"The Light in the Piazza," which opens tonight at the Roschel Performing Arts Center, is not a traditional opera, but it certainly has the spirit of one.

And that's why OperaLancaster couldn't pass it up when they got the chance to do it.

"We took a lot of time when we were thinking about the (two) shows we were going to pick for the season," says music director Derek Martin.

"We could have done two traditional operas or we could pick up the regional premiere of this wonderful show. We thought it would be a great way to showcase the company and appeal to both the opera crowd and the musical theater crowd. It's a good stepping stone."

The same can be said for Martin himself.

"Although I have performed in many operas, most of my experience (in musical direction) is in musical theater," he says.

"Light in the Piazza," which won six Tony awards and was nominated for 11 in 2005, can be classified as musical theater, with a book by Craig Lucas, but its music, by Adam Guettel (the grandson of Richard Rodgers), is gorgeously complex.

"In musical theater, the conductor leads the singer," Martin says. "In opera, it's very much the singer's show. In opera, the conductor has to be the conduit between the singers and the orchestra. You're the middle man."

And, Martin notes, musical theater is often all about the beat. It's more complex in opera.

"You are really following the singer. That's something beginning conductors in opera have trouble with. It's about tension and release, rather than keeping a beat."

But Martin likes the challenge.

"You've got freedom, you aren't being held hostage by the beat," he says. "You can go outside the box and be very creative."

Set in Florence and Rome, "The Light in the Piazza" is about love in all its forms, complexities, dangers, passions and joys.

It's 1953 and Margaret Johnson (Andrea Arena) and her daughter, Clara (Jennifer Lobo), are vacationing in Italy.

In one of those moments that only happens in musical theater or opera, Clara falls immediately, deeply and truly in love with Fabrizio Naccarelli (Jonathan Kaufman), a young 20-year-old she meets in the piazza. He falls just as strongly for her.

As the relationship deepens, Margaret is filled with dread.

For reasons that reveal themselves slowly, she is concerned about her daughter and how the relationship could hurt, even destroy her.

She also worries about the language barrier, which brings comic relief to the show.

Margaret is a complex, often witty woman, dealing with failings in her own marriage, a troubled daughter and a situation that spins out of control.

She comes to realize that she doesn't want Clara to lose out on great passion in her life because of her maternal concerns.

They meet Fabrizio's parents (John Meeder and Sherrill Wesolowski) who have a solid, long standing marriage, and his brother and sister-in-law (Shaun Ressler and Sarah Jones) who have a tempestuous one.

Great passion weaves in and out of the story. Nothing is simple, there is plenty of ambiguity but at the same time, plenty of deep feelings.

"When you watch (the story unfold) it really hits you, you find these moments of intense passion," says Martin.

The show is based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer. Ellen F. Fritz is directing.

And in case you're wondering, OperaLancaster will do a grand and classic opera in March: Puccini's "La Boheme."

OperaLancaster's "The Light in the Piazza"

Tonight at 8; Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.

Sun. 2 p.m. $15-$22

Roschel Performing Arts Center

F&M College, 358-4858
www.operalancaster.com.