Bright Star at Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre

lyrics by Steve Martin
music by Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre
April 20 – 23, 2023
Directed by Ryan Scoble

Inspired by a true event, Bright Star tells a sweeping tale of love, resilience, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1920s and ’40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past—and what she finds has the power to transform both of their lives. Featuring a beautiful bluegrass score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell and characters that tug at your heartstrings, Bright Star is an uplifting tale of hope in the face of great adversity.

Inclusivity Statement: Bright Star follows the remarkable journey of its central female protagonist Alice Murphy as she confronts the ghosts of her past and uncovers a shocking secret that transforms her life. In a time and place where men are constantly trying to control her decisions, Alice forges ahead to not let her past determine her future. Though this production is a period-piece that takes place in the rural South, every effort will be made to push the boundaries of its traditionally white-washed production history – keeping casting open to all.

https://theatre.wvu.edu/

The Tony-nominated musical, Bright star, performs this Thursday through Sunday at the CCAC. Written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Call 304-293-TKTS for tickets and showtimes or visit us online at: https://wvucca.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1354...

Comments

Sanctified Explores Through Music How Diverse Attitudes are Transformed into an Inspired Unity

Marissa Lily, Mils James, Manny Walker, Emir Hardy, Chuck Timbers, Cheryl El Walker, Katy Cotten & Brenda Marks Set by Mark Clayton Southers Credit all Photos: Kim El One of the many things live theater does well is taking its audience to different places, times and moods through the power of story-telling. While this is a fairly obvious observation, this thought became especially poignant when, over a period of less than 24 hours, when I found myself on board a battleship in late 18 th century Portsmouth, England, then, 17 hours later, walking into a small Black church in rural South Carolina in the present day. The vehicles for this geographic time travel to places and times worlds apart were Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, “H.M. S. Pinafore” and playwright Javon Johnson’s “Sanctified.” Both works, while musical comedies with morals to the story, came from diverse and rich cultural backgrounds. I’ve already published my review of Pinafore on my arts and enterta...

Merrily We Roll Along - A Children’s Ditty No More

Marnie Quick as Beth, Dan Mayhak as Frank, Catherine Kolos as Mary, NathanielYost as Charley and David leong as Joe Credit: Deana Muro Judging by the full and rich sound of the first notes music director, Douglas Levine gets from his eight-piece orchestra, you have to assume Front Porch Theatricals is giving its audience a exemplary production of Merrily We Roll Along. And you’d be right. Off to a good start musically, the show goes on to feature some fine vocal and acting skills from its cast of, would you believe, 19. Talk about a challenge. In her directorial debut no less, actor and educator, Daina Michelle Griffith, corrals this expansive cast with the skill a Catholic nun herding a group of grade schoolers to daily mass. Only this is no throng of pre-teenagers but a horde of professionals with talent galore up to the task of bringing Broadway‘s legendary Stephen Sondheim‘s work to life. The musical...

Theater Review of “Refugee Rhapsody”– Paradise Lost and Other Pressing Issues

Milia Ayache as Sakinah in front of a video image of Fouad Hari Bhaskar Credit PICT Sakinah, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, and Fouad, son of Syrian refugees, are friends and lovers working low wage jobs in playwright Yussef El Guindi’s provocative “Refugee Rhapsody.” A chance meeting with the daughter of a very wealthy corporate magnate sends their everyday lives topsy-turvy. A serious work with humorous touches now getting a “rolling world premiere” by Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre, the play opens in a prison cell where Sakinah (Milia Ayache) is being interrogated by Jenny (Dominique Briggs Jackson) about her involvement in a unspeakably heinous crime. Irascible and petulant, Sakinah is coaxed along to tell her story by the mild mannered yet tenacious Jenny, a counselor working for the defense. Milia Ayache as Sakinah and Dominique Briggs Jackson as Jenny Credit: PICT While the two jockey back and forth in the combative interview, one of the production’s most r...

Pittsburgh Owlscribe

Search This Blog