Encores!: The Light in the Piazza

Asian-American actors Ruthie Ann Miles (Sweeney Todd) and Anna Zavelson (13 Reasons Why) star as a 1950s mother and daughter on a fabulous trip to Florence in this Encores! concert staging of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas's 2005 musical, adapted from a novella by Elizabeth Spencer. The gorgeous score transports you to an era when sweeping strings and grand emotion were more common in Broadway musicals, but neither the music nor the central romance is simple. As in the best work of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Piazza is darker than it may seem; its yearning and adventure are cut with denial and miscommunication. Chay Yew directs the production, and Rob Berman returns to Encores! to conduct; the principal cast also includes James D. Gish, Andréa Burns, Ivan Hernandez, Shereen Ahmed and Rodd Cyrus.