Bright Star - Original Broadway Cast Recording

The annals of Broadway, particularly in the realm of musical theater, are filled with attempts by songwriters from outside the "world" to develop musical works that spoke effectively to audiences in a heartfelt way, which created acceptance by the theatrical community, and were positively recognized. One of this year's representatives is "Bright Star," a new musical from the collective minds of songstress Edie Brickell (known mostly for the 1988 pop hit, "What I Am"), and actor, comedian, and playwright ("Picasso at Lapin Agile"), Steve Martin.

With the additional energies of director Walter Bobbie and album producer Peter Asher, the cast recording for "Bright Star" is now available from Ghostlight Records. A collection of recordings that fuse bluegrass and Americana, "Bright Star" melds them into an original story of love lost and family found across two generations in North Carolina, circa 1923 and 1945.

Martin is the most known of the show's creative team, even since predominantly leaving the comedic world for more musical projects featuring his signature banjo work. These musical albums, including "Rare Bird Alert" with the Steep Canyon Rangers, are highly enjoyable, and give his musical stamp the credibility to be placed on this cast album. Orchestrator (and Tony nominee for this piece) August Eriksmoen adds a fine touch manipulating Martin's (and Brickell's) musical ideas into stage worthy songs.

Another Tony nominee for her work in this show, Carmen Cusack ("Wicked"), leads an adaptive cast in handling Martin and Brickell stylings, which includes Stephen Bogardus ("Falsettos"), A.J. Shively, Dee Hoty, Jeff Blumenkranz ("Murder for Two"), and Paul Alexander Nolan in telling the duel tale of a woman whose present life as a newspaper editor is upended with the arrival of a young writer (Shively), and we see how she came to be in her present situation, while suffering losses of her lover and her child along the way.

Musical highlights include the show's opener ("If You Knew My Story"), beautifully setup by Cusack, the title song performed by Shively, a story of youthful idealism, and "A Man's Gotta Do," which features Michael Mulheren.

Among the many new musicals in this pre-Tony time period, the cast album for "Bright Star (Original Broadway Cast Recording)" may get lost in the shuffle, as its flavor is laid back and home grown, but the score from these latest "outsiders" deserves a fair listen.

"Bright Star (Original Broadway Cast Recording)"
CD and Digital formats
$14.99
www.ghostlightrecords.com