The Light in the Piazza - Review

Royal Festival Hall, London


****


Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel
Book by Craig Lucas
Directed by Daniel Evans

Renée Fleming

Crossing the Atlantic, Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza deploys some of the finest musical theatre talent in town to tell its curiously enchanting love story in a plot that upends one of society’s most deeply rooted taboos and prejudices.

The young and beautiful Clara Johnson together with her mother Margaret are American tourists footloose in Florence. A chance encounter with Fabrizio, a handsome Florentine, ignites a youthful, passionate love - and as Margaret anxiously frets over her daughter's emotions, a carefully nuanced story unfolds.

To say much more of the plot would spoil. Suffice to say that the unexpected twists offer a touching and unconventional portrayal of love, affection and the challenges of honesty that make for a rare and wonderful evening.

Making their professional debuts on this side of the pond are Broadway and opera’s leading lady Renée Fleming as Margaret, alongside Instagram and Hollywood star Dove Cameron playing Clara. Fleming’s classical voice stands out as a beacon of aural magnificence, effortlessly filling the Royal Festival Hall and notwithstanding the excellence that surrounds her on stage, Fleming’s powerfully poignant performance is worth the ticket price on its own. Cameron's Clara is an unexpectedly complex piece to deliver - and as the tale unfolds, she turns in an act of remarkably measured and touching sensitivity.

These two American women are the only players on stage allowed to perform in their native tongue. Everyone else has to masquerade in cod Italian - and if there is but one niggle of the piece it is the irritation of massed, cliched Latin dialects. The singing however is top notch. Rob Houchen’s Fabrizio captures the combination of Houchen’s physical and vocal beauty - the love that sparks between him and Cameron is delightfully plausible and convincing.

Alex Jennings is Fabrizio’s father - a man who we learn has never lost his admiration for the fairer sex, while Liam Tamne and Celinde Schoenmaker play his son and daughter-in-law. Guettel has liberally sprinkled his libretto with narrative-advancing solo turns throughout his cast, and under Daniel Evans’ perceptive direction the musical theatre treats are frequent.

For a simply presented semi-staged show, the highly spec’d creative work only enhances the production. Mark Henderson’s lighting offers an enchanting brilliance to Robert Jones’ delightfully suggestive set - as, sat above the action, Kimberly Grigsby conducts the Opera North orchestra in a lavish treatment of Guettel’s score.

Only on until July 4th before an international tour, The Light In The Piazza is a must see for all who appreciate modern writing and quality musical theatre.

Runs until July 4th

Floyd Collins - Review

Southwark Playhouse , London

****

March 18 2012

Music and Lyrics: Adam Guettel

Book: Tina Landau

Director: Derek Bond

Deep below platform 1 of London Bridge Station, the Vault at the Southwark Playhouse, has again yawned open to reveal a theatrical gem. Floyd Collins tells the fascinating tale from 1925 of the caver of that name. Trapped underground following a rockfall, Collins could still be reached and contacted by those who climbed down to attempt his rescue. That connection provided a conduit for the caver’s hopes and fears to be brought to the surface, and as the days of his entrapment passed, so the media interest in him grew. Collins’ father's farm in Edmonson County , Kentucky, became the first ever site for a media “circus” as radio, press, and newsreel cameramen sought to broadcast the sensational events playing out deep underground. Such was the interest in Collins’ plight that President Coolidge himself was kept informed.

Tina Landau and Adam Guettel have set this slice of American history to music, where it was first performed off-Broadway in 1996. De-constructing the legendary tale of Collins, their musical is structured around a close observation of the people whose lives were caught up in these events.

As Collins, Glenn Carter clearly  has the physique and vigour of a man who earns his living exploring caves.  By simply climbing over, and  wriggling through and around, the simplest of ladders and boxes , he  transports us to the “Indiana Jones” type world, deep underground, that he loves. When the rock-fall occurs, staged by the use of sound and the clever movement of fellow cast members, it is quite simply Carter's exceptional acting that screams at us terrifyingly that here is a man, trapped,  quite possibly for life. Carter’s voice is also a delight, and his transition from youthful gusty optimism and vigour, to troubled fear and grim realisation, is beautifully performed.

Robyn North plays Nellie,  Floyd’s sister. A character that is complex and fragile, recently having been discharged from an asylum and whose love for her brother is clearly deep, possibly too deep. North’s performance is enchanting, and her performance of Through The Mountain is both moving and passionate. Her failure to comprehend the cynical media razzmatazz, when all that she simply wishes is her brother’s safe return, is touchingly performed.

Ryan Sampson also delivers a great performance. As Skeets Miller a local cub reporter, whose diminutive physique enables him to squeeze through the cave to bring succour and comfort to Collins, his reporting of the events were to win him a Pulitzer Prize. Sampson’s journey from intrusive hack to hero is well brought to life.

The show’s design by James Perkins fully exploits the depth and architecture of the Vault, the ancient railway arches almost naturally evoking the Kentucky catacombs.

The 8 piece band are excellent under Tim Jackson’s direction, with banjo and harmonica lending a subtle air of authenticity. A minor fault, but three weeks into the run and with the benefit of microphones and clever modern technology, the sound balance should by now be excellent. It was therefore frustrating that solo male voices were often inaudible above the music.

The show is unquestionably a triumph, and should be seen. A moving piece of theatre in which director Derek Bond has coaxed excellence from every member of his talented company. Oh, and in the opinion of the wives in our party, Glenn Carter is gorgeous!

Plays untlil March 31st