Cast: Nick Gabriel (Warren), Deborah S. Craig (Deb), David Burnham (Jason), & Nancy Andrews (Claire)
I almost missed this great show, since I moved on the 15th and things were crazy before and after the move. I didn't have time for Facebook (or I would have seen David's status updates about the opening of the show, etc.) and when I got the email from David about this show I saw the dates and immediately filed it away in my "I can't go to that" pile and tried to forget (pretty successfully) what I'd be missing.
Thankfully, Goldstar emailed me and though I'd been ignoring most Goldstar emails because of lack of time, I happened to see this one at South Coast Rep and noticed that it was the show David was doing there. That was it, I was in and got a couple friends to join me. I'd first seen David Burnham in The Light in the Piazza and became an instant fan. We met and became friends, too, which makes it even better to get to see him in shows. I had heard of the others in the cast, but hadn't seen them in anything personally. The show interested me, since it's based in New York City, my home town.
Ordinary Days has wonderful music and the cast at South Coast Rep was great. The scenic design, projection design, & lighting are all very well done. I was very sad that I didn't get a chance to see Ordinary Days until closing night. If I'd seen it earlier, I could have bought tickets to see it again (and I definitely would have done that). I'm hoping it will make its way back to New York or perhaps to LA so I can see it again. My friends in New York would really enjoy it and Warren actually reminded me a lot of my best friend still living in NYC.
The four different stories overlapped and worked together to form a very interesting and cohesive show. I highly recommend seeing Ordinary Days if you get a chance. I hope it will go on to do well and that there will be a cast album available. It's one of those shows where I might have bought the album at the show so I wouldn't have to wait for it to ship from Amazon, but the cast recording doesn't exist yet. Hopefully, it'll be available at some point and I'll be able to own the music and listen to it any time.
Grade: A
Labels: comedy, David Burnham, Deborah S. Craig, drama, musical, Nancy Andrews, New York, Nick Gabriel, theatre
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:45 PM show | 0 screams
It's no secret that I've been a huge fan of David Burnham's since I saw him in The Light in the Piazza on tour. I saw him last month for his CD Release Concert in LA, which was wonderful. I was really looking foward to seeing him perform with high school students from the Orange County High School of the Arts in the Performing with the Pros concert there. It reminded me of the performances I did in high school and it's really a great concept. Unlike many stars, David Burnham is very down to earth and clearly worked well with the high school students. The students got to perform WITH him, not sing backup and I'm sure that will mean a lot to them as they move on in their lives, whether they end up performing for a living or not.
Some of the students from OCHSA are truly amazing. The girl who sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls was particularly amazing, though all the students are clearly very talented. The students were all clearly excited about getting to perform numbers with David and he seemed just as thrilled to be able to perform numbers with the students.
David's CD, which can be purchased through Amazon, CD Universe, etc. is wonderful - I highly recommend it.
If you ever get the chance to see David Burnham in concert or a show, grab it! You definitely won't be disappointed by this Broadway star. He's charismatic and has the most beautiful voice. What more could one want in a concert?
Grade: A+
Labels: 2007, concert, David Burnham, musical
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
It's no secret that I've been a huge fan of David Burnham's since I saw him in The Light in the Piazza on tour. I only wish I had seen him earlier, so I could have enjoyed the show more times. Talking to some people at the concert who got to see him perform in Lincoln Center, I was very jealous. That would have been wonderful!
I had never seen David in concert before, though I'd bought many copies of his CD after listening to that once. David's CD, which can be purchased through Amazon, CD Universe, etc. hasn't left my car since I got it and I doubt it ever will.
David's concert was the best cabaret act I've seen (and I've seen many over the years). Of course, having met David on a couple occasions and emailed him, I knew he was very personable, but this doesn't always translate as well to the stage as it does for him. He really is amazing in concert and I can't wait to see him again in Orange County next month! I'm so glad he was able to get me in, since they were technically sold out by the time I saw his email.
The M Bar & Restaurant is a really nice intimate venue. I would definitely see another show there. The food was good, too, which was a good plus.
David ended up singing all of my favorites from his album, including The Prayer and Muddy Water, which are duets. I was particularly happy that he did The Prayer, since it's my favorite duet on the album (especially since Josh Groban didn't include it in his concert I saw the previous night).
In addition to the wonderful music from the CD he's already got out, David sang many songs I had never heard before - some of which were written by friends of his who were in the audience. It was great to hear all of the new material and some of the songs were really amazing. The song David sang for his mother was beautiful. I'm not sure how he manages to tell the story aboug her and sing the song and remain completely composed. I'd say that at least half the audience had tears in their eyes.
If you ever get the chance to see David Burnham in concert, grab it! You definitely won't be disappointed by this Broadway star. He's charismatic and has the most beautiful voice. What more could one want in a concert?
Grade: A+
Labels: 2007, concert, David Burnham, musical
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast:Christine Andreas (Margaret Johnson), Katie Rose Clarke (Clara Johnson), David Burnham (Fabrizio Naccarelli), David Ledingham (Signor Naccarelli), Betsy DiLellio (Franca Naccarelli), Jonathan Hammond (Giuseppe Naccarelli)
For complete cast info and how to get tickets for the rest of the tour, see the The Light in the Piazza tour page. Unfortunately, it leaves the Orange County Performing Arts Center after the performances tomorrow.
Clearly, I wouldn't see a show I didn't really enjoy twice in less than two weeks. I saw The Light in the Piazza (with almost exactly the same cast, Wendi Bergamini was not able to perform as Franca Naccarelli today, though Betsy DiLellio did a wonderful job and I don't think I would have known that it wasn't the same actress if I hadn't read the slip of paper in the program). David made fun of me for being a theatre freak, which those of you who know me well know is completely accurate, so I'm comfortable with that. I love the theatre and often get more than a little obsessed with it. *grin* I enjoyed The Light in the Piazza even more the second time I saw it and I'm so glad I got to see it again so soon. It's great that it was in town longer than a week and that I had a day free to see it. Although I'm sad it hasn't been selling out everywhere (since it's a wonderful show), I am thrilled that I was able to get a ticket.
I got very lucky today and got a wonderful almost completely center seat in the 5th row of the orchestra (which is row B at the OCPAC). Normally, I wouldn't sit closer than row 5 in a theatre, since closer than that is too close for my neck, but due to the spacing of the seats at the OCPAC, I'd sit in row A, the 4th row, there. It's nice to have so much leg room in a theatre.
The lady next to me was really sweet. We ended up talking, since she was an older woman (86) who hadn't gotten a program and I offered to get one for her when she realized she didn't have one. I gave her mine. Next thing you knew, we were talking about our love for New York, how her friends told her The Light in the Piazza was a horrible show, how I'd already seen it and came back to see it again, David Burnham's great CD, how she's moving to Florida to be closer to her daughter, and just about everything else.
At intermission, the woman next to me said she thought there was a bit too much Italian, but that the music was beautiful. By the end of the show, she said she understood why I had come back to see the show again. I'd managed to convince her it was worth the trip. :-) I'd also convinced her to buy David's CD, but they only took cash, so I think she was going to have to buy it elsewhere.
When I saw the show the other time, I figured I'd buy a program online, since I didn't see a booth and my David was tired. The reason I didn't see a booth is that they didn't sell anything there. What a bummer. I would have bought a program and perhaps a shirt (depends on the designs available) if they'd had them to sell. I guess I'll look online to see what they made and see what I find when I'm in New York in August.
If you get a chance to see The Light in the Piazza and can handle not understanding every word that they say (and like romantic musicals), I highly recommend it. It's a wonderful show with a great story and amazing music. Until July, I can also say that the cast, scenic design, orchestrations, and everything else on the tour are well done, too.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2007, Christine Andreas, dancing, David Burnham, drama, Katie Rose Clarke, musical, romance, tour
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast:Christine Andreas (Margaret Johnson), Katie Rose Clarke (Clara Johnson), David Burnham (Fabrizio Naccarelli), David Ledingham (Signor Naccarelli), Wendi Bergamini (Franca Naccarelli), Jonathan Hammond (Giuseppe Naccarelli)
For complete cast info, see the The Light in the Piazza tour page.
For information on tickets while it's still at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, see their The Light in the Piazza page.
There is definitely a reason The Light in the Piazza won the 2005 Tony for original score, orchestrations, scenic design, costume design, and lighting design (much of which inspired the touring production designs). In another year, The Light in the Piazza might have won the award for best musical. I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to purchase the CD. While I understand why Spamalot won the Best Musical Tony and it appeals to a wider audience with the comedy angle, The Light in the Piazza's score was far superior to Spamalot's and I'm so glad it won the six awards it won (Victoria Clark won for best actress, too). It's too bad that it's not still running on Broadway, but I guess there will always be a bigger market for the shows with more spectacle and humor than heart.
When they say that The Light in the Piazza is the most romantic show in ages, it's very true. The story is beautiful and the music is gorgeous. I've already bought the album and look forward to enjoying it for years to come.
The touring cast is wonderful and all the designs have been wonderfully recreated for the tour. I definitely recommend catching The Light in the Piazza while it's at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. They're near the beginning of the run here, so it will be in town until the 13th. Of course, it will also be touring around the country - in LA later this year and surely going to other parts of the country if you're not in the LA/OC area. I enjoyed David Burnham so much as Fabrizio that I purchased his album, which was just released in March (what luck I had in the timing of the show coming to Orange County).
I'm glad they recorded the Lincoln Center production for PBS, which I currently have on Tivo. I plan to watch it sometime, just to get an idea of how it looked there, since I missed that production.
For those of you who have spouses, kids, or friends who get lost once people start speaking (or singing) another language and may start drifting if the music is a bit too soft and pretty, this might not be the show for them. David enjoyed it, but was a bit tired before the show started (even though the OCPAC starts their shows at 7:30 now, I guess it's a good thing...) and doesn't understand foreign languages or get the gist of what people are saying as well as I do, so he started to tune the show out in points. Personally, I could have listened to the music without understanding a word for hours and would have been okay with that. David isn't as easy to please. He enjoyed it, but the matinee might have been better for him. Of course, I picked the night I did, since this is our first year with OCPAC tickets and I wanted pretty good orchestra seats starting out and to work on improving them each year from there.
The whole point of part of the show being in Italian is that in the beginning, Margaret & Clara don't speak Italian very well. Therefore, they don't understand most of what is being said around them. The Italian in the show allows the audience members to be taken into their world, where they can't understand things that are being said (or sung). The music is beautiful, so I don't see why it would matter in the case of such a great show. However, if you can't get over a fact like that, skip this one and save those around you from having to hear you complain.
The Light in the Piazza is a wonderful romantic show set in Florence and Rome (and a little in America) in 1953. I don't know how anyone who likes romantic musicals could not enjoy this show. The story is about a sweet girl meeting a wonderful (and gorgeous) guy in Italy and the events that unfold as a result. I recommend it and would definitely see it again.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2007, Christine Andreas, dancing, David Burnham, drama, Katie Rose Clarke, musical, romance, tour
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:30 PM show | 0 screams