Steve Martin wrote a Broadway Musical. Yes, that Steve Martin. Now that musical tours across America next year.
Steve Martin known for his “Wild and Crazy Guy” standup routines, offbeat comedy movies and some fairly dramatic roles later in his career, teamed with Edie Brickell to write the Tony-nominated musical “Bright Star.” Martin is actually an accomplished musician as well as being a king of comedy. This turn to the ‘legitimate theatre’ earned him rave reviews and many awards.
Premiering in San Diego then moving to the Kennedy Center, “Bright Star” is inspired by tunes from Brickell and Martin’s Grammy-winning album, “Love Has Come for You.” The story follows a young soldier who is just home from World War II. He is an aspiring writer and decides to try and get published. Upon meeting the editor of a Southern literary journal, he discovers a secret that changes their lives. The storyline jumps back and forth between two love stories set in 1923 and 1945 to entertwine the characters and reveal the secret.
“Bright Star” was nominated for seven Outer Critics Circle awards winning Outstanding New Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score. It also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and was nominated for five Tonys. Unfortunately for them, there was this other little show called “Hamilton,” that was up for all the same awards.
The musical started previews at the Cort Theatre on Broadway on February 25th, 2016 and had a relatively short run of 139 performances ending on June 26th. Despite the short run it still garnered all the praise and award acclaim mainly because of it bluegrass music and refreshing style. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote, “The shining achievement of the musical is its winsome country and bluegrass score, with music by Mr. Martin and Ms. Brickell, and lyrics by Ms. Brickell. The complicated plot, divided between two love stories that turn out to have an unusual connection, threatens to get a little too diffuse and unravel like a ball of yarn rolling off a knitter’s lap. But the songs – yearning ballads and square-dance romps rich with fiddle, piano and banjo, beautifully played by a nine-person band – provide a buoyancy that keeps the momentum from stalling.”
Producer Joey Parnes has announced that dates, casting, venues, and additional information will be revealed in the coming months. Hopefully one of the big three houses (DSM, DTC, Bass) will be able to snag this musical for their 2017-18 Broadway season.
