Katie Rose Clarke Joins The Light in the Piazza Tour

Coming off a successful, six-time Tony-winning Broadway run, The Light in the Piazza is enjoying a 50-week American Tour, which premiered in August 2006 in San Francisco and continues through July. Joining the cast will be Katie Rose Clarke as Clara, the beautiful 26-year-old American traveling abroad with her mother. Clarke played the role for seven months on Broadway.

Director Bartlett Sher comments in the press notes, "Katie's story is a classic Broadway story. When we could find nobody in New York who could play the part of Clara, we discovered her literally fresh out of college in Texas, with all of her extraordinary talents. We moved her to New York and put her in the Broadway show, which she starred in and in which she was dazzling. It has made all of us just unbelievably thrilled that there was a window of time in her schedule when she could make a return to Piazza."

Clarke joins a cast that also features Christine Andreas as Margaret Johnson, David Burnham as Fabrizio Naccarelli, Wendi Bergamini as Franca Naccarelli, Diana DiMarzio as Signora Naccarelli (beginning March 27), Jonathan Hammond as Giuseppe Naccarelli, Evangelia Kingsley as Signora Naccarelli (through March 25 ), and David Ledingham as Signor Naccarelli.

The musical, based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer, opened on Broadway April 2005 and extended its run until July 2006 at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater. In addition to winning six 2005 Tony Awards, the show also won five Drama Desk Awards and 2 Outer Critics Circle Awards for its New York run. 

With book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel and direction by Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza tells the story of a mother and daughter traveling in Italy. When the daughter romances a high-spirited Florentine, the mother does all she can to keep them apart.

The Lincoln Center Theater production of A Light in the Piazza features the Tony Award-winning creative team behind the Broadway production, including Michael Yeargan (sets), Cahterine Zuber (costumes), Christopher Akerlind (lighting), ACME Sound Partners (sound), Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin (orcherstrations), Kimberly Grigsby  (music direction) and Jonathan Butterell (musical staging).

Remaining tour dates are as follows:

REMAINING TOUR DATES 2007
Minneapolis, MN Mar 20-25       Orpheum Theatre
Denver, CO      Mar 27-Apr 8    Buell Theatre  
Portland, OR    Apr 10-15       Keller Auditorium      
Seattle, WA     Apr 17-29       Paramount Theatre      
Costa Mesa, CA  May 1-13        Orange Co. PAC 
Tempe, AZ       May 15-20       Gammage Auditorium     
Boston, MA      May 29-Jun 9    Colonial Theatre       
Sacramento, CA  Jun 13-24       Community Center       
Chicago, IL     Jul 10-22       Auditorium Theatre

For more information, visit www.piazzaontour.com.

Photo by Joan Marcus- Victoria Clark and Katie Rose Clarke in The Light in the Piazza
 

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