Steve Martin/Edie Brickell musical opens at Timber Lake
By Matthew Martinez
Timber Lake Playhouse’s next show is the musical “Bright Star,” written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, inspired by their Grammy Award-winning collaboration “Love Has Come For You.”
“Bright Star” features nearly 20 new songs — Americana with a touch of rock — and tells a beguiling tale that unfolds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina between 1923 and 1945, according to a Timber Lake release Friday.
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. “Bright Star” makes its TLP debut with this entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star, the Mount Carroll theater release says.
“In choosing Bright Star for TLP’s season, I was particularly drawn to its bluegrass music,” TLP executive director said Dan Danielowski said in Friday’s release. “We heard a lot of positive comments for this type of music two years ago when we did The Robber Bridegroom, so it seemed a natural choice.”
“Bright Star” had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego on Sept. 28, 2014, and ran to Nov. 2, 2014. The musical opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2, 2015.
The show began previews at the Cort Theatre on Broadway on Feb. 25, 2016, before officially opening on March 24, running for just 109 performances.
“Bright Star” at TLP will run Aug. 3-13, 2023 and is directed and choreographed by Amy Marie McCleary, who just directed and choreographed the Circa ’21 current production of Escape to Margaritaville. She has also directed their productions of Saturday Night Fever, Disaster and We Will Rock You.
TLP’s production features two long-time TLP favorites are returning to the playhouse for Bright Star. In the role of Daddy Cane is Jim Blanchette. Blanchette appeared in several shows at TLP in the 80s and ’90s. John Chase (King Arthur in Spamalot, Sunset Boulevard, Buddy Holly Story, Inspector Calls) returns in the role of Daddy Murphy.
Other cast members include Isabella Andrews (Alice Murphy), Bryant Howard (Jimmy Ray), Keaton Miller (Billy), and Olivia De Jager (Margo).
Inspired by a real event and featuring the Grammy-nominated score, Bright Star tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1920s and 1940s. “An uplifting theatrical journey that holds you tight in its grasp, Bright Star is as refreshingly genuine as it is daringly hopeful,” TLP says.
“It is a kind of music that we have not often heard in our theatre,” said Danielowski. “I loved imagining our company singing to the accompaniment of a fiddle, banjo and mandolin — with audience members tapping their feet in time.”
Information and tickets for all Timber Lake Playhouse events are available online at or by calling the Box Office at (815) 244-2035. The Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and show days until intermission.
