THE HANGOVER REPORT – Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s BRIGHT STAR sounds great but struggles to tell its story

bright starI recently had a chance to take a sneak peak at the Broadway-bound Bright Star, a new – but old fashioned – musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. I’m sorry to report that whatever book problems the show was said to have had during last year’s mounting at the Old Globe in San Diego still glaringly remain. The heart of the problem is that the plot – a redemptive updating of and variation on the Moses story – is overstuffed. Simplifying the story and even cutting some of the characters would help the story unfold more organically, thus relieving Walter Bobbie’s elegant staging from being unnecessarily kinetic. In its current state, the show is distractingly rushed and, as a result, the characters’ redemptive and cathartic moments feel unearned. I thus left the musical almost completely unmoved. This fairy tale of a show would do well to take some cues from the Tony-winning Once, which managed to simply yet authentically tell its story from a place of truth and genuine emotion.

I have very little quibbles, however, about Mr. Martin and Ms. Brickell’s mostly disarming bluegrass score (which is played ebulliently by an onstage band that’s always on the move). Their score is the glue that holds the whole enterprise together; I have no doubt that Bright Star will make a very fine cast album. But whenever Mr. Bobbie’s direction takes center stage and rushes things along or Mr. Martin’s book reveals yet another plot twist, the musical comes crashing down to earth. In this case, less is more, especially when it comes to letting the score breathe and shine. The solid cast, which includes Carmen Cusack, Paul Alexander Nolan, and A.J. Shively, navigate themselves admirably around the uneven material. In particular, it’s a pleasure to see the beautiful and talented Ms. Cusack finally getting a crack at creating an original leading role. Let’s hope the show’s issues are thoughtfully addressed before it opens on the Great White Way in the spring.

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BRIGHT STAR
Pre-Broadway tryout, Musical
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2 hours, 15 minutes (including intermission)
Through January 10

Categories: Broadway, Theater

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