Last summer, Morrison was announced to star in the new musical The Opposite of Sex, but left the production due to his casting in the upcoming ABC television adaptation of Once Upon a Mattress starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett.
Already announced for Piazza are Michael Berresse, Beau Gravitte, Victoria Clark, Kelli O'Hara, Mark Harelik, Sarah Uriarte Berry and Patti Cohenour. Piazza will play Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont beginning March 17 for an April 18 opening.
Berry has been cast in the role of Franca in the Broadway production. Franca is the role formerly played by Kelli O'Hara in the regional productions of Piazza. O'Hara has since been bumped up to the larger part of Clara. Victoria Clark will play Clara's mother.
The creative team includes Ted Sperling (musical direction), Michael Yeargan (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes) and Christopher Akerlind (lights).
Piazza, based on Elizabeth Spencer's 1960 novella, has played critically acclaimed runs at both Seattle's Intiman Theatre and, more recently, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. It is a love story of a young American woman, Clara (O'Hara), who while on holiday falls for a young Italian man. When the young woman's mother (Clark) learns of the affair, she opposes it for seemingly unknown reasons. The musical is set in Florence and Rome in the summer of 1953.