"Bright Star," a musical created by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, is on its way to Broadway. The play was developed and had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre last year.
The Old Globe Theatre has helped bring many new musicals to the stage. It continued this tradition last year with "Bright Star." The musical generated a lot of buzz because it is the first by actor/writer/comedian/musician and Renaissance man Steve Martin and singer/composer Edie Brickell. The two recently collaborated on a Grammy award-winning album.
Barry Edelstein, artistic director at the Globe, was key in bringing "Bright Star" to San Diego for its world premiere. He’s thrilled at the recent announcement that the musical is continuing to make progress toward Broadway.
"Well, all of us at the Globe are thrilled about 'Bright Star,'" Edelstein said Wednesday morning. "I think it is just an absolutely wonderful piece, so funny and so moving, and a great score, and I am delighted to know that its trajectory toward Broadway is continuing. There is going to be an out of town try-out at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the whole purpose of doing that is to make the quick step up the Northeast corridor to New York. And I wish it well and I fully expect it will be on Broadway in the spring."
This new American musical features nearly 20 new songs — Americana with a touch of rock — and weaves an intricate tale (inspired by true events) that unfolds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina from 1923 to 1945. Billy Cane, a young soldier just home from World War II, meets Alice Murphy, the brilliant editor of a southern literary journal. Together they discover a powerful secret that alters their lives. Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie (Broadway’s "Chicago") made his Globe debut with the musical last year.
"Bright Star" has plotted its course for Broadway, setting up a test run at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., this December with a planned opening in New York this coming spring.
You can listen to my extended interview with Steve Martin and watch a behind the scenes video.
