Bright Star at the Empress

Another show (currently very popular with Utah theatre companies) that I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing no matter how many times it is produced is Bright Star.  I absolutely love it because it is a beautiful and moving story about love and redemption with incredible bluegrass music by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.  I got to see the Empress Theatre's version last night and it is amazing!  The story takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina during the 1920s and just after World War II.  After the war, Billy Cane (Bradley Barker) briefly returns to his hometown of Hayes Creek and reunites with his father (Kaleb Hunt) and childhood friend Margo Crawford (Stephanie Benson) before deciding to try writing for a magazine in Asheville where he meets the uptight editor Alice Murphy (Heather Shelley).  When the magazine staff, Lucy Grant (Makayla Porter) and Daryl Ames (Sam Phillips), tease her about her boring existence, we see Alice (literally) transform into the wild and rebellious girl she once was in the small town of Zebulon where she has a romance with and is cruelly parted from the Mayor's son Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Trevor Noble).  The narrative goes back and forth from one timeline to the other as Alice learns to deal with heartache and loss and Billy learns the importance of home and the one who really loves him.  The best part of this show is the music and this production includes an incredible live band on stage, featuring Ashley Joseph on cello, Isaiah Perez on bass, Spencer Kellogg on banjo and guitar, Natalie Cardon on violin and viola, Stacy Mayren on piano, Joe DeSisto on keyboard, Kim Brown on fiddle, JD Robison on drums, Christian Porter on mandolin, and Brandon Kerby on acoustic guitar.  I have seen this show many times and I am very familiar with all of the twists and turns in the plot but I was still reduced to tears by the emotional performances by Shelley and Noble in the songs "Please, Don't Take Him," "Heartbreaker," and "I Had a Vision."   I also really loved how Shelley is able to differentiate between her uptight persona in Asheville and her rebellious persona in Zebulon, especially during "Way Back in the Day" and "Firmer Hand/ Do Right."  One of my favorite songs is "Asheville" and Benson gives a beautiful performance of it and she has tremendous chemistry with Barker (who is very appealing as Billy) in "Always Will."  The choreography in "Picnic Dance" and "Another Round" is fun and spirited and the staging is very clever with a set that looks like an old and weathered barn with various pieces for Margo's bookstore, Alice's office, the Mayor's office, and various cabins moved on and off seamlessly by the ensemble.  I wondered how a key scene involving a train would be staged, because it is sometimes tricky to pull off and it needs to be an emotional turning point in the show, but I was extremely impressed with how it is done using a platform above the stage and projections.  I cannot recommend this show enough but, unfortunately, the remaining performances today are sold out (with good reason).  However, standby tickets are sometimes available at the door on a first come, first served basis!