From the moment the overture begins for The Light in the Piazza, and you hear its rolling piano medleys, and see the gentle lighting fall just right on a perfect marble sculpture, you know just what this musical is going to be: lush, beautiful, and impossibly romantic.

Such is the appeal of The Light in the Piazza, making its stop at the Kennedy Center this month. Whether it be the exquisite paintings that drop from the ceiling, or the Italian opera-influenced score, it is a show with the mindset of seducing you with its foreign setting, just as its characters are similarly smitten with this "new old world."

The work tells the story of Margaret, a Southern woman (Christine Andreas), and her impossibly innocent daughter, Clara (Elena Shaddow), who vacation together to Florence just as Margaret did years ago. Clara stumbles upon a local boy, Fabrizio (David Burnham), and the pair immediately fall for each other. Margaret is cautious, almost alarmingly so, until we discover the mysterious reasons behind her reticence.

This is a show of big feelings, both evoking and gently poking fun at operatic excess. The language barrier between the young lovers is conveyed charmingly, with some of Fabrizio's songs in Italian (he is expressive enough that we know exactly how he feels without understanding the words), and others in endearingly faulty English ("Now is, I am happiness with you," he entreats her in the stunning "Passeggiata"). Burnham, with the handsomeness of a pop idol and the voice of an esteemed tenor, is terribly appealing as Clara's suitor, and Shaddow, despite embodying a complicating character, makes her simple goodness impossible not to love.

But it is no surprise that Christine Andreas, one of Broadway's great leading ladies, offers the work's most star-powered turn. Andreas has one of those voices that commands attention, with its richness and range of expression. Nowhere does she shine more than in the heartbreaking "Dividing Day," which chronicles the tragic unraveling of her marriage. It is Piazza's standout song among many lovely contenders, and Andreas delivers it with devastating passion.

There are times when The Light in the Piazza can be awkwardly expository, and something about the ending leaves us a bit uneasy — perhaps its unwillingness to consider deception as morally questionable. But this is a show for the heart, not the head, and any nagging doubts about Piazza are drowned, with a deafening crescendo, by the wave of emotions it brings.

The Light in the Piazza runs through Jan. 7 at the Kennedy Center. Tickets are available online.