Get ready to be transported to Italy with this advance look at the New York City Center Encores! production of The Light in the Piazza. Watch footage of the Encores! orchestra rehearsing the show's overture in the video above.
Ruthie Ann Miles will star as Margaret Johnson in the New York City Center Encores! production of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' musical, which will run from June 21 to June 25.
Miles is joined by Shereen Ahmed as Franca Naccarelli, Andréa Burns as Signora Naccarelli, Rodd Cyrus as Giuseppe Naccarelli, James D. Gish as Fabrizio Naccarelli, Ivan Hernandez as Signor Naccarelli, and Anna Zavelson as Clara Johnson. Newcomer Zavelson was a finalist and scholarship winner at the 2022 Jimmy Awards.
Based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer and featuring a book by Lucas and a Tony-winning score by Guettel, The Light in the Piazza follows an American woman named Margaret vacationing in Florence, Italy, with her daughter, Clara. Clara then falls in love with a local man and inspires Margaret to embrace her own undreamt-of opportunities. Victoria Clark and Kelli O'Hara led the Broadway premiere of the work in 2005, with Clark winning a Tony for her performance.
Without changing a word of the script, director Chay Yew is leaning into Miles' background—the character of Margaret is now a Korean immigrant, just like Miles. It adds even more depth to the character's existing journey of building walls around herself and her child to survive in the world. Says Miles in her recent interview with Playbill, “She’s proving herself, and proving her worth, and showing outwardly that she’s not so different, that she and her daughter belong. Maybe that’s something most people think about, but certainly somebody with an immigrant mentality such as our Margaret Johnson.”
The Encores! season launched with Dear World, starring Donna Murphy and directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes earlier this year. It was followed by Lionel Bart's Oliver!, with Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet at the helm and led by Benjamin Pajak, Lilli Cooper, Raúl Esparza, and Tam Mutu.
WATCH: The Cast of Oliver! at New York City Center Perform Songs From the Show
