playing flower seller, tour guide, mother and Abbess.
And special mention to Alex Jennings as Fabrizio’s suave father and to Celine Schoenmaker as the fiery Franca, Fabrizio’s long-suffering sister-in-law.
Even if London’s weather doesn’t improve, music lovers can grab some sunlight in the piazza between now and July 4.
