To Do Today: The Light in the Piazza
Sarah-Anne Martinez as Clara (left) and Emily Skinner as her mother, Margaret, in The Light in the Piazza. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
To Do Today: The Light in the Piazza
Experience an Italian summer with this Tony-winning musical at the Huntington Theatre
What?
The Tony Award–winning musical The Light in the Piazza.
When?
Wednesday, May 28, at 2 and 7 pm. The musical runs through June 15. Find the schedule here.
Where?
The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston.
How much?
Tickets start at $29 and can be purchased here; $25 tickets are available to all performances for full-time students. Use promo code DISCOUNT to access student pricing. Valid ID required.
Why should I go?
With a book written in 2003 by Craig Lucas (CFA’73), the musical The Light in the Piazza transports audiences to the picturesque Italian city of Florence in 1953, where wealthy American Margaret Johnson (Emily Skinner) and her daughter Clara (Sarah-Anne Martinez), who is disabled, are spending the summer. One day, a breeze blows Clara’s hat off her head and across a square, where it is caught by a young Italian man named Fabrizio (Joshua Grosso). The two immediately fall in love, and Margaret finds herself at a crossroads, where she must reconcile her plans with Clara’s whirlwind romance. As her protective instincts kick in, Margaret embarks on a journey where she is faced with the true meaning of love and family.
Over the past 40 years, Lucas has built a strong reputation for expertly transforming books and films into stage productions. In 2005, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for The Light in the Piazza, based on the 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer.
“I usually like to adapt things that are broken or flawed,” Lucas told BU Today in a 2023 interview. “When something is broken—even if it’s beloved—if it’s flawed enough, it’s easier to adapt because you can see, oh, we can make that better.” In the case of Piazza, he felt the addition of music could enhance the novella.
In the Huntington’s rendition of this iconic musical, artistic director Loretta Greco brings to life Adam Guettel’s Tony Award–winning score, which combines Neo-Romantic classical music and opera, with lyrics in both English and Italian. The show runs for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, including intermission.
Praised as a “delight for the eyes, the ears, and the heart!” by the Boston Globe, The Light in the Piazza is a must-see for fans of intense and soaring romance—and it’s running only through mid June, so score tickets now and experience an Italian summer for yourself.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.