It wasn’t just the cast that created a cohesiveness to the three productions; the design did too. Set designer David Arsenault had his work cut out for him, considering that “all three stages are wildly different,” he says. “One is a thrust stage and two are proscenium stages. But even the prosceniums vary drastically in their proportions and size.”

The well-thought-out costumes, by Charles Schoonmaker, are designed to elicit some winces over 1970s style while smartly defining the characters. Norman's ability to wear those particular pajamas with pride offers as much insight into the man as his lines do. Reg's wide ties and Sarah's hostess-with-the-mostest dresses are a time capsule that is fun to open.

The physical production was typical of Dorset, excellent. David Arsenault's terribly elegant dining room complemented Northern Stage's living room, although in very different theater. Appropriate costumes, some of which added to the humor, by Charles Schoonmaker were much the same. 

David L. Arsenau's set was a sumptuous feast of both indoors and the view outdoors. Lights by Stuart Duke and sound by Jane Shaw were on the mark all evening; the shifts in daylight were particularly majestic. Costumes by Charles Schoonmaker complemented not only the period, but also the humor of the moment. See Norman's pajamas.

The costumes by Charles Schoonmaker, his assistant Amanda Ostrow, and intern Margaret Galvin were simply divine! They color coded clothing according to character, plot development and mood all while giving the stage to the actors. Dresses fit like tailored gloves and even matched sympathetic characters sharing the stage. The costumes for “Autumn in Connecticut,” the opening number, matched the fall leaves incorporated into the set. The ensemble song “Once a Year,” which delivers the coup de gras to Cathy and Frank’s marriage, was awash in supple fall/winter bronzes that effectively signaled the end to a bitter relationship. Other numbers utilized vivid reds, blues and purples that caught the eye… It’s porn. This musical is vintage clothing porn.

For local legend Charles Schoonmaker has gone to town this time, with one eye on Dior's "New Look" and the other on the boldest prints he could find. The results are nothing less than dazzling - 

The set is a series of empty, larger-than-life-sized picture frames that offer a glimpse into the lovely, lily-white, bucolic world of Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1957. Cocktails and charity events fuel their Stepford-like existence, which looks much more beautiful thanks to Charles Schoonmaker’s stunning costumes.

SpeakEasy Stage Company's New England premiere of the off-Broadway stage adaptation of Todd Haynes' paean to Douglas Sirk, "Far From Heaven," is a gorgeously designed affair filled with rich, challenging compositions -- but a dreadful tendency toward some sort of hybrid between opera and musical theater.
 

The spots come up; the characters move, sing, and speak. Cathy, poised and elegant in her crisp yet lush red dress, confidently pitches “Autumn in Connecticut,” her big opening number. All the neighborhood ladies harmonize wearing bright leaf colors. (Costume designer Charles Schoonmaker serves up non-stop delights throughout the show.)

I would be remiss if I did not lavish praise on Charles Schoonmaker for one of the finest collections of costumes ever assembled. Ellis appears in a different dress in nearly every scene and wears them well. The attention to detail to match the period includes hose with seams, head scarves or hats for the women, and hats and topcoats for the men. As mentioned earlier, the colors of the clothing meld with the scenery and lighting, but Cathy's outfits also establish the palette for the dresses worn by the other women who share her scenes.

The 1950s. The grandfatherly Dwight Eisenhower in the White House. Norman Rockwell on the Saturday Evening Post cover. Korea winding down. Peace and prosperity. Everybody was happy. Just look at the lush, color-drenched movies of Douglas Sirk — “All That Heaven Allows,” “Magnificent Obsession” and “Imitation of Life.”

Costume design always begins with practical questions about the characters in the play: age, class, sexuality, weather, time period are all elements that have to be interrogated. Even so, it’s not every day that one gets to ride along with a whip-smart man as he explores dramatic questions about boots and bustiers, riding crops and paddles. Funny and provocative, like the play itself, Chip is clearly the man for this job.

"That's about the only cavil, though, in a show that also features fine supporting performances - especially from Joel Colodner, as Fabrizio's father, and from Carolynne Warren and Alison Eckert as the women in his family whose Italian fire contrasts nicely with Margaret's American ice. This "Piazza" looks stunning, too, with Karen Perlow's sun-warmed lighting saturating the Tuscan hues of Susan Zeeman Rogers's elegant, versatile set and Charles Schoonmaker contributing some of the most flattering costumes in recent memory."

Designer Charles Schoonmaker has gone to town (and back), providing one ravishing period gown after another - sometimes it seems these ladies change between every scene, but we don't care, the results are so consistently smashing (and so perfectly tailored to the palette of the set and lighting). It's hard for me to recall a better-looking show on a Boston stage. There's deeper content to be found over at Follies, but when it comes to sheer stagecraft, nothing in town sparkles like The Light in the Piazza.

When we first see Lane, she's dressed head to toe in doctorly white; Matilde's all in black, both because she's cooler than Lane and because she's in mourning for her parents, "the two funniest people in Brazil." It's giving no metaphorical surprises away to reveal that, as the action progresses, Chip Schoonmaker's deliciously appropriate costumes for both women bloom in unexpectedly rich hues.