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Broadway

 "The Light in the Piazza" sputters and loses its way and drags its heels--but you have to admire the concept.


Who would think to make a musical about this particular story? It's not a story about an ingenue. It's not particularly happy. It concerns a repressed woman in her forties, who has turned her own daughter into a kind of crutch. When that daughter falls in love, the possibility of change becomes overwhelming for our protagonist. She must try to put an end to this affair.

Weddings tend to have ripple effects. Guests at a wedding might find themselves "pairing off." Or extant couples might play "the comparison game"; separations and divorces might ensue. One thrilling scene in "Piazza" is the moment when the protagonist, Margaret, finally examines her own marriage. She understands that her daughter has found "the real thing." Margaret imagines writing a letter to her own husband; the letter is something she'd never send.

Dashing as the day we met--only there is something I don't recognize.
Though I cannot name it yet--I know it.
Beautiful is what you are--only somehow wearing a frightening disguise.
I can see the winter in your eyes, now, telling me:
Thank you. We're done here. Not much to say.
We are together--but I have had Dividing Day.

This song feels propulsive because Margaret is confronting a taboo; once she has uncovered "the beast in the closet," she just keeps going.

When was Dividing Day?
Was it on the church step? Did it happen right away?
Were you lying next to me, hiding what you couldn't say?
How could I have guessed?
Was my cheek upon your chest--an ocean away?
When was, when was, when was Dividing Day?

This is the "Piazza" song that tends to get anthologized. Regardless of what happens with the Broadway production of "Days of Wine and Roses" (and the buzz seems to be rancorous)....Adam Guettel can be proud of some of his work from "The Light in the Piazza."

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