The Light in the Piazza to be Broadcast Live on PBS June 15

The Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza, scheduled to end its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on July 2, will air on PBS as part of the Live From Lincoln Center series. The Thursday, June 15 performance will be the one broadcast live.

The Light in the Piazza, based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer, is set in the summer of 1953 and tells the story of a mother and daughter traveling through Italy, the daughter's romance with a handsome, high-spirited Florentine and the mother's determined efforts to keep the two apart. The musical features a book by Craig Lucas and a score by Adam Guettel.

The Lincoln Center production of The Light in the Piazza—which stars Victoria Clark, Katie Clarke, Aaron Lazar, Michael Berresse, Sarah Uriarte Berry and Chris Sarandon—opened to mixed reviews on April 19. In his Broadway.com Review of the tuner, Eric Grode wrote: "The Light in the Piazza is incredibly lucky to have found Victoria Clark. Her shrewd, poignant portrayal, imbuing Margaret's hesitant emotional growth and deep-rooted pragmatism with a lush singing voice, is by far the highlight of Guettel and Lucas' affecting, occasionally overreaching adaptation of the Elizabeth Spencer novel. Luckily, Clark gets enough help from her talented supporting cast, Bartlett Sher's crystalline direction and an exquisite physical production to vault Piazza over its dramaturgical gaps."

The tuner won Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical Victoria Clark, Best Original Score Written for the Theatre Adam Guettel, Best Scenic Design of a Musical Michael Yeargan, Best Lighting Design of a Musical Christopher Akerlind, Best Costume Design of a Musical Catherine Zuber and Best Orchestrations Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin.

Live From Lincoln Center, hosted by Beverly Sills, is currently in its 30th season. The series has received 12 Emmy Awards including the 2005 Award for Outstanding Special Class Program in the Creative Arts category for Passion, which was a presentation of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. The last Lincoln Center Theater production to be broadcast as part of Live From Lincoln Center was Contact back on September 1, 2002.