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| re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert | |
| Posted by: WWriter 08:01 pm EST 02/08/21 | |
| In reply to: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert - Fredrick 09:28 am EST 02/07/21 | |
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| I don't think there's any recording available, audio or video, sadly. I did get to see it, just barely, and I've linked to the blog post I wrote at the time. It was just barely because I only heard about the reunion four or five hours after tickets went on sale. I immediately went to the ticket website and called my sister at the same time to make sure she was free the day of the performance (she had seen Piazza 18 times or so). Then I had her call one of our main theatre buddies, and as I bought tix for my sister and I, I called the other. I didn't want to wait to get okays from everyone, because I was afraid of the tickets disappearing. My sister and I got third row balcony, off center. Once we had verified our friends' availability (there was never a question of whether they'd want to see it!), we got tickets for them--also third row, I think, and to the other side. And then there were no more tickets available! Gone! We had just made it! I should specify that we got the last $150 tix. I don't know if there were still $1,000 tix available. And, speaking of the $1,000 tix, I wrote in my blog post that I didn't know if the audience downstairs was as buzzing as the one upstairs. Years later, I met someone who had seen it in orchestra seats and she said the orchestra was full of Piazza fans who were also thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to be there. The performance itself was painfully wonderful. There's always that wistfulness at seeing something for the last time, and I had felt that wistfulness at Piazza's final performance. But there's an extra intensity, at least for me, in seeing something you thought you would never see again. (I also cry more at movies where a dead person comes back and then leaves than I do at regular deaths. There's something about that miracle appearance that deepens things for me. Like you almost could get away without the loss happening, and then it hurts twice as much. See, eg, Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Truly, Madly, Deeply.) Each second of the Piazza reunion was there, perfect, then gone. There, perfect, then gone. There, perfect, then gone. And when the music for Fable started, I think the whole audience's heart broke, because we knew the show would soon disappear again. Sigh. |
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| Link | Light in the Piazza 10 Anniversary |
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| re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert | |
| Posted by: Fredrick 12:39 pm EST 02/09/21 | |
| In reply to: re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert - WWriter 08:01 pm EST 02/08/21 | |
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| Thank you so very much for this account of what must have been a transportive evening. I’m incredibly sad I missed it and that there is no digital record of it. Piazza was a glorious gut punch to me each time I saw it. Having a recording of this reunion would have been very special. But, alas! | |
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| re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:17 am EST 02/09/21 | |
| In reply to: re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert - WWriter 08:01 pm EST 02/08/21 | |
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| "There's an extra intensity, at least for me, in seeing something you thought you would never see again." Alas, I did not see the PIAZZA reunion concert. But the feeling you cite was what made the MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG 20th reunion concert absolutely thrilling, tear-jerking, and unforgettable, because that was a case where the show was such a tremendous flop the first time, it's safe to say that no one who was involved with it or saw it back then would ever have thought for even half a second that the show would be revived in concert form for one night 20 years later before an adoring, cheering, weeping audience :-) |
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| Let's be honest: Adam Guettel was the breakout star of that show | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:47 am EST 02/09/21 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:43 am EST 02/09/21 | |
| In reply to: re: 10-yr Light in the Piazza Anniversary Concert - WWriter 08:01 pm EST 02/08/21 | |
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| Really enjoyed reading your blog post just now!!! I must agree that "Octet" is some of the most terrific music in the score, and I ADORE it too. I am a bit unusual, in that I got the chance to hear many of Adam Guettel's original demos for this score before the Broadway production, and it was clear even then that the octet was going to be transcendent. Nonesuch released several of those demos for online streaming -- no longer available, sadly -- and Mr. Guettel's "Dividing Day" demo was on the first audio CD's, so that's still out there. It's just him and a guitar and it's terrific. Although many in the audience were clearly moved by this show's excellent book and luminous performances, we've gotta be honest. Adam Guettel was the real breakout star of this show. Very few people at that point were familiar with FLOYD COLLINS or SATURN RETURNS / MYTHS & HYMNS. No one writing for the musical theatre is composing more original and thrilling music than Adam Guettel. I don't think anyone even comes close, to be honest. And although I'll take a long gestation period for any masterpiece, I am VERY eager to hear more of his talented man's work. Ms. O'Hara said during the recent live stream that she's had the chance to sing through some of his forthcoming score for DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, another collaboration with Craig Lucas. She said it's beautiful, original, and wonderful. A few songs from his treatment of MILLIONS have also been recorded & performed... Link below for one those songs performed by Audra McDonald. Need to hear these scores. Soon. - GMB |
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| Link | March is a Windy Month from MILLIONS -- Audra McDonald and the NY Philharmonic |
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| Thanks! (nm) | |
| Posted by: WWriter 01:15 pm EST 02/09/21 | |
| In reply to: Let's be honest: Adam Guettel was the breakout star of that show - GrumpyMorningBoy 10:43 am EST 02/09/21 | |
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