.png)
The ebullient, young cast of Bright Star, at South Pasadena High School, leaves it all on the stage and sings their earnest hearts out in this tender, Americana bluegrass tale of young love, unbearable loss, redemption and forgiveness.
What a joy to discover yet a new facet of the musical’s writer, Steve Martin. Here his writing is softhearted and poignant with flashes of sharp wit. Martin won a Grammy in 2010 for his first bluegrass album and subsequently collaborated with folk artist, Edie Brickell, which led to them creating Bright Star together in 2016. The score is chock-full of toe-tappers and sweet melodies that the cast, led vocally by Wylder Reinman, handles beautifully. Under the masterful direction of Nick Hoffa, the performances are mature, profound and fully realized.
We first meet the uncompromising and savvy editor, Alice Murphy, at her office of a prominent southern literary journal in Asheville, where a naïve young writer, Billy Cane, has just returned from WWII and is looking to further his writing career. Murphy is tough as nails but when turning down yet another invitation to let loose with her staff, she muses, “If You Knew My Story” – and we time travel 20 years back to the North Carolina hills of her youth. There we discover an almost unrecognizable, gangly and carefree Alice and watch her fall in love with the Mayor’s son, Jimmy Ray Dobbs.
What follows is a deeply moving story of how one moment changes the trajectory of not only Alice and Jimmy Ray’s lives, but everyone around them as well. The story unfolds in scenes that move back and forth from the 1920’s small town of Zebulon and the 1940’s streets of Asheville with several characters moving through as spirits overseeing the action while also embodying some of the characters. Hoffa makes some interesting choices that really pay off including having all three fathers/spirits played by females and having young and older Alice played by two different actresses, allowing for the older Alice to watch herself as a young woman and relive the pain and joy in real time.
The result is an emotional journey of hope in the face of loss, longing, and regret – a universally human story that touches the heart and moves the soul. The entire cast gives their absolute all and sweeps the audience up in their joy for this piece – the opening night audience was whooping, hollering and clapping along and in the pivotal, emotional moments, there was only the sound of tears dropping.
Iris Barrera and Colette Carbonara are phenomenal as older and young Alice respectively. Barrera perfectly articulates older Alice’s hard-won intellectualism and eventually her deep pain and longing. Carbonara captivates as the young mountain girl Alice, infusing her with wild abandon and fierce defiance. Both have beautiful voices that deliver the big songs with a perfect blend of country heartache and forceful rage.
Peyton Carlson brings an impassioned charm to Jimmy Ray, beautifully playing both the coy, sweet chemistry with young Alice and the deeply felt connection with older Alice. Newcomer Jarvis Wood is darling in all the youthful awkwardness and exuberance of young writer Billy Cane. Only a sophomore, Wood is one to watch.
Vivian Yu and Solon McDonald are a terrific team as Alice’s underlings at the journal, delivering some of the funniest moments in the show. Both get to have a rollicking good time, along with the entire cast, doing the spirited Courtney Cheyne choreography, in the lively number “Another Round”. Mina Mannal is luminous as Billy’s crush, Margo. She has a strong voice and delightful chemistry with Wood, especially when they finally admit their love for one another in the bookstore.
Helon Chichester and Dashiell Roll make a strong impression as the mayor’s henchmen and do a bang-up job as square dance callers in the early Zebulon scenes.
Victoria Abelev as Daddy Cane, Lucia Benning as Mayor Dobbs, and Sophia Swallow as Daddy Murphy do an incredible job embodying these dominant men and ancestral spirits in the story, along with Milla Sanchez-Regalado who powerfully plays Mama Murphy. Abelev brings a folksy eccentricity to Daddy Cane that makes him loveable and endearing, eliciting giggles even while telling a pretty dramatic story! Benning is downright scary as Mayor Dobbs, pulling off an unspeakable act, and Swallow is incredibly touching as Daddy Murphy, painfully expressing the repercussions of deep regret.
The striking, backwoods design elements by James Jontz and his team are keenly effective and at times evocatively used as when set pieces, lighting and sound design depict scenes on and near moving trains.
Special mention must be made of the smokin’ bluegrass band led by Wylder Reinman on lead guitar. With Jordan Bush on piano, Tim Kobza on mandolin, Adam Snow on drums, and student musicians Rio Caine on piano, Lucien Hulme on keyboard, Yusei Izumi on viola, Yuuto Izumi on violin, Felix McFerrin on upright bass, and AJ McQuarters on cello, the band was giving square dance fiddlin’, hot time in the old town tonight vibes that had the audience on its feet!
Under the direction of drama department head, Nick Hoffa, this program just continues to grow and thrive. I can’t wait to see what they bring us next.
To keep up with all things SPHS Drama, visit SouthPasDrama.com
Bright Star (directed by Nick Hoffa, with musical direction by Wylder Reinman, choreography by Courtney Cheyne, and technical direction by James Jontz,) Fri Apr 19 and Sat Apr 20 at 7pm, with a matinee performance Sun Apr 21 at 2PM.
Anderson Auditorium, South Pasadena High School, 1401 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena, Calif.
