Renee Fleming to star in ‘The Light in the Piazza’ in Chicago

Grammy Award winner and creative consultant to Lyric Opera of Chicago, soprano Renee Fleming will star in a new production of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “The Light in the Piazza,” slated for a Chicago run later this year, it was announced early Sunday.

Fleming (a Tony Award nominee in 2018 for the Broadway revival of “Carousel”) will star here as Margaret Johnson, an overly protective mother who travels to Florence, Italy, in the summer of 1953 with her beautiful and childlike 26-year-old daughter, Clara. Once in Italy, fate steps in — as does romance in the form of a handsome young local Fabrizio Naccarelli — and their lives are forever changed as a haunting secret is revealed. The full cast will be announced at a later date.

“The Light in the Piazza,” with a book by Craig Lucas and music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, will debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall this summer, arriving in Chicago for performances Dec. 14-29 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker.

The new production, directed by Olivier Award winner Daniel Evans, is designed by Robert Jones, with costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Mick Potter. The Lyric Opera Orchestra will present the score, conducted by Kimberly Grigsby. The show is being presented by the UK-based Scenario Two, helmed by John Berry and Anthony Lilley.

“The Light in the Piazza” was first presented in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre in 2004, opening soon thereafter on Broadway in 2005.

Tickets start at $49-$219, and will go on sale to Lyric subscribers at 10 a.m. March 25 and to the general public at 10 a.m. March 28 at www.lightinthepiazzathemusical.com.