Light In The Piaza

[Rod Hagen]

I missed the PBS broadcast this week. Any idea how I can get a rebroadcast?

 

Thanks!

 

http://www.RodHagen.com

310.360.9890

Fun, Fit, Friendly Fucker in West Hollywood.

-Rod Hagen

[Guest Jocoluver]

Me, too!

[FinFangFoom]

Why bother? The composer was so busy showing how clever he was with his music theory that he forgot to write an actual MELODY.

 

Harmonically yours,

 

FFF

[elikimball]

I respectfully beg to differ here....

 

While the score to "Piazza" is definately not the same type score as "Hairspray", "The Producers" or "Spamalot" (all great shows, by the way!), it it beautiful and more interesting than most of what is on Broadway right now. Keep in mind, that the show is NOT a musical comedy. It's a musical drama, much in the same vein of Sondheim's "Passion". The orchestrations are lush and romantic. When I first saw the show, I must admit, it took a good 15 minutes to get used to the music, but after that, was charmed by the entire production. I imagine that first nighters to "West Side Story" might have had the same reaction to Bernstein's score, which, too, was revolutionary for it's time.

 

You might go on line to your local PBS website to see when it will be re-broadcast. You could also wait for it to be released on DVD. Usually takes a month or so. Either way, I hope hope you like the show! I loved it!

[edjames]

The show was part of the Live From Lincoln Center series. The pbs website does not list any scheduled rebroadcast of this show in the next two weeks here in the NYC area. I would suggest checking back onto their website to check when it will be rescheduled.

 

http://www.pbs.org/lflc/current.htm

 

I would think that a DVD release will be forthcoming.

 

I saw the show last season and thought it was one of the best scored musicals I had seen since the last Sondheim effort. It truly deserved to win the Tony. Victoria Clark was wonderful in her role as the mother and the supporting cast was great.

 

The show will begin a 50 city tour in August, so perhaps you can catch it on the road.

[elikimball]

Glad you agree! Christine Andreas will take over Victoria Clark's role on tour. She is terrific!

[bigguyinpasadena]

Rod-it will be playing in LA later in the year-I now I saw it in something mailed to me.

Here you go- http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=6&q=http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/365244,0,3630400,reviews.event&e=10384

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Whether you enjoy 'Piazza' or not, it is nice to see ORIGINAL works showing up on Broadway now and then. I wasn't a huge fan of Jersey Boys or the other jukebox shows and cringe a little with the forthcoming Legally Blonde, Opposite of Sex and Shrek (all musicals). I can't believe that no one is wanting to underwrite something that's fresh and new...

 

Granted, at over $10 million to open a musical on Broadway, it's taking a massive investment risk. Better (financially) to open an unknown show someplace like San Diego or Chicago before moving it to NYC. The London-to-Broadway transfer seems to have an entire life of its own, as some shows have smashing success over the pond while totally bombing here (Bombay Dreams, We Will Rock You, Woman in White, Jerry Springer The Opera, Blood Brothers, etc).

 

If you're in an area that broadcasts in HD, many PBS affiliates are showing it as such. You end up getting a nice surround-sound mix, along with crystal clear visuals of the mostly original broadway cast. Kelli O'Hara is greatly missed in this taped version.

 

It's still good to see performances like this preserved for people to enjoy down the line. The theatre should be accessible for everyone, not just the rich. With ticket prices still climbing for both Broadway and touring shows, i don't think the problem is getting any better. It's a real shame.

 

 

BN

[bostonman]

>...and cringe a

>little with the forthcoming Legally Blonde, Opposite of Sex

>and Shrek (all musicals). I can't believe that no one is

>wanting to underwrite something that's fresh and new...

 

 

As a musician who works in theatre, just wanted to throw my $.02 on this topic (which has lately been discussed on a theatre site I visit as well). The trend lately is indeed to capitalize commerically on well-known titles and get a writing team to turn them into musicals, whether the original stories need musicalization or not. BUT - people tend to forget that even the great classic shows were often based on books or movies - and in fact musicals that are really their own creation from the ground up are fairly rare.

 

But - there is indeed a huge difference between, for instance, Lerner and Loewe's vision to translate Pygmalion into a musical, or Sondheim's vision (along with Hugh Wheeler) to make a stage musical out of Bergman's film Smiles Of A Summer Night, and the current slew of musicals resulting most likely from some producer going "hey - what about this popular movie - wouldn't that sell well as a musical? Let's find someone to write the songs." (In this day and age, if even the likes of Cy Coleman and Neil Simon said they wanted to take Fellini's Nights Of Cabiria and turn it into a musical - calling it, say, Sweet Charity, they'd probably encounter a bunch of laughing producers who all told them that Fellini wasn't commercial enough.)

 

But I do want to take issue with The Opposite Of Sex, simply because I know the composer in this case (Doug Cohen) and he's not by any means your average commercial hack - he does write great material. I had a fantastic time doing a production of his No Way To Treat A Lady a few years ago - a show I admire a lot, and also enjoyed playing in the band for a production of his show The Gig, also based on a film. I can assure you Mr. Cohen (who has also written what I understand is a nice adaptation of Children's Letters To God, though I haven't heard/seen it) is NOT part of the "commercial" bandwagon that I also object to - and his material is in fact well worth hearing.

 

As for Piazza - I can understand how the score may seem challenging on a first hearing (and some of it is quite challenging even on repeated hearings - in a good way) - but how can anyone miss the great number of incredibly expansive melodies that ARE there? The title song is but one example of beautifully crafted melody in a show full of honest, emotional music.

 

BTW - unfortunately, I do NOT expect that the telecast will be released commercially for DVD. None of the "Live From Lincoln Center" telecasts have ever been released comercially - and in fact each PBS station is allowed to only show a small number of repeats of these broadcasts. It's a horrible shame that this is the case, but as far as I know, that's the case. (Bootleg copies will abound, of course...but that's all I'm going to say about that.)

[Guest maxmtnman]

FFF, you're offbase here (as indicated by the number of disagreements). I saw the show at the Beaumont in Lincoln Center in New York, and I saw the PBS Live from Lincoln Center production last week. I found both productions outstanding and lyrical, with melodic music and marvelous staging. It's true that the boy-and-girl combination wasn't the original cast (Kelli O'Hara is now in Pajama Game with Sir Connick) but the show is Victoria Clark's and she knows it. Try watching the old MGM movie with Olivia deHavilland, Yvette Mimieux and (gasp!) George Hamilton. It's pretty tame. Aren't you a little tired of Hairspray, Spamalot, etc. I love The Producers but it's a whole different animal. Rod, I'm sure there will be a DVD from PBS (if not Live from Lincoln Center) in the near future.

 

One last comment: I love Christine Andreas (have all her CD's) but honestly -- I can't see her in the Margaret Johnson part. Too young, maybe?

[bostonman]

>One last comment: I love Christine Andreas (have all her

>CD's) but honestly -- I can't see her in the Margaret Johnson

>part. Too young, maybe?

 

I doubt she's really too young - it really was over 20 years ago that she did the ingenue roles in Oklahoma and On Your Toes, but then again it was also some 20 years ago that she covered Stratas' much more dramatic role (Rebecca) in Rags, and I know she recently did Vera in Pal Joey, which is certainly no ingenue role, lol. But maybe because she's been most famous for her ingenue roles, it's harder to see her take on a more "weighty" character like Margaret. But I can't imagine they would have cast her if they didn't see her in the role (though I've been wrong before with assumptions like that, lol).

 

Frankly, after seeing the telecast, it's almost hard for me to imagine anyone other than Vicki Clark in that role...(though people that saw Patti Cohenour fill in have said she was also quite good, which I certainly don't doubt at all).

[RockHard]

RE: Light In The Piazza

 

I love all this theater talk and especially appreciate the sagacious commentary from bostonman.

 

Fin's slash-'n-burn critique reminds me of a bitter, wannabe musician who can't get any respect. The life of most musicians is brutal. It pains me to see criticism that cuts so closely to the bone of artists who truly struggle in every way.

 

I'm delighted someone corrected Rod's misspelling or typo of Piazza. Too bad the edit feature cuts us off so early: that blight is forced to remain.

 

For anyone who cares about words:

The Venetians, always trying to separate themselves from the rest of Italy, have their own word for piazza: they call it campo or campi (plural). A small town square in Venice is called campiello. There's only one public square in Venice called piazza, and it is the grandest square of all, Piazza San Marco. :-)

[FinFangFoom]

RE: Light In The Piazza

 

>Fin's slash-'n-burn critique reminds me of a bitter, wannabe

>musician who can't get any respect. The life of most musicians

>is brutal. It pains me to see criticism that cuts so closely

>to the bone of artists who truly struggle in every way.

 

 

Where's the love baby? ouch

 

My critique might remind you of a "bitter, wannabe muscian" but it wasn't one speaking.

 

Yes, pretty much ALL artists are in a constant struggle and I have the greatest respect for that struggle. However, everything that is born from that struggle isn't necessarily good.

 

I never said Piazza's music was bad. I said it lacked a a melody. I was able to sit through the first 30 minutes before I gave up. I found the score to be annoying - not because I didn't understand it - I did - but rather because I felt the composer was being too clever by half. The score is written by a music geek. He's obviously brilliant but the music is cold and heartless. I can't abide a composer who refuses to stay in a key for no more than twelve measures - it's like he has tonal ADD. Some might say: "That's his style!" and my response is: "So fucking what?" Just because it's his "style" doesn't mean it's not boring or overwrought. You know, it could be DONNIE'S style to take a shit on a canvas and then smear it around with his face and call it art but that doesn't mean you and I have to like it or believe that it has merit.

 

People who say a score is "challenging" normally mean that they don't understand it but they don't want to criticize it lest they look musically ignorant.

 

The only thing I found challenging about the score was listening to it without changing the channel. One of my best friends is wild about it and I was looking forward to seeing it but just a few minutes into it I knew what was in store.

 

The composer is an acolyte of Sondheim and I can hear his influence. However, no matter how complex Sondheim gets (and his stuff is VERY COMPLEX) there's still a MELODY around which all the tonal shennanigans are built.

 

Maybe the rest of Piazza is a wonder, but the first 30 minutes are a big pretentious slice of snore pie smoothered with yawn sauce.

 

Musically yours,

 

FFF

[RockHard]

RE: Light In The Piazza

 

"Where's the love baby? ouch"

 

That's funny, cause I said "ouch" after I read your first post here.

 

My love is here, dear, with you, and everyone else who has a smart, articulate opinion. But I work with struggling artists, everyday, many of them are musicians. I don't always love what they produce but I truly feel their pain. I tend to be especially sympathetic.

 

Very good rebuttal. Nice work.