Georgia Ensemble Theatre’s current production of “Bright Star” was essentially three years in the making. The venerable Roswell troupe had planned to present the musical in the spring of 2020, when, one week into rehearsals, the escalating COVID-19 pandemic brought the performing arts scene to an abrupt and prolonged standstill.
Better late than never, by all means. Meanwhile, while Georgia Ensemble was still in the process of regrouping administratively — and struggling with distressing budgetary challenges as a repercussion of the shutdown — Tyrone’s Legacy Theatre reaped some of “Bright Star’s” thunder by opening its own rendition last April, effectively leaving a more lasting first impression with it than any second viewing could fully match.
Credit: Mary Saville
Credit: Mary Saville
Either way, the unassuming simplicity of the show’s narrative and music remains as pleasant as ever. With a script by the accomplished comedic actor (and part-time playwright and musician) Steve Martin, “Bright Star” features a score of 20 or so bluegrass tunes composed by Martin and Edie Brickell (of the band New Bohemians). The quaint story unfolds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, alternating between the “big city” of Asheville in 1945 and flashbacks to the rural community of Zebulon in 1923.
The flashbacks, inspired by the folkloric saga of the “Iron Mountain Baby,” detail the doomed romance between Alice, an underprivileged free spirit from the wrong side of the proverbial tracks, and Jimmy Ray, the idealistic son of a wealthy, corrupt mayor. When Alice gets pregnant, Jimmy Ray wants to do the right thing and get married, but their colluding fathers have other ideas. Two decades later, she is the editor of a respected literary journal, and he has never found love again.
Refreshingly, the modest sensibilities and rustic environment of the material doesn’t lend itself to the elaborate sets or costumes or production numbers that typically come with musical theater territory these days. The Legacy version took place on a mainly bare stage, with a modicum of furniture, relying on ingeniously designed projections to establish the specific settings of each scene (the front of a cabin, the shelves of a bookstore, a graveyard, the view from a moving train).
Ensemble scenic designer Stephanie Polhemus’ scheme is similarly pared down, a largely open space with a few elevated platforms, and a backdrop of makeshift wooden planks. But it generally lacks the same Appalachian ambiance, and it isn’t always quite as clear where the characters are actually situated at any given time.
Coming from director Thomas W. Jones II (who recently helmed the Ensemble’s evocative “Alabama Story”), so widely and deservedly renowned for his customary relish, the lackluster stylistic aspect to this latest endeavor is at once surprising and disappointing. (A few technical glitches on opening night involving faulty body mics and missed lighting cues should quickly subside.)
Where Jones’ “Bright Star” significantly surpasses that previous staging is with its use of a live —and lively — six-member band to accompany all of the singing and dancing (led by LeRell Ross, who co-music directs the show with Christian Magby).
Most impressively, Jones elicits superlative performances from Liza Jaine and James Allen McCune as Alice and Jimmy Ray. Both of them excel not just in nailing their various musical numbers, together as well as separately, but also in terms of their acting skill, and often simultaneously. McCune’s big solo, for instance, the aptly titled “Heartbreaker,” is filled with a genuine emotional intensity that seems to overtake the usual stand-and-deliver approach you might expect in the vocalization of it.
Still, the production is especially a showcase for the multifaceted talents of Jaine. Besides a couple of her own solos (“If You Knew My Story,” “Way Back in the Day”), she and McCune share several lovely romantic ballads (“What Could Be Better,” “I Can’t Wait,” “I Had a Vision”). She, too, invests her songs with an uncommon dramatic depth, and she brings a remarkable distinction to the younger and older versions of the role that goes beyond mere changes of hairstyles or costumes.
“Bright Star” marks a swan song of sorts for Georgia Ensemble. After 30 years operating from the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, producing artistic director Anita Farley has announced that the company is relocating its productions next season to the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre in Marietta (former home base for the late Atlanta Lyric). While the show may not be a case of sending the group off with a big bang, at least it signals the promise of a new beginning.
THEATER REVIEW
“Bright Star”
Through April 16. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays. $32-$49. Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, get.org.
Bottom line: A fine piece of material, economically produced.
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