THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA

“THE MOST INTENSELY ROMANTIC SCORE OF ANY MUSICAL SINCE WEST SIDE STORY.” -THE NEW YORK TIMES

Coachella Valley Repertory’s 2024-25 Season continues January 22-February 9 with a newly conceived production of six-time Tony Award® and five-time Drama Desk Award winner, The Light In The Piazza. Lyrics and music are by Adam Guettel and book by Craig Lucas. Based on a true story, The Light In The Piazza is set in the Tuscan countryside where a beautiful young woman loses her hat in a sudden gust of wind, landing at the feet of a handsome young Florentine man. It is the beginning of what seems to be an ultra romantic love story, until events unfold, and secrets are revealed. (Spoiler alert, there is a happy ending!)

CVRep Executive Artistic Director Adam Karsten directs Mollie Vogt-Welch as Margaret, Logan Graye as her beautiful daughter Clara, and Daniel Lopez as her Florentine suitor, Fabrizio Naccarelli. Also in the cast are Charles Herrera and Leslie Tinnaro as Fabrizio’s parents, Michael DeSouza and Stephanie Lynne Mason as Fabrizio’s brother and wife. Also in the cast are Tim Ewing, Patrick Wallace, Emily Unnasch, Lisette Garrido, Ali Simon, Sareen Tchekmedyian, and Anton Lamon.

Music director is Stephen Hulsey and choreographer is Karen Sieber. Set design is by Jimmy Cuomo, costumes by Zoe Traufmann, wig and makeup design are by Lynda Shaeps, lighting design by Moira Wilkie Whitaker, sound design by Joshua Adams. Stage manager is John M. Galo*.

Guettel’s music is a blend of classical and Broadway melodies and captures the heart with its romance, compassion and deeply moving happy ending. The New York Observer noted, “… you leave the theater filled with joy and revived by hope for the future.”

Director Karsten said: “Whenever we engage with works of art of any sort, we should be gaining a larger understanding and appreciation of beauty, love, serendipity, and passion. Ushering us with its sensitive words and captivating score, The Light in the Piazza inspires us to explore themes of maternal love, personal sacrifice, and the challenges of navigating a romantic relationship, including one with someone who has intellectual disabilities. The play challenges us to re-evaluate all of the relationships depicted before us. Our goal is to show the beauty within each of them.”

Tickets are available now. Single ticket prices are $55-$125. They can be purchased online at www.cvrep.org, by calling (760) 296-2966, ext. 0, or at the CVRep box office located at 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City. Box office hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and one hour prior to performances. In order to provide the best possible experience, patrons requesting accessibility assistance are encouraged to speak to a ticket representative, and the Wednesday, January 28 matinee of The Light In The Piazza will be ASL interpreted.

THE LIIGHT IN THE PIAZZA: CAST

MOLLIE VOGT-WELCH* – Margaret Johnson

Broadway: A Tale of Two Cities (Rene)

Off-Broadway & Regional: The Sound of Music, South Pacific, The Secret Garden, The Fantasticks, Into The Woods, Ragtime, Hair, Table Manners, The Goodspeed Opera production of Show Boat

National Tours: Camelot, Peter Pan

Film/TV/Voiceover: Includes NBC’s, The Village, A Sixth For Sundays, Amazon’s Creative Galaxy, Celebrity Ghost Stories, Second String Guests, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine’s Bark Club, co-directed the movie Dogmate (winning Best Comedy Short at the Independent Shorts Awards, The IndieX Film Fest and The Cutting Room International Film Fest).

Metropolitan Opera: Productions including Parsifal, Norma, Otello, Rigoletto, Falstaff

LOGAN GRAYE* – Clara Johnson

New York: The Office! A Musical Parody (Angela and others), The Devil Tree Part Two (Neve)

Regional: Miss Molly (world premiere), Cruel Intentions, Disenchanted, Side Show, Seussical The Musical, Titanic (concert version)

Film/TV: Behind the Scenes, The Old Tenants

DANIEL LOPEZ* – Fabrizio Naccarelli

Regional: Last of The Red Hot Mamas, She Loves Me, Camelot, Rent, Spamalot, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago, West Side Story, The Pirates of Penzance, Master Class

Film/TV: Tiny Time Travel, FBI, Who Killed Pushkin?, Blue Bloods, Indie shorts Dragon Fly, Creature of The Night, Hannah Can You Hear Me?

Opera: La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, The Mikado, Beatrice et Bénédict, Ariodante, Le Nozze di Figaro, The Beggar’s Opera, The Magic Flute, The Tender Land

FEATURED COACHELLA VALLEY ARTISTS

STEPHEN HULSEY – Music Director

Regional: music director/conductor/pianist for Sweeney Todd, Ragtime, Titanic, Into The Woods, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love & Murder, Assassins, A Little Night Music, Chess, Tommy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Avenue Q, A Chorus Line, Les Misérables, The Producers, Forever Plaid, Songs For A New World, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Urinetown, Carrie, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Toxic Avenger, Evil Dead: The Musical, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, The Secret Garden, Rent, among others.

CHARLES HERRERA – Signor Naccarelli

Regional: Including Godspell, Oklahoma, The Mikado, The Glass Menagerie, Harvey, Marry Me a Little (nominated for 2013 Desert Theatre League award as Best Lead Performer), Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays (nominated for 2013 Desert Theatre League Award as Best Supporting Performer)
Cabaret: Award-winning shows in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Mexico.

LESLIE TINNARO* – Signora Naccarelli

CVRep: Ballroom, Fun Home, Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Summer Cabaret Series

Broadway: Evita, My Fair Lady

Additional credits: Show Boat, Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Carnival

TIM EWING* – Roy Johnson

Broadway & Broadway Nat’l Tour: Mamma Mia

Off-Broadway: Falsettoland, Pacific Overtures (1st revival), Any Day Now

Regional: Jacques Brel, The Burnt Part Boys, Sylvia, Cabaret, The Full Monty, Dracula, Baby, Lend Me A Tenor, Falsettos, Tomfoolery, A Little Night Music, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike

Festivals: Have It Your Way, Present Perfect, Colette Collage

TV: Co-starred in “Law & Order,” “Law & Order SVU,” “The Unusuals,” “Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Unbreakable”, “The Blacklist,” “Difficult People”

Concerts: The Lion King/Skar (Tokyo Philharmonic/Disney On Classic)

One-man Show: It’s About Time.

PATRICK WALLACE – The Priest

Regional: Next to Normal (psychiatrists), Rent/Mark (Palm Canyon Theatre), Avenue Q (Princeton, Revolution Stage Co.), Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik), Damn Yankees (Joe Hardy, Desert Theatricals), Straight to the Heart (Dezart Performs), Industrial Strength Broadway (McCallum Theatre)

Upcoming: Spring Awakening (Revolution Stage Co), Falsettos (Dezart Performs)

*Appearing through an Agreement between CVRep and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.