The new work—Guettel's first new musical since Floyd Collins—will play Jan. 10-Feb. 15, 2004. Lucas will direct the piece. The Light in the Piazza is a love story between a young American woman and a young Italian man. When she learns of the affair, the young woman's mother opposes it for seemingly unknown reasons. Based on the 1960 novel by Elizabeth Spencer, the musical is set in Florence and Rome in the summer of 1953. The show will play the Goodman's larger stage, the Albert.
The Seattle production, set for May 31-July 19, will star Victoria Clark, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Patti Cohenour, Kelli O'Hara, Glenn Seven Allen, Mark Harelik and Robert Shampain. The Goodman had great success with Guettel's Floyd Collins.
The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Edward Albee's searing, Tony-winning drama, will receive its Chicago debut Sept. 27-Nov. 2, 2003. Goodman artistic director Robert Falls will helm the piece about a family floored when dad falls in love with the title animal. No casting has been announced.
David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winner, Proof, continues to show life. A new Albert Theatre production by Chuck Smith will feature an African-American cast and run June 12-July 18, 2004. The two final Albert selections are Electricidad , a new play by Luis Alfaro, directed by Henry Godinez, running March 6 – April 11, 2004; and a new look at Shaw's Heartbreak House by director Kate Whoriskey, running April 24-May 30, 2004.
The Goodman is currently gearing up for two world premieres: August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean (April 18-May 24) and Stephen Sondheim's Bounce (June 20-Aug. 10). At the Owen stage will be Albee's The Play About the Baby, directed by David Petrarca (Sept. 20– Nov. 2, 2003); Crowns by Regina Taylor (Feb. 21-March 21, 2003), which was a critical hit at Second Stage this season; and Moonlight on the Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson, about David O. Selznick and the creation of "Gone With the Wind" (dates are too be announced).
The scheduling of The Goat and The Play About the Baby will put Albee on both Goodman stages at the same time.
