The Light in the Piazza (2005 Original Broadway Cast)
Like a shimmering pearl,The Light in the Piazzaemerged from a sea of revivals, rehashings, and movie adaptations to secure 11 2005 Tony nominations, including Best Musical.  Based on an Elizabeth Spencernovella(which was also made into a 1962 film), it follows a mother, Margaret (Victoria Clark), and her daughter, Clara (Kelli O'Hara), as they take a vacation to Italy.  There, Clara and a young Italian (Matthew Morrison) fall in love, but Margaret is determined to keep them apart.The Light in the Piazzadoesn't fit the model of most Broadway scores, with a splashy opener here, a swing number there, then the big ballad.  The score is more of a unified whole, sometimes jarring, sometimes following the patterns of speech, and sometimes unfolding in glorious sheens of sound.  (Heck, some of it's even in Italian!)  In that sense, it's similar to another unconventional American musical set in Italy,Stephen Sondheim'sPassion, which is more chamber opera than musical, and composer-lyricistAdam Guettel(song of Mary Rodgers, grandson of Richard Rodgers) seems the most likely heir apparent to Sondheim in the current generation of musical theater creators.  O'Hara's voice soars in the score's most beautiful moments ("Say It Somehow," the title song), but Clark enjoys two exquisitely lyrical moments with "Dividing Day" and "Let's Walk."  She was one of the show's six Tony winners (for Leading Actress), along with Guettel's score and the orchestrations, scenice design, lighting, and costumes, while O'Hara (for Featured Actress), Morrison, Craig Lucas's book, and Bartlett Sher's direction were also nominated.--David Horiuchi