Theater Review: The Light in the Piazza

by Mark Lowry

Over the years, Theatre Three has played a vital role in North Texas musical theater. It is often the first local theater to snag rights to newer, acclaimed Broadway musicals that weren’t considered commercial enough to tour nationally – or if they did, didn’t come to Dallas, where audiences are more willing to spend big money to see, say, Mamma Mia! for the fifth time.

Side Show and Caroline, or Change come to mind as examples of such titles that Theatre Three has bravely taken on.

This is commendable, but one wishes the productions would be infused with the same kind of passion — in every single aspect, no matter how minor — that the producers have in the shows themselves.

Take its current staging of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’ glorious, melodic musical The Light in the Piazza, which is based on a 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer.

Despite inspiring performances by its female leads —Wendy Welch and Kimberly Whalen as Margaret and Clara, a North Carolinian mother and daughter duo vacationing in Italy — there are too many facets of Michael Serrecchia’s production that border on amateurish. And they distract from the simple beauty of the story.

For starters, there’s T3’s orchestra, led by musical director/conductor/pianist Terry Dobson. Perched unseen on the second floor of David Walsh’s pretty-enough set, the five other musicians play some real instruments that the score requires, but they’re drowned out by Pamela Holcomb McClain’s keyboards, which makes the music sound canned. The synthesized noise all but ruins the intricacies of Guettel’s complex musical structure.

It’s a good thing that Welch and Whalen sing their vocally difficult roles so masterfully, and that Welch (who, amazingly, was bought in as a last-minute replacement) really digs inside her character of a protective mother who, in the end, wants what’s best for her daughter. Her reaction when the father of Clara’s love interest says that Clara would have to convert to Catholicism is priceless. She also nails the emotion in the show’s final and tough song, Fable. (Guettel writes stunning final songs for his lead characters, such as this and How Glory Goes from Floyd Collins.)

Whalen has moments, but overdoes the wide-eyed innocence just a touch. Yes, a childhood accident limited Clara’s mental capabilities, but Whalen’s take doesn’t feel genuine. But once she opens her mouth to sing, you forget everything else about her or anyone sharing the stage with her.

There is also a notable vocal performance from TCU student Curt Mega as Fabrizio, the young man who instantly falls in love with Clara. He begins a little shaky, but by the end of the first act is solidly in the game, as evidenced in his duet with Clara, Say It Somehow. As his father, Bradley Campbell is impressive when he speaks Italian, but isn’t quite up to the vocal demands of the role.

Despite those performances, there are too many distracting elements in this production, such as the onslaught of chorus members randomly roaming around the set doing bad fake banter. And then there’s the least convincing stage slap I’ve ever seen, from Margaret to Clara. And don’t get me started on the important visual of Clara’s hat getting blown away in the wind, caught by Fabrizio. It’s supposed to be magical moment, and although a big part of theater is imagination, it’s hard to be inspired when you’re laughing at the sound and sight of the trolley/wire mechanism used for this effect.

If Theatre Three wants to play in the big leagues with its musical productions, everything about them needs to be more finely tuned.

The Light in the Piazza runs through November 23 and tickets can be purchased online or by calling 214-871-3300.

Mark Lowry is a freelance writer based in Dallas who covered the North Texas theater scene for 10 years at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.