The final installment of Marquette Theatre’s 2024-2025 “Truth Be Told” season opened this weekend with the contemporary musical, “Bright Star.” The musical is written and created by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, and this production was directed by Karen M. Estrada.
After its original opening on Broadway in March 2016, “Bright Star,” was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and the Grammy for Best Musical Theater album. After seeing the Marquette production, it’s no surprise why this original is so beloved.
The musical begins with an adult Alice Murphy, played by Erin Fricker, a junior in the College of Communication, singing the twangy “If You Knew My Story,” where she prepares the audience for the next 2.5 hours.
Fricker’s performance as Alice was nothing short of phenomenal. As soon as the first song began, I suspected I would enjoy the entire musical because of how astonishing her voice was. I was glad to have my suspicions confirmed throughout the show, and as the other cast members and ensemble joined in to sing, “If you knew my story / My heaven and my hell / If you knew my story / You’d have a good story to tell.”
Next, we meet young Billy Cane, played by junior in the College of Communications Nate Rodriguez, who has just returned home from war to find that his mother has passed away. He joins his father, Daddy Cane, played by sophomore in the College of Communications Draylin Pickett, in singing the touching, “She’s Gone.”
Alice returns to the stage to reflect on her youth in the entrancing, “Way Back in the Day.” At this point in the musical, we meet a second version of Alice – her 16-year-old self. This Alice is much less reserved and considers herself to be “life of the party,” which is a drastic switch from the introverted, intimidating 38-year-old Alice.
We learn of young Alice’s party-girl tendencies, her strict family (specifically seen in her father, played by sophomore in the College of Communications Grayson Buesing) and her budding romance with Jimmy Ray Dobbs, played by Michael Kratzer, who is also a sophomore in the College of Communications.
Kratzer and Fricker’s chemistry on stage felt like the perfect levels of natural and innocent for this musical’s tone. “If you said this was heaven / I would not disagree / What could be better / Than holding you close to me like this?” the two sing in, “What Could Be Better?”
The switches in time were just one aspect of many that made “Bright Star” so engaging. While we see young Alice and Jimmy Ray learning from each other and growing up together, we see Billy doing some of the same growing up as he moves from his small town to the city of Asheville, North Carolina to pursue his dreams of writing.
Upon entering his stories in the Asheville Southern Journal, where Alice works, Billy meets Lucy (played by junior in the College of Communications Kynkade McLachlan) and Daryl (played by senior in the College of Communications and College of Arts & Sciences Will Reames), whose comedic timing was another highlight of the show for me.
Basically, every line out of these two made me laugh, and “Another Round,” which shows Lucy and Daryl showing Billy the ways of a night out in the city, was one of my favorite songs in the show.
The plot of the whole show wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, though. Without giving away any spoilers, Alice and Jimmy Ray run into trouble when they’re romance butts up against their futures, or at least that’s what they’re parents think. Both Fricker and Kratzer play these darker moments masterfully, while still showing the innocence of the character’s youth.
“Bright Star” was the perfect end to the MU theater 2024-2025 year. Between the incredible performances, the musical theater-ified country songs and the gripping plot, this show is everything you could possibly need from a musical.
If you have yet to see a Marquette Theatre production this year, don’t miss performances on April 10, 11 and 12 at 7:30pm, and April 13 at 2:30pm. Click here to find tickets.
This story was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at annie.goode@marquette.edu.
