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The Light in the Piazza returns to Seattle

The Light in the Piazza returns to Seattle
Creators hold public forum, "Meet the Masters", at Intiman Theatre by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A&E Writer On April 9th, the Intiman Theatre held a public forum, "Meet the Masters", with the creators of the multiple Tony Award winning musical play, The Light in the Piazza, which has returned to Seattle, at the Paramount Theater, through April 29th. Adam Guettel (composer/lyricist), Bartlett Sher (director) and Craig Lucas (book), were interviewed by Ann Powers, chief pop-music critic at the Los Angeles Times and answered audience questions. The musical was inspired by Elizabeth Spencer's The Light in the Piazza, first published in The New Yorker magazine and then as a novel in 1960, selling two million copies and becoming a finalist for the National Book Award in 1961. A film adaptation was released in 1962, starring Olivia de Havilland, Rossano Brazzi, Yvette Mimieux and George Hamilton. Guettel's production had its world premiere at Seattle's Intiman Theatre in 2003. Adam Guettel began composing a musical version in 1999, inspired by the idea of writing a love story. At the public forum, he said that the motivation and process of writing it was a therapeutic investigation for him into the hopes and disappointments of his own romantic life and the "waiting for something essential and elusive". Guettel said that in writing Piazza, his challenge was how to convey the erotic and the sublime, balanced with subtlety, poised between the truth and metaphor of the experience. He commented that his favorite scene is the tea scene for its character development, integration, naturalism and rhythm. He said that in his composition of Piazza that he wanted, with a passion, to generate things that he didn't see out there in musical theater. Guettel holds Puccini, Britten and Stravinsky as musical inspirations and said that he finds it very important to be earnest and forthright in his compositions. The grandson of composer Richard Rogers and son of composer Mary Rogers, Guettel grew up playing in rock bands (one was called "Barn") and played upright bass in jazz clubs. He is the recipient of a number of awards and his other compositions include: Floyd Collins, Love's Fire and Saturn Returns. He is currently Artist in Residence at the Intiman. Bartlett Sher, the play's director, said at the forum, that his collaboration with Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas was the most important relationship of his career. He talked about Piazza as being both a classic and contemporary musical, bridging an old Rogers and Hammerstein style piece with Adam Guettel's contemporary music. He said that it was a straightforward piece, without irony. When questioned about the fact that so much of the piece is in Italian, (which I think is part of what makes the piece charming and interesting) he replied that the creators respected the audience to be able to handle that and shared an anecdote, that as the musical is about to be licensed internationally, that in one country, they don't want the Italian at all and want to use their own language instead. Sher talked about the importance of following the truth to be able to present a powerful, non-sentimental piece. He said that the role of Roy, Margaret's husband back in Winston-Salem, was portrayed as a much more horrid individual in the old movie version and that he took on a more subtle characterization in the current musical. He said that in their collaboration, Guettel brought his deep intuitions into the mix and Craig Lucas brought "photons"- packets of light, with his focus on different angles to make a better whole piece. Sher has been Artistic Director of the Intiman Theatre since 2000 and, under his direction, the Intiman was the recipient of the 2006 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. He has recently started directing operas, including his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006, directing a new production of The Barber of Seville. He is directing the next play at Intiman, The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder, which runs from April 28th through June 2nd. Craig Lucas wrote the book for Light in the Piazza and has known composer Adam Guettel since 1981. At the forum, he said that he thought the play was about letting go and that Elizabeth Spencer, author of the original novel, pushed it to an extreme and that the bravery is profoundly moving of a loving parent who says to a broken child - "Go". He said that Margaret, the mother, is the competent character, taking care of her daughter and having responsibility for everything. The only person to take care of her is her husband Roy, who isn't doing it (leading to Margaret's important self- realizations in the play). He said that his favorite scene is between Margaret and Signor Naccarelli, Fabrizio's father. Lucas talked about the trend of contemporary music to cause one to be "imprisoned by the back beat" and asked jokingly if anyone had heard of ¾ time. He said that strings were at the center of Piazza, not drums, and that the feeling of strings come from the "heart", rather than the feeling of drums, which come from the "groin". He commented that sentimentality in the play is avoided by attention to the scale of the production on a physical level, with detail on the emotional and psychological levels. Craig Lucas is Intiman's Associate Artistic Director. His plays and screenplays have included Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying Gaul. He has won a number of awards including the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Composer, Stephen Sondheim, is his mentor. For more information about The Light in the Piazza, visit www.intiman.org.