Acting Up Stage Company – Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza

reviewed by Paula Citron
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The Light in the Piazza
Acting Up Stage Company
Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel
Book by Craig Lucas (based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer)
Directed by Robert McQueen
Starring Patty Jamieson, Jacquelyn French, Jeff Lillico, Juan Chioran, Tracy Michailidis, Michael Torontow, Lee MacDougall and Becca Zadorsky
At Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs until Feb. 21
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Acting Up Stage Company is presenting the 2005 Tony Award winning musical The Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel, and it is a fine production .

Composer/lyricist Guettel is the grandson of Richard Rodgers and the son of Mary Rodgers. He is Broadway musical royalty, often compared to Stephen Sondheim because of his vocal demands. Despite some shrill tops, the talented Canadian cast sings Guettel’s difficult arioso music with passion, if not with perfect diction.

The disaffected Margaret has brought her mentally challenged daughter Clara on a trip to Italy, where Clara falls in love. The story is poignant and intimate, and director Robert McQueen never drifts into melodrama.

Patty Jamieson gives the performance of a lifetime as the care worn Margaret, while Jacquelyn French manages to pull off innocent Clara’s high tessitura. As the Italian father and son, Juan Chioran and Jeff Lillico are near perfect.

The Light in the Piazza continues at Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs until Feb. 21.