Carmen Cusack in “Bright Star” at the Kennedy Center. Photo: Joan Marcus
Looking for a play that wraps things up neatly—too neatly, really—in a big, bright bow by the end, as if it were designed to run during the holiday season? Enter Bright Star.
The coincidence-driven plot of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s new musical (bound for Broadway after its run here at The Kennedy Center) is too hard to swallow, even if musical theater isn’t a medium known for realism. Without giving too much away, the show follows two lives: a young, aspirational author looking for his big break, and a world-weary editor whose past turned her into the withdrawn woman she is now. Tidy plotlines aside, Bright Star does have one gift to offer its audience: the blockbuster performance of star Carmen Cusack.
As Alice Murphy, Cusack is—well, let’s avoid any allusions to the show’s title. But it’s a dynamic, wide-ranging performance. Cusack inhabits the role with spice and vulnerability, and her throaty drawl is the perfect match for the musical’s bluegrass score. The casting for Bright Star is generally strong, but Murphy outshines them all (ok, allow us one allusion).
Bright Star, directed by Walter Bobbie, generally has the feel of a work-in-progress, a show with potential that needs to be cleaned up before its Broadway run. The opening number (“If You Knew My Story”) stars Murphy, but the audience doesn’t get introduced to the character for several more scenes, making it hard to settle into the story and why it’s important to care about the woman singing. Several tunes feel like exposition drivers rather than stand-alone songs, and the choreography awkwardly weaves the chorus into certain scenes.
But the score is lively, the orchestra is first-rate, and many songs are lovely. “Whoa, Mama” is a terrific flirtation song; “Another Round” offers a supporting character (Emily Padgett) a great chance to liven up the action. And there are some clever staging tricks, too: the orchestra is seated in a wooden-framed box that moves around the stage and blends into the scenery. Trains figure into the plotline and are brought to live in various ways, including a motorized model that runs across the top frame of the stage. Bright Star is problematic, but that doesn’t prevent it from finding ways to entrance its audience, even they feel cheapened by its neat resolution.
Bright Star runs through Jan. 10 at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center. Tickets are available online.
