"The Bridges of Madison County"- Post closing review based on performance on 06/29/19 at SOPAC

Jennifer Ellis and Bryant Martin

“The Bridges of Madison County” may be the most purely romantic musical of our times. As re-envisioned by book writer Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother”) with a score by Jason Robert Brown (“Parade”) it is, like the novel upon which it is based by Robert James Waller, totally concentrated on a brief and passionate four-day love-affair. Nothing and no one of consequence interferes with its telling. Despite winning the Tony for Best Score in 2014, its run on Broadway was unfortunately brief for reasons not essential to this review. 

The recent production given by the American Theatre Group in residence at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) was also brief. . . so brief that my review is being posted after the final curtain.

So it is with regret that I cannot urge you to see it, as it was a glorious production (performed the last two weekends of June), beautifully acted, directed and presented with consummate skill and artistry on every level. Writing simply for the record, however, gives me the pleasure to continue thinking about how effectively  Brown and Norman embraced the story. Frankly, I wondered when I first heard that this vocally demanding musical was being presented locally if the powers that run the A.T.G and the director assigned to the production could deliver the essentials. They did and gloriously.

My only wish is that a return engagement might be in order as I suspect word-of-mouth would be positive even just based on the cheering and applause that greeted the cast at the curtain call of the Saturday evening performance I attended. Briefly, the setting is rural Iowa during the 1960s and on a farm where Italian war-bride Francesca Johnson (Jennifer Ellis) has tried to forget Naples if not her disarming accent. For the twenty years she has spent contentedly consigned to her marriage to Bud (Jared Bradshaw) and raising two perfectly normal if constantly testy children, excellently played by Alex Carr and Courtney Martin. 

But I am chiefly going to remember the suburb performances given Ellis and by Bryant Martin, who plays Robert Kinkaid. Kinkaid played the photographer who not only lands in Iowa on assignment to photograph the covered bridges in the county but also lands in Francesca’s bed. To explain...his arrival coincides with Bud and the children’s departure for a four-day county fair. 

In the event you don’t know more of the romance between Francesca and Robert, it is enough to say that an emotional connection arises between them which leads them irretrievably to an affair. The growing and lasting passion for each other that will inevitably withstand separation, the son’s diploma, the daughter’s marriage and the husband’s death  is the pulse that drives the musical. It is an understatement to say that the tall, affable, good-looking Robert finds Francesca’s charm and exuberance attractive. Just let Ellis shimmering soprano voice and Martin’s resonant baritone bring all of the dramatic richness out of their solos and duets and we are all goners. 

It is difficult to imagine any other performers who might surpass them in bringing this story to the fore. Under the fluid and exceptionally well-paced direction of Merete Muenter (also the choreographer), all the supporting characters are nicely enlivened and add more dimension to the action as do the dancers in some lovely shadowy integrated ballets.

Praise is due to the eight musicians who play the melodic and multi-textured score under Keith Levenson’s baton. Maybe it’s also the splendid acoustics of the hall, but the score sounded much more vibrant and pleasurable than I recall. Minimal but functional set decor by designer Bethanie Wampol was enhanced with some stunningly atmospheric projections and by Douglas Macur’s expert lighting. The American Theatre Group has a real task ahead of them...to come up with a show as rewarding, memorable and expertly presented as is this one. Bravo.