Cathedral City, CA

Coachella Valley Repertory will begin the new year with a beautifully conceived production of six-time Tony Award® and five-time Drama Desk Award winner, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. The New York Times called it “The most intensely romantic score of any musical since West Side Story.” Adam Guettel’s music is a blend of classical and Broadway melodies, and, with his lyrics and the book by Craig Lucas, (Guettel is the grandson of the great Richard Rogers.) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA captures the heart with its romance, compassion and deeply moving happy ending. It runs January 22 – February 9. The Wednesday, January 28 matinee is ASL interpreted. CVRep Executive Artistic Director Adam Karsten will direct, music director is Stephen Hulsey, and Karen Sieber is the choreographer.

Based on a true-life story related in Elizabeth Spencer’s 1960 novella of the same name, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is set in Italy’s picturesque region of Tuscany during the 1950s. Margaret Johnson, a wealthy American woman from the South, and her daughter Clara, who has developmental disabilities due to a childhood accident, are on an extended summer vacation. While they stroll through a piazza, a sudden gust carries Clara’s hat away, landing at the feet of Fabrizio, a handsome young Florentine. Of course, it is love at first sight. But, as in real life, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA becomes complicated: Does protecting Clara deprive her of a full life and a chance at love or spare her from demands and expectations that could overwhelm her?

Adam Karsten, CVRep Executive Artistic Director and director of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, 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 our understanding of these relationships, but perhaps more importantly, all of the relationships depicted before us. Our goal will be to show the beauty within each of them.”

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA stars MOLLIE VOGT-WELCH as Margaret. LOGAN GRAYE as Clara, and DANIEL LOPEZ as Fabrizio Naccarelli. CHARLES HERRERA and LESLIE TINNARO are Fabrizio’s parents, MICHAEL DeSOUZA and STEPHANIE LYNNE MASON portray his older brother, Giuseppe, and his wife, Franca. TIM EWING is Margaret’s husband, Roy, PATRICK WALLACE is the priest, EMILY UNNASCH is the tour guide. Also in the cast are LISETTE GARRIDO, ALI SIMON, and ANTON LAMON. 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*.

Tickets are available now for each of the upcoming shows in CVRep’s 2024-2025 Season – THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, and OTHER DESERT CITIES. Information about the world premiere work from the CVRep Origins New Works Program will be announced after the first of the year. 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, and THE Wednesday, January 28 matinee of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA will be ASL interpreted.

CREATIVE TEAM

ADAM GUETTEL – Music & Lyrics

Adam Guettel is a composer, lyricist, and teacher living in New York City. He wrote the music and lyrics for The Light in the Piazza, with a book by Craig Lucas, which premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in 2005, and won six Tony Awards®, including Best Score and Co-Orchestrations for Guettel. In 2019, his work on Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Score. His musical, Floyd Collins, with a book by Tina Landau, won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, and the Obie Award for Best Music —coming to Broadway’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in spring 2025. His musical, Saturn Returns (recorded as Myths and Hymns),  was produced at the Public Theater in 1998. He has several shows in the works, including Millions, directed by Bartlett Sher, with a book by Bob Martin. It is having its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre, also in spring 2025. He has won the Stephen Sondheim Award (1990), the ASCAP New Horizons Award (1997) and The American Composers Orchestra Award (2005). Guettel attended Yale University, and received an honorary doctorate from Lehman College in 2007. His musical, Days of Wine and Roses,had its world premiere in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater in New York City, and opened at Broadway’s Studio 54 in 2024. He was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019.

CRAIG LUCAS – Book

In addition to writing the book for The Light in the Piazza, playwright, screenwriter, theatre and film director, and musical theatre actor Craig Lucas directed the world premiere at the Intiman Theater in Seattle.

While pursuing his writing in New York, Lucas performed in Broadway musicals, including Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century, Rex, and Sweeney Todd.  Lucas collaborated with director/producer Norman René on many projects, including Marry Me a Little, the plays Missing Persons, Blue Window, and Reckless, Three Postcards, and Prelude to a Kiss, feature film Longtime Companion, the film adaptation of Prelude to a Kiss. Lucas’s play Prayer for My Enemy, directed by Barlett Scher, played Off-Broadway. He also wrote the book for Amélie, a musical based on the 2001 film, with music by Daniel Messé and lyrics by Nathan Tysen. His Prayer for My Enemy was directed by Scher. He wrote two plays dealing with AIDS: The Singing Forest and The Dying Gaul, which was made into a film that he directed. Lucas has received two Obie Award, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award, Outer Critics Circle, L.A. Drama Critics Circle, Drama-Logue and Lambda Literary Awards.

ADAM KARSTEN – Director

Adam Karsten has been the Executive Artistic Director of Coachella Valley Repertory since 2021. He is an award-winning director of stage, screen and television/broadcast productions. He was a producer and director for the Emmy Award winning performing arts series, Live From Lincoln Center and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). He has directed musicals, plays and other theatrical works Off-Broadway, regionally, touring, and Broadway workshops. He has directed CVRep productions of The Humans, ONCE, the world premiere of Summer Session With The Bones Brigade, Cabaret, and Next to Normal. Karsten has dedicated himself to the development of new theatre and film projects. His stylistic works and defined concepts have been praised by critics and audiences.

STEPHEN HULSEY – Music Director

CVRep: Love is Dead (music director/pianist), Cabaret (assistant to the music director/keys), pianist for Julia & Janna Cardia’s Twinspiration during the 2024 Summer Cabaret Series. Hulsey will also be music director for CVRep’s March 2025 production of Jesus Christ Superstar

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.

KAREN SIEBER – Choreographer

CVRep: Cabaret, Summer Session With The Bones Brigade

Off-Broadway/Broadway/Workshops/National Tours: The Quiet Clock, Works & Process (Guggenheim), The Broadway Dance Lab (The Gym at Judson), The New York Dance Gala (honoring choreographer Luigi, Symphony Space), We Are Ameena (New 42nd Street Studios), The Easter Bonnet Competition (Minskoff Theatre), All That Glitters, The Liberace Musical (New 42nd Street Studios, associate), Zarra-Unmasked At Last (starring Chita Rivera, associate), Some Like It Hot (starring Tony Curtis, assistant) 

International: Holmes, The Legend (World Premiere, Karlin Theatre, Prague)

Regional: Into The Woods (TUTS, associate director and choreographer), Cabaret, Spamalot, Les Misérables, Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde, Nice Work if You Can Get It (Weathervane Playhouse); Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (TUTS, starring Millicent Martin, associate); Very Good Eddie (Goodspeed Musicals, assistant)

Film: ResistDance; Still Here; Losing Face, A Christmas Carol (Hallmark, starring Kelsey Grammer, associate).

Performance (select): Disney’s Beauty and the Beast; Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Outside Inn (59E59), Grease, Cabaret, CATS (Eurotour, Vienna), Mack & Mabel (Goodspeed), Very Good Eddie (Goodspeed), Singin’ in The Rain (Gateway Playhouse), The Supper Club (NYC).

Training: London Studio Center (London, England)

CAST

MOLLIE VOGT-WELCH* – Margaret Johnson

Broadway: A Tale of Two Cities (Rene)

Off-Broadway & Regional: The Sound of Music (Maria), South Pacific (Nellie), The Secret Garden (Lily), The Fantasticks (Luisa), Into The Woods (The Baker’s Wife), Ragtime (Evelyn Nesbit), Hair (Crissy), Table Manners (Annie), The Goodspeed Opera production of Show Boat (Kim)

National Tours: Camelot (Guenevere), Peter Pan (Wendy)

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  

Awards: Finalist and award winner at the International Lotte Lenya singing competition at The Eastman School of Music.

Note: Directs a live production of A Charlie Brown Christmas every year in Brooklyn, raising more than $50k from the proceeds for organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, Girl Be Heard and The Children’s Aid Society.

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, Genevieve), Cruel Intentions (Cecile Caldwell), Disenchanted (Cinderella), Side Show, Seussical The Musical (Thing 1), Titanic (concert version)

Film/TV: Behind the Scenes, The Old Tenants (lead)

DANIEL LOPEZ* – Fabrizio Naccarelli

Regional: Last of The Red Hot Mamas (Frank Westphal), She Loves Me (Kodaly), Camelot (Lancelot), Rent (Roger), Spamalot (Sir Galahad), Beauty and the Beast (The Beast), Chicago (Billy Flynn), West Side Story (Tony) The Pirates of Penzance (Frederic), Master Class (Tony Candolino)

Film/TV: Tiny Time Travel (guest star, PBS Kids), FBI (guest star, CBS), Who Killed Pushkin? (Nikolai Gogol, Feature), Blue Bloods (co-star, CBS), Indie shorts Dragon Fly, Creature of The Night, Hannah Can You Hear Me?

Opera: La Traviata (Alfredo), Madama Butterfly, The Mikado (Nanki-Poo), Beatrice et Bénédict (Bénédict), Ariodante (Lurcanio), Le Nozze di Figaro (Don Curzio), The Beggar’s Opera (Macheath), The Magic Flute (Tamino), The Tender Land (Martin)

Music: Disney Goes Classical (#1 Classical Billboad), The Ed Lover Show (IheartRadio), 50’s Rock Band (lead singer, rhythm guitarist) 

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

Recording: Love Changes Everything, http://www.charlesherrera.com

Training: Stella Adler

LESLIE TINNARO* – Signora Naccarelli

CVRep: Ballroom (Pauline), Fun Home (Helen), Cabaret (Fraulein Scheider), Summer Cabaret Series

Broadway: Evita, My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle)

Additional credits: My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle), Show Boat (Julie), Cabaret (Sally Bowles, Carnival (Lily)

MICHAEL DeSOUZA* – Giuseppe Naccarelli

Off-Broadway: Once Upon a Mattress (Transport Group)

NYC Theater: Boys Who Tricked Me (Dixon Place), MotherF**ker With The Hat (MCS Theater) Corpus (Midtown International Theatre Festival)

Regional: Camelot (Westport Country Playhouse), A Little Princess (Sacramento Theatre Company), Lysistrata Jones (Meadow Brook Theatre)

Readings: The Visitor (The Public Theater), Rated Black (New York Theater Workshop) Vestige, Boys Who Tricked Me (Musical Theatre Factory), A Diamond as Big as the Ritz

Opera: The Magic Flute (Bay View), The Elixir of Love (University of Michigan), Rockland (Pine Mountain)

Improv: Member of indie team Uncle Taft

Training: University of Michigan

STEPHANIE LYNNE MASON* – Franca Naccarelli

Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof (2015 Tony nominated revival directed by Bartlett Sher)

Off-Broadway: Fidler Ahn Dakh (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey), Amerike The Golden Land, The Sorceress, Broadway 1910

Regional: Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story (Maria, Houston Theatre Music Under the Stars), Axis Theatre Company, Beautiful, The Carole King Musical (Carole, John W. Engeman Theatre)

National Tours: Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley’s girlfriend, Dyanne}

TIM EWING* – Roy Johnson

CVRep: Nice Work If You Can Get It

Broadway & Broadway Nat’l Tour: Mamma Mia

Off-Broadway: Falsettoland (Playwrights Horizons), Pacific Overtures (1st revival, Promenade Theatre), Any Day Now (Ingenius Theatre)

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 (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Present Perfect (Here Arts), Colette Collage (York Theatre)

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

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

One-man Show: It’s About Time.

PATRICK WALLACE – The Priest

CVRep: Next to Normal (psychiatrists)

Regional: 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)

Training: BFA in Acting (USC).

EMILY UNNASCH – Tour Guide/Ensemble

CVRep: Cabaret, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Additional roles: Annie Get Your Gun (Annie Oakley) and Beauty and the Beast (Belle, (received Desert Theatre League awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Professional Musical, A Chorus Line, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Phoebe), Always… Patsy Cline (Patsy Cline)

LISSETTE GARRIDO – Ensemble

Regional: Seussical the Musical (Gertrude McFuzz), Grease (Sandy), Beauty & the Beast (Belle), The Little Mermaid (Ariel), Rent (Mrs. Cohen, Ali, Maureen), West Side Story (Maria), Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Hello Dolly

Special Events: The Music of Queen (Chance Theatre), On The Spot (NYC), Classical Tour (Germany), Broadway Tour (Eastern China)

ALI SIMON – Dancer

CVRep: Cabaret, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Theatre/Live Performance: International Tour of Cirque: Wonderland, Mamma Mia (Dream Theatre), High School Musical (Axelrod PAC).

Film/TV:  Lil Uzi Vert, Jhayco, “Falling in Reverse,” “Jelly Roll,” MTV’s “TRL”, The American Girl Movie

Choreography: Grand Carnival (Cedar Fair), Legally Blonde (Chapman University).

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