"Winner of six Tony Awards, The Light in the Piazza represents an ambitious departure from the pop-inflected formula typical of contemporary Broadway musicals. Adam Guettal's score is unusually lush, moody and dramatic, reaching back for inspiration to neo-romantic orchestral music and classical opera."--Sydney Morning Herald The first production of our 95th season is the romantic Tony award-winning musical "The Light In The Piazza," with a book by Craig Lucas and music & lyrics by Adam Guettel. Margaret Johnson, the wife of an American businessman, is touring Florence in 1953 with her daughter, Clara. While sightseeing, Clara-a beautiful, surprisingly childish young woman-loses her hat in a sudden gust. As if guided by an unseen hand, the hat lands at the feet of Fabrizio Naccarelli, a handsome Florentine, who returns it to Clara. This brief episode, charged with coincidence and fate, sparks an immediate and intense romance between Clara and Fabrizio. Margaret, extremely protective of her daughter, attempts to keep Clara and Fabrizio apart. As "The Light In The Piazza" unfolds, a secret is revealed: in addition to the cultural differences between the young lovers, Clara is not quite all that she appears. Unable to suppress the truth about her daughter, Margaret is forced to reconsider not only Clara's future, but her own hopes as well. "The Light In The Piazza" is based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer and earned 5 Tony awards. Arlington Friends of the Drama Theatre's production runs October 13-29. Mark your calendars!

That's Ryan with the lovely Daisy, our choreographer. Ryan Began, joining AFD for the first time as Director of "The Light In The Piazza," is a freelance theater director who is passionate about telling compelling stories that both entertain and engage. He recently directed a workshop of the new musical "one state two state / red state blue state" at The Poets' Theatre. Other recent directing credits include "Fiddler on the Roof" with Colonial Chorus Players and "Lost In Yonkers" for the Theatre Company of Saugus. Prior credits include "Show Boat" (Assistant Director) for Fiddlehead Theatre Company Inc, "Come Back, Little Sheba" (Assistant To The Director) for Huntington Theatre Company, "Carrie: The Musical," "In the Heights," "Clybourne Park," and "Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson" (Assistant Director) for SpeakEasy Stage Company, "Closer Than Ever" (Assistant Director) for New Repertory Theatre, "Orfeo," "L’incoronazione di Poppea," "Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria," "La serva padrona & Livietta e Tracollo," "La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers," "La Couronne de Fleurs," "Almira" and "Niobe: Regina de Tebe" (Assistant Director / Intern) for Boston Early Music Festival, "Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day" & "James and the Giant Peach" (Director) for Boston Children's Theatre, "These Seven Sicknesses" (Director) at Suffolk University, "Car Talk: The Musical!" (Assistant Director) at Central Square Theater, "Mortal Terror" (Assistant Stage Manager) at Boston Playwrights' Theatre and "Animal Crackers" (Assistant Director) with Lyric Stage Company. Whew! Welcome Ryan! #piazza #director

Daisy Giunta, joining AFD as Choreographer of "The Light In The Piazza," begged her parents to bring her to dance class at the precocious age of two, and has been dancing in some capacity ever since. She carried out her formal training at Garden State Ballet School, New Jersey School of Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet NYC, and performed with those companies throughout grade school and high school. Daisy went on to study Special Education at Boston University, where she was introduced into the Boston dance world. She still dances with her teacher and mentor, Margot Parsons, whose company, Dance Visions, performs throughout Boston. Upon graduation, Daisy spent a few years performing with New Jersey Ballet, before returning to Boston to teach dance at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart and Boston Ballet. She also performs with BLDE and has become the Children’s Director for Christmas Reflections held annually at Boston College and Sheen Center NYC. Daisy currently resides with her family in Reading. She loves to choreograph musicals for schools and community theaters, including Colonial Chorus Players, Theatre at the Mount, Sterling Community Theatre, Shirley Arts!, and Calliope Productions. She was recently seen playing Annie in Wakefield Repertory Theatre's production of "Chicago." Welcome to the AFD family Daisy!

What a fantastic performance in a wonderful show. Janet was riveting in the production, and we're so happy for her win! All our love, get ready for your close up!

Wonderful, amici! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard pulling together this stellar cast -- and to everyone who auditioned. Should be a beautiful production. We're especially happy to welcome our good and indefatigable friend Charlie Carr to the ensemble! Final cast: Margaret Johnson: Karen Fanale Clara Johnson: Suzanne Reese-Mills Fabrizio Naccarelli: Gary Ames Signora Naccarelli: Stephanie Mann Signor Naccarelli: Dan Moore Franca Naccarelli: Emma Boroson Giuseppe Naccarelli: Tom Kelleher Roy Johnson/Priest: Tom Richardson Ensemble: Charlie Carr, Sydney Hermanson Megan McCormick, Dan Murray Philip Paquet, Phyllis Uloth ​ PERFORMANCE DATES ​​ Fridays, October 13, 20, 27 at 8 PM Saturdays, October 14, 21, 28 at 8 PM Sundays, October 15, 22, 29 at 4 PM ​ Opening night champagne reception after the show. First Sunday talkback after the show.

As soon as we had a cast, we started rehearsing! Welcome to all the lovely and talented performers. (l to r) Emma Boroson as Franca Naccarelli and Suzanne Reese-Mills as Clara Johnson. Director Ryan Began, AFD Program Director Steve Atwater, Producer Sandy Armstrong, and Stage Manager Sarah O'Neill. Music Director John Eldridge.

Once again, our wonderful theater community brought us many talented, dedicated, and radiant performers. We had two days of auditions, and a day of callbacks, but it was still difficult to make decisions. We send our love to everyone who turned out! We love our cast, and hope you will, too. Please let us know if you want to volunteer in any way as we get ready: building sets, helping with costumes, running a spotlight, selling tickets -- we need you!

The lovely Emma Boroson, who wowed audiences last season in our production of "Spelling Bee," wowed the production company with her lovely audition. She will be Franca Naccarelli in our upcoming "Light in the Piazza." Don't miss it. left: Music Director John Eldridge. Choreographer Daisy Giunta and Stage Director Ryan Began enjoyed the many hours of auditioning... That's Sassy. Also, that's Producer Sandy Armstrong. Stage manager can be fun, too! Sarah O'Neill is doing a great job making the trains run on time. The actors, too. We have expert Italian coaching help from Michelle Youell