HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE `PIAZZA' BURNHAM OUT FRONT WITH TOURING PRODUCTION.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

There's no mistaking a ``Piazza'' junkie.

No, we're not talking about someone who strolls down busy streets bursting out, impromptu, into impassioned Italian verse. Or even necessarily someone like Broadway director-choreographer Tommy Tune, who saw the Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas musical, ``The Light in the Piazza,'' five times.

Consider instead longtime Studio City resident David Burnham.

Burnham joined the ensemble of the Broadway ``Piazza,'' and simultaneously understudied the leading role of Florentine Fabrizio Naccarelli, remained on the East Coast for the duration of ``Piazza's'' 1 1/2-year run, and is now returning to L.A. with the same show.

He's on a role

What's a year of homelessness, after all, when you're feeling Fabrizio?

``I couldn't get enough of it,'' confesses Burnham, who plays Fabrizio during ``Piazza's'' national tour, opening Nov. 1 at the Ahmanson Theatre.

``Adam Guettel's music takes me to the very top and the very bottom of my range. Craig Lucas' book is like doing a full play and a full opera at the same time. It's an extraordinarily special show.''

Speaking by phone from a tour stop in Atlanta, Burnham speaks in flawless English. If he's doing his job correctly, however, the Fontana native -- who learned Italian for the role -- must hit the stage sounding like a native Florentine.

``It took a while for me to learn what I was saying while I was saying it,'' says Burnham. ``Now it's pretty much second nature. In the Broadway company, one of the guys was fluent in Italian, and we would find a lot of improvisation to do in Italian. It's in the show now. Whenever you see us not talking on the microphones, we're really talking in Italian.''

This would be a switch from what Burnham attempted during his first pass at ``Piazza.'' Concluding a run of the new musical ``Tom Jones'' in Beverly, Mass., Burnham learned from his agent that auditions were being held in New York for a new musical due to premiere at Lincoln Center.

The piece was set in Italy in the 1950s. Burnham either didn't recognize the title (the musical is based on Elizabeth Spencer's novel and subsequently became a 1962 film) or copied down the information incorrectly because he went to the audition with the absolute wrong material.

Rocky start

``I thought it was a rollicking 1950s kind of show in broad musical comedy style,'' recalls Burnham. ``I did this crazy audition, and as I was doing it, I was looking at the table, and they were all kind of looking like, `What is this boy thinking?'''

Bartlett Sher, the director of both the Broadway and touring productions, doesn't recall that audition but says Burnham ``wouldn't have been the only one who did that. He came out of the world of doing `Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' The more traditional bright-eyed standard musical approach doesn't work so well with `Piazza,''' says Sher.

``Piazza'' is a three-cornered love story heavily dependent upon its scenery. Traveling abroad, Margaret Johnson and her 26-year-old daughter, Clara, encounter the younger, non-English-speaking Fabrizio, who is instantly smitten by Clara. Possessing a secret, a highly protective Margaret works tenaciously to keep the would-be lovers apart.

A then-23-year-old George Hamilton played Fabrizio in the film. On Broadway, Burnham understudied first Matthew Morrison (who earned a Tony nomination) and Aaron Lazar (who played the role when ``Piazza'' was filmed for PBS' ``Live From Lincoln Center.'' Over the course of the run, Burnham estimates he went on as Fabrizio some 60 times.

``And every time I went on, someone I knew happened to be in the audience,'' he says. ``A lot of people from California happened to be in New York at the time. It was fun.''

Sher says Burnham has more than earned the promotion. In the final months of ``Piazza's'' run (the show closed in July), the actor would rehearse for the tour during the day and appear with the Broadway company at night. No sooner had the show closed then Burnham went to Boise, Idaho, for technical rehearsals and then opened ``Piazza'' in San Francisco in August.

The taste of `Piazza'

``He's been kind of amazing all the way through,'' Sher says of Burnham. ``It's nice for him to be able to step up to the plate and give us a really charming and sort of profound Fabrizio.''

Burnham fell into acting and music when he wasn't able to get into wood shop while at Fontana High School and ended up in choir instead. Choir director Dan Friberg mentored the young performer, and Burnham ended up with a scholarship to study drama and music at California State University, Long Beach.

During his decade in the Valley, Burnham was a company member at North Hollywood's Road Theatre, where he also painted sets. He earned some extra money painting murals and faux paintings for such clients as actress Adrienne Barbeau, ``Wicked'' book writer Winnie Holzman and voice teacher Eric Vitro.

His first CD, self-titled, will be released in November from LML Music. The track list includes several show tunes, including two from ``Piazza.''

Once the light goes out on ``Piazza,'' Burnham isn't sure what comes next. < ``My hope is to do another show on Broadway. Originating a role, not understudying, would be great,'' he says. ``I'm open to anything. I'm kind of going where this road is taking me.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Dec. 10.

Tickets: $25-$100. [phone].

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Photo:

Studio City's David Burnham, now touring as the lead in ``The Light in the Piazza,'' spent time performing with the NoHo Arts District's Road Theatre Company.