"Bright Star" -- A Southern Fable With A Standout Score

“If you knew my story, you’d have a good story to tell.” This is how "Bright Star", the Steve Martin and Edie Brickell musical about love, loss, regret and hope, begins.

And what a story it is – full of Brickell’s beautiful lyrics and Martin’s toe-taping bluegrass infused music. Set in both the 1920s and 1940s Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the musical tells two love stories that eventually intersect revealing a long lost secret.

The plot follows conservative and clever literary editor Alice Murphy’s (an outstanding Carmen Cusack) flashbacks to life as a restless teen that reads F. Scott Fitzgerald and longs for life outside of Zebolan, her small town. She falls in love with Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Patrick Cummings), the son of the town’s rich mayor (Jeff Austin), who eventually succeeds in splitting the couple apart leaving Alice to flee to big city Asheville and begin her editing career at The Asheville Southern Journal.

Interspersed in Alice’s tale is the story of young soldier and aspiring writer Billy Cane (A.J. Shively). After returning home from World War II and learning of his mothers death, he leaves behind bookshop owner Margo Crawford (the adorable Maggie Shea Baldwin) to pursue becoming a writer in Asheville.

The female cast members shine brightly, with standout solos including “Way Back in the Day” and “At Long Last” by Cusack, “Asheville” by Baldwin, and “Another Road” from Alice’s flirty and flamboyant assistant Lucy Grant (played by Kaitlyn Davidson).

Equally strong is the bluegrass band housed in an onstage rotating cabin. The male leads are also all well cast with standout performances by Shively, Cummings and Jeff Blumenkrantz as Daryl, a frustrated writer providing comedic sarcastic comebacks throughout the musical.

Eugene Levy’s set design allows the bluegrass band to share the spotlight, which is appropriate because Martin’s music plays an integral role in setting the mood of the story.

There are many plot holes in "Bright Star" and the “big secret” is easily figured out by most long before the final reveal, but the catchy bluegrass score and mesmerizing female vocals distract from dwelling on these issues, leaving the audience charmed by this sweet Southern musical fable.

"Bright Star" is now playing at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre.

All photos courtesy of Center Theater Group