NEW YORK—There’s warmth and anguish aplenty in the new Broadway musical “Bright Star,” a tale about the bonds of family—for good and for bad. With music, book, and story by Steve Martin, and music, lyrics, and story by Edie Brickell, this sentimental and often heartbreaking offering is now at the Cort Theatre.
In 1945, Billy Cane (A.J. Shively) has returned from World War II to Hayes Creek, North Carolina, and dreams of becoming a writer. With the support of his father (Stephen Bogardus) and longtime friend Margo (Hannah Elless), who has secretly loved Billy for years, he journeys to the city of Asheville.
There he meets Alice Murphy (Carmen Cusack), the hard-as-nails editor of a literary magazine, who has no time for levity and little patience for fools. He also meets Alice’s assistants, the rather gloomy Daryl (Jeff Blumenkrantz) and the very pretty Lucy (Emily Padgett). The latter drops some very clear hints about her own interest in Billy.
