Alex Jennings, Solea Pfeiffer will join Renee Fleming for ‘Light in the Piazza’ Chicago run

Renee Fleming and Alex Jennings in a scene from “The Light in the Piazza” at London’s Royal Festival Hall. | ©Tristram Kenton/Dewynters London

Alex Jennings, known for his role as Henry VIII in the Netflix series “The Crown,” and Solea Pfieffer, who starred as Eliza Schuyler in the West Coast premiere of “Hamilton,” will be joining the Chicago cast of “Light in the Piazza” opposite opera icon Renee Fleming, it was announced Wednesday.

The six-time Tony Award-winning musical, with a book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and directed by Daniel Evans, will play the Lyric Opera House for 10 performances, Dec. 14-29.

Set in Florence, Italy, in the summer of 1953, the story centers around the handsome dreamer Fabrizio Naccarelli (the son of the dashing Signor Naccarelli, played by Jennings), the young and naive American tourist-with-a-secret Clara Johnson (Pfiefer), with whom Fabrizio falls instantly in love, and Clara’s over-protective mother Margaret (Fleming). As the relationship between her daughter and Fabrizio progresses, Margaret is faced with a most difficult decision about a family secret that will change all their lives.

Tickets, starting $49, are available at www.lightinthepiazzathemusical.com.

The Chicago production arrives from its summer engagement at Royal Festival Hall in London. The musical had its pre-Broadway world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in a co-production with Intiman Theatre in 2004.

Solea Pfeiffer will star as Clara in “The Light in the Piazza” at Chicago’s Lyric Opera.