The Light in the Piazza Shines Dimly

Playhouse on the Square’s production of The Light in the Piazza has lofty goals and good intentions. Set against a Florentine backdrop, a Southern mother and daughter experience the beauty of Italy, but their journey moves far beyond statues and stories. It is serendipity when young Clara (Emily Z. Pettet) meets charming Italian Fabrizio (Jesus Manuel Pacheco) as she chases her windblown hat through the piazza. Their interest and fascination with one another is immediate and their inability to fully interact verbally insignificant. The young lovers embrace and delight in their differences, but Clara’s desperately protective mother Margaret (Carla McDonald) does not share this sentiment. Plagued with worries, Margaret wants to put the affair to end because Clara is unlike other girls. (SPOILER ALERT) Kicked in the head by a horse at her twelfth birthday party, Clara has the external, physical characteristics of a grown woman but the mental capacities of a young girl. Rather than take cues from the struggling relationships around them (Margaret’s empty marriage, Fabrizio’s brother Giuseppe’s infidelity), Clara and Fabrizio remain hopeful and committed to each other and their steadfast idealism and belief in the power of their romance ultimately changes not only the way their families view the whirlwind relationship between the two but also how their families evaluate their personal relationships.

Though much of the plot’s action revolves around the budding romance between Fabrizio and Clara, the heart of the show is mother Margaret. Carla McDonald, who I’ve admired since I saw her several seasons ago in The Wild Party at Circuit Playhouse, gives a rueful, nuanced performance, tracing Margaret’s journey from guilt to acceptance of her past faults and mistakes and her transition from doubt in Clara’s suitability for marriage to belief that the affair is perhaps the way for her daughter to find fulfillment and live a normal life. She lets Clara go, and confronts her own uncertain future. In the heart wrenching “Diving Day” in Act One and “Fable” at the closing of Act Two, McDonald exposes the melancholy beneath Margaret’s manicured façade. However, many of McDonald’s cast mates fail to match the depth of her performance. Despite her beautiful soprano, Emily Z. Pettet’s performance is uneven, unfocused and lacks sense of dramatic trajectory. Her Clara is exuberant, petulant, overwhelmed, infatuated, but she never comes off as mentally impaired. Romantic love interest Jesus Manuel Pacheco fares a little better though this is most likely due to the nature of his role. The sincere yet sexually charged Fabrizio is easier to pull off than Clara, and his bouts of overacting might be attributed as an interpretation of an enthusiastic, expressive Italian. Kent Fleshman, as Fabrizio’s father, seems out of place and he injects humor in moments where comedy is not appropriate. Kevin Todd Murphy and Esther Gray as Fabrizio’s adulterous brother and his volatile wife give good performances but their stage time is very limited.

The principal characters’ costumes, designed by Rebecca Y. Powell, echo, but never imitate the costumes from the original Broadway production, but the ensemble’s wardrobe looks too much like an afterthought. The set design is serviceable but uninspiring and the lion statues situated downstage look more Asian than Italian inspired.

Though the production is flawed, the music, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, is stunning and sophisticated. However, the music could be unappealing to some. Unlike traditional musical theatre scores, the song lyrics come off more like poetry and the music is only occasionally melodious. Lyrics are in both Italian and English, and while this might initially cause some discomfort for the audience it enhances the overall experience of seeing the show.

The Light in the Piazza runs at Playhouse on the Square through March 1.

-Cristina Iskander