A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR of "BRIGHT STAR"
Seventeen months ago, we were in rehearsal for the Broadway musical Bright Star. On March 17, 2020, the cast was rehearsing the song that opens act two— “The Sun is Gonna Shine Again”. Their voices were soaring, but when they got to the end of the number, I had to tell the cast we were closing the theatre. We thought it would be for a few weeks, not seventeen months. Little did we know how much the song, “The Sun is Gonna Shine Again”, would mean to us in the months that followed. I keep it on my playlist and have played it again and again over the many months of our shutdown. Now, to be able to hear it sung in person with live voices, means more to us than ever.
And though there may well be some clouds still in the sky, there is no doubt that the sun is shining again on a more normal world—or perhaps shining on the new normal we now live in. Actually, we considered opening the season with a smaller show but Bright Star, with its optimism and good cheer just seemed to be the perfect show for our return to live performances at the Dock Street Theatre. For Bright Star is not just a feel good musical. There are tragedies and disappointments that sometimes befall Bright Stars’s characters, but it is their resilience in the face of adversity that the show celebrates.
Best of all, this story of love and loss is told in unique and inventive ways. Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, starting with their rip-roaring bluegrass score, took a classic coming-of-age tale and have given it imaginative tuneful twists. In fact, Bright Star is filled with all sorts of twists. There are plot twists of course, but there is the twist of its unusual staging — the live bluegrass band is right up on stage with the actors so the audience can watch the fiddle, banjo, mandolin and other players digging into this moving score. Add in the twist of Steve Martin’s wry comedy and the haunting and toe-tapping folk tunes of Edie Brickell, and I have no doubt you will soon discover that Bright Star shines brighter than any Broadway musical in years.
We are proud to be able to give this special full-scale show its Charleston premiere. And we have an incredible professional cast of 25 actors, dancers and musicians backed by all thirty- three of Charleston Stage’s imaginative production team and staff to give you a full-scale Broadway musical right here on the Dock Street Theatre stage once more.
So get yourself down—nod your head, tap your feet and enjoy!
Playwright Julian Wiles, author of 31 plays, is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Charleston Stage.