A young woman sightseeing in Florence loses her hat in a gust of wind. It lands at the feet of a handsome young Italian - and what begins is a love story that has captivated Broadway critics and audiences since it first opened on Broadway in 2005.
The Light in the Piazza, the Tony Award-winning musical by Adam Guettel, is being staged for the first time in Vancouver thanks to a local theatre company.
Patrick Street Productions is bringing the musical to the stage at the Norman Rothstein Theatre from Sept. 15 to Oct. 9.
The theatre company was launched in 2007 in Burnaby by artistic producers Peter Jorgensen and Katey Wright, a husband-and-wife team who were on a mission to offer quality productions of musicals in Metro Vancouver, focusing in particular on contemporary musicals that haven't yet been seen here.
The two have since made the move to New Westminster with their young son.
Their mission remains unchanged - and, with Light in the Piazza, they're taking on a production that has been described as a "masterpiece" of Broadway writing.
Its operatic-flavoured music - which The New York Times dubbed "the most intensely romantic score of any Broadway musical since West Side Story" - demands a cast capable of enormous vocal feats.
Jorgensen, who's directing the production, has assembled a cast that promises to be more than up to the challenge.
It stars Samantha Hill as Clara Johnson, the young sightseer. She's joined by Adrian Marchuk as Fabrizio Naccarelli, the young Italian love interest.
Hill's credits include turns as Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Rumpleteazer in Cats, while Marchuk has starred in musicals including Jersey Boys, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Lend Me A Tenor.
Wright appears as Margaret Johnson, Clara's mother, and New Westminster's David M. Adams takes to the stage as Signor Naccarelli.
Both will be familiar to local audiences from extensive performance experience in the Vancouver region.
Wright has starred in previous Patrick Street productions of Into the Woods and Bat Boy: The Musical, as well as in productions with Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse and Touchstone Theatre.
Adams, a veteran of the stage, has appeared in productions ranging from Showboat, Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard to The Merchant of Venice, A Christmas Carol and Mambo Italiano.
Also familiar to local audiences will be Heather Pawsey (Signora Naccarelli), who has sung roles with Burnaby Lyric Opera, Vancouver Opera, Opera Viva and Prairie Opera and has extensive experience as a soloist with various symphonic and chamber ensembles.
Burnaby's Timothy E. Brummund - who played Sheriff Reynolds in last year's Patrick Street production of Bat Boy: The Musical - comes to the stage with credits that run the gamut from Mamma Mia! to Little Shop of Horrors, Annie and Guys and Dolls.
The creative team also includes a local connection - set designer Lance Cardinal, a New Westminster resident.
They all lend their talents to a musical that set Broadway talking - and not only because composer Guettel is the grandson of legendary musical theatre composer Richard Rodgers.
It's a work that captured Jorgensen's attention - "It's an astonishing piece of musical theatre," he said last year, upon revelation of its choice as this year's show.
Major critics have long agreed.
"At once melodic, wise and intensely emotional, The Light in the Piazza is one of the most beautiful shows ever written for the American stage," the Chicago Tribune said. "If you were to ask me to name the most perfect musical of the last two decades, its title would be my unhesitating answer."
Local audiences will have a chance to judge for themselves when The Light in the Piazza opens Sept. 15.
It runs in preview from Sept. 15 to 19, with the regular run from Sept. 20 to Oct. 9. It's on Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Preview tickets are $25. Regular show prices are $49, or $46 for seniors, $27 for students.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketstonight.ca or by calling 604-684-2787.
