The Light in the Piazza (Southbank Centre)

I found this so dull. The score sounds nice but the songs are not distinguishable. I just didn't care about the characters and the RFH is such an unsuitable venue. More suited to presenting scores than presenting musicals.
I left at the interval because I just didn't care which is a shame because I like Alex Jennings and the performances were charming. I love Florence too.

Saw this last night and it definitely exceeded expectations.
I love the score but have never seen it performed. Dove Cameron was absolutely brilliant - as were all the leads.

I think it's funny how people talk about how sleight the story is. Read between the lines. This is a grown up show dealing with some big themes.
I loved it.

I had contemplated leaving at the interval but gave the second act a chance and it didn't make me like it any more. The score is pretty, but that's about it, and I agree the RFH is completely the wrong place for a staged production.

I don't think the story is that grown up at all - ok, the point about letting Clara be her own person is a good one, but equally she falls madly in love in two seconds flat with a guy who spends most of the first act effectively stalking her. Not particularly charming.

The sheer number of costume changes are as distracting as the bad Italian accents, and the songs all threaten to build into something interesting then end abruptly before they reach that point. I didnt think the performances overall were much to write home about either, and I was expecting better singing given the calibre of the cast. It's a shame, but I think I'd much rather just listen to an orchestra play the score on its own (which to be fair I was doing at points as the orchestra drowned out the vocal at times) - the production just seemed unnecessary.

Suspicious of Shenton's review until I remember he liked Promises Promises based on some characters looking like him.

Thank you,Seriously,for collecting all the reviews together.I love it when posters do that.Very helpful,especially for techno-dinosaurs like me.

Totally agree but I think a lot of people just want easy and catchy tunes to listen to and think that if a score doesn't give you that it's a negative. The book is pretty messy tbf to other criticisms but seeing so many say that the music goes nowhere etc. is a shock to me (especially one comment saying that it isn't coherent? Like I thought it's one of the most singularly coherent scores tbh, all the songs give me the same vibe that only this musical gives me (although Bridges of Madison County recently occasionally comes close)).

It's my second favourite musical haha so I'd give it 5 stars but I know it's not going to be everyone's favourite.

Despite the excellent vocals of Victoria Clark & Kelli O'Hara I always found the cast recording quite a hard listen but found the piece worked better in performance. It's in the wrong venue of course and even from the front row, the sound was pretty bad and I struggled to hear the lyrics at times. Dove Cameron (who?) was fine, Alex Jennings brought much needed gravitas and Rob Houchen outstanding - how refreshing to hear a legit singer not sliding on and off notes - he's superb. Ms Fleming sings beautifully but is a huge let down in the acting department; she displayed a remarkable lack of stagecraft and looked uncomfortable throughout; her transitions are "clunky" and she appears not to know how to walk across a stage. The role requires a really First Class singing actress and sadly for me Fleming did not cut it.

Jake is on the bbc radio two breakfast show tomorrow morning

I booked a discounted ticket from whatsonstage.com after previously buying two rear stalls tickets via the Southbank Centre for my husband and daughter. When I bought the ticket I THOUGHT it was a specific seat on the raised stalls side, but when the confirmation arrived it just said Blue side. When I picked it up, I found it was a box seat. So there I was in lonely splendour in a high up box. For the first half it was pretty much just me and the lighting guy in that section. For the second half, I chose a different, better box and sat there,again by myself. It was like I was some particularly unpopular foreign dignitary.

I found it a curious show, but Houchen and Lynch (the understudy) were good - three stars seems about right.

Saw this tonight and loved it. Renee Fleming is stunning. Dove Cameron great but her Disney Musical tone is not really my thing or appropriate to the role. But Rob Houchen is breathtaking. This is the first production I’ve seen with him where I think you get to see what he can really deliver. He and Renee get the final two songs and his singing off Love to me is way superior to the original recording. This production won’t be to everyone’s taste but the positives out weight the negatives. Especially Adam Guettels music played by one of Europe’s greatest orchestras. No sound issues by the way. It completely swept me away. I came away thinking that since it was written nothing has come close to its beauty.