“Bright Star,” August 3 through 13

Thursday, August 3, through Sunday, August 13

Timber Lake Playhouse, 8215 Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll IL

With the New York Times stating that "the shining achievement of the musical is its winsome country and bluegrass score," and USA Today lauding the book "that's as forthright as it is smart, funny and charming," collaborators Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Tony-nominated Bright Star makes its area debut at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, its August 3 through 13 run treating patrons to a musical treat that Stage & Cinema called "full of unforced goodness and rewarded risk-taking."

Bright Star is the story of one woman, Alice Murphy, at two different points in her life. in the first, when she is a wild young thing growing up barefoot and carefree in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and in the second, when she is a well-to-do magazine editor in Asheville, 22 years later. Alice's story is inevitably woven with that of an idealistic young man named Billy, with whom she shares a mysterious connection. As a young teen in Zebulon, North Carolina, Alice is hopelessly in love with small town heartthrob Jimmy Ray, the mayor’s son. Although their love was pure, it falls victim to the interference of ambitious parents, and their infant son is whisked away before their happy ending could ever begin. More than two decades later, Alice is the successful editor of The Asheville Southern Journal, and meets a promising young writer named Billy. Eventually they realize that they share a hometown, and when Alice sees the handmade sweater she knitted for her baby 20 years before in his personal belongings, she realizes that their connection is deeper than it first appeared.

Inspired by their Grammy-winning collaboration on the 2013 bluegrass album Love Has Come for You and, in turn, the folk story of the Iron Mountain Baby, composer/book writers Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's Bright Star was first workshopped by the New York Stage and Film at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College in July of 2013. The production had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego on September 28, 2014, and ran to November 2, and subsequently opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in December of 2015. Bright Star then began previews at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in February of 2016, before officially opening on March 24. That month, the original Broadway cast album, produced by Ghostlight Records, was recorded, and Bright Star peaked at number two on the U.S. Cast albums chart and topped the U.S. Bluegrass and Americana/Folk Albums charts, making it the first cast recording to enter either of the latter two charts. In its review of the recording, NPR praised "the simple warmth and lovely instrumentation" of Martin's and Brickell's songs, and the work eventually received a 2017 Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album.

Bright Star is directed and choreographed by Amy Marie McCleary, a veteran of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse whose credits include helming Saturday Night Fever, We Will Rock You, and the current Escape to Margaritaville. The show's music direction is by Oliver Townsend, and with Elaina Veasey serving as stage manager, its scenic design by Dan Danielowski, costume design by Maya Faye Gordon, props design by Sydney Vega Pauley, lighting design by Frey Bendele, wig design by Josh Medina, and sound design by Dillon Allen. Timber Lake's production features two longtime TLP favorites returning to the Playhouse for Bright Star: Jim Blanchette, who appeared in several shows in the '80s and '90s, and John Chase of King Arthur in Spamalot, Sunset Boulevard, The Buddy Holly Story. Other cast members include Isabella Andrews, Bryant Howard, Keaton Miller, and Olivia De Jager.

“In choosing Bright Star for TLP’s season, I was particularly drawn to its bluegrass music,” said Timber Lake's executive director Dan Danielowski. "We heard a lot of positive comments for this type of music two years ago when we did The Robber Bridegroom, so it seemed a natural choice. It is a kind of music that we have not often heard in our theatre. I loved imagining our company singing to the accompaniment of a fiddle, banjo and mandolin - with audience members tapping their feet in time.”

Bright Star runs at the Mt. Carroll theatre August 3 through 13, with scheduled performances at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission is $25-35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (815)244-2035 and visiting TimberLakePlayhouse.org.