Bright Star
Did you hear the one about Steve Martin writing a musical? It's true. Along with Edie Brickell , with whom he's collaborated on a Grammy–winning album, Martin wrote Bright Star , a new musical making its Broadway debut. (Music, book, and story credit goes to Martin; music, lyric, and story credit goes to Brickell.) The company steps out onto the set (love the rustic scenic design by Eugene Lee ), and our leading lady, Alice Murphy (Carmen Cusack), teases us with "If You Knew My Story." And so, for the next two hours (plus intermission), we learn her story, which takes place in North Carolina in 1945-46 and 22 years earlier. In 1945/46, Alice is the well-regarded editor-in-chief at a popular Asheville magazine. ( Jeff Blumenkrantz ( Murder for Two ) and Emily Padgett ( Side Show ) provide amusing comic relief as her sassy busybody assistants, Daryl and Lucy, respectively.) It is at the magazine that she meets Billy Cane (A.J. Shively), a young man just home fro...