DEKALB, IL, June 21, 2023 – “You never know what life will bring, only what you bring to life.” So goes some of the lyrics to the title song to musical, Bright Star. Stage Coach Players (SCP) will bring to life the beautiful musical, written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Bright Star opens July 6, 2023 and runs for two weekends at Stage Coach Theatre.
Bright Star features bluegrass music and is set in Appalachia during the 1920’s and 1940’s. The Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominated musical is directed by Steven Meerdink, who directed The Drowsy Chaperone for SCP last year. Sandra Jozef is musical director.
Inspired by a true story, Bright Star is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Literary Alice Murphy meets a young soldier, Billy Cane, just home from World War II and for a reason she can’t explain, awakens her yearning for the child she once lost. Prompted by this, she announces that instead of telling the stories of others, she has decided to tell her own story. So she sets out on a journey to understand her past. In doing so, she realizes in the she has the power to transform both her life and that of Billy’s.
Alice’s story is told in flashbacks of her life when she was sixteen. She remembers flirting with a handsome older boy named Jimmy Ray Dobbs, and then falling in love with him. When she learns later that she is pregnant, they are both overjoyed and exclaim how they can’t wait to meet their baby. Unfortunately, their parents have secretly put up the baby for adoption leaving Alice knowing she will never be able to watch her child grow up.
Morgan Prentiss plays Alice Murphy. She was last seen on SCP’s stage in the musical All Shook Up. Matt Weaver plays Jimmy Ray Dobbs who was last on SCP’s stage in 2022’s Something Rotten. Eli Oleson (Something Rotten) is Billy Cane, Joleigh Reiss (A Murder is Announced) is Margo, Bernie Schuneman (Little Shop of Horrors) is Mayor Dobbs, Brooke Montavon (The Drowsy Chaperone) is Lucy, and Patrick Murphy (The Producers) is Daryl.
The rest of the cast are Greg Anderson, Brock Demeter, David Dobes, Leigh Foulk, Dorcas Keating, Joel Ledbetter, Aaliyah McCormick, Maddie Mormino, Jackson Neilsen, Rachel Schneider, Brad Shortridge, Aljuwan Smith and Emelie Walton.
Meerdink offered that Bright Star is a terrific musical, “Because it touches on subjects we can all relate to as human beings. Every person has a story and each of those stories is full of hope, desires, obstacles and love. We are all connected by the stories of one another. This musical does a great job of pointing out the connection between all of us.”
Cast member Prentiss added to that, saying the musical “Is about love, loss and forgiveness. Those are all words that everyone can connect/relate to in one way or another.”
And for some, it can even be a more personal tale. “I was drawn to Bright Star,” Dorcas Keating said, “Because it was the story of a hundred young people from my grandparents North Carolina small town. It is a time we should remember for its hardships, but a story that is in all of us.” Meerdink also noted that the musical has subjects to which everyone can all relate to… family, love and forgiveness.
Although Martin is known for his comedy, he is an accomplished banjo player and prior to Bright Star, had collaborated with Brickell on several bluegrass records. Brickell, on her own, is best known as the lead vocalist for the folk rock band Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. The music is something that led many cast members to audition for the show, including Prentiss. “I listened to the cast recording before knowing the full story,” adding, “The simplicity of the lyrics and beauty of the bluegrass style immediately draws you in from the very first note.”
Bright Star was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score but unfortunately had to contend with the blockbuster Hamilton. It did, however, win a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Carmen Cusack won Outstanding Debut Performance for the Theatre World Awards for her portrayal of Alice Murphy. If you are interested in listening to the music from the original production, the Original Cast recording can be found on Spotify or on YouTube.
Performances of Bright Star are July 6 – 8, 2023 and July 13 – 5, 2023, with a curtain time of 7:30 p.m. along with Sunday matinees on July 9 and July 16, 2023, with a curtain time of 2:00. Tickets are $20 each or $18 for seniors and children aged 13 and under. Tickets are currently on sale through the box office phone at 815-758-1940. To purchase tickets, visit the online box office at www.stagecoachplayers.com. You can also call the SCP box office at 815-758-1940. The box office will open Sunday, July 2, 2023.
Thank you for being understanding as SCP navigates COVID-19 guidelines. For this production, masks are suggested but not required. If the state of Illinois guidelines change, our guidelines will change also. Thank you for helping us keep our patrons, cast and crew safe.
