The musical, based on Elizabeth Spencer's novella, will arrive at the Beaumont in spring 2005, although no official dates have been announced. The musical has played critically acclaimed runs at both Seattle's Intiman Theatre and, more recently, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.

Tom Stoppard's trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, previously announced for 2005, has been pushed back to the 2005-2006 season.

  The Chicago run, directed by Bartlett Sher, began Jan. 10 and opened Jan. 20 for a run originally slated to end Feb. 15.

Original stars Victoria Clark, Patti Cohenour, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Mark Harelik, Kelli O'Hara and Glenn Seven Allen — who starred in the world premiere of the musical at the Intiman — reprised their roles with newcomers Wayne Wilcox, Amy Arbizzani, Andrew Rothenberg, Stephen Rader, Brooke Scherrod and Jonathan Raviv.

The Light in the Piazza is a love story of a young American woman who while on holiday falls for a young Italian man. When the young woman's mother learns of the affair, she opposes it for seemingly unknown reasons. Based on the 1960 novella by Spencer, the musical is set in Florence and Rome in the summer of 1953. The world premiere of The Light in the Piazza, featuring music and lyrics by Guettel (Floyd Collins) and book by Lucas (The Dying Gaul, Prelude to a Kiss), played last year in Seattle. The developing work was previously workshopped at the Sundance Theatre Lab.

Some restructuring took place for the developing show since the Seattle staging. "The heart of it is still there," lead Victoria Clark told Playbill On Line. (The actress has been with the show since its early stages.) "The core of the piece is still very much the same. It's definitely still the same story."

The design team included Michael Yeargan (set), Chris Akerlind (light) Catherine Zuber (costume) and Acme Sound Partners (sound). Ted Sperling served as music director. Choreography was by Marcela Lorca.