Bright Star (musical)

Bright Star
Playbill cover of the original Broadway run
Music	Steve Martin Edie Brickell
Lyrics	Edie Brickell
Book	Steve Martin
Productions	2014 San Diego 2015 Washington, D.C. 2016 Broadway
Awards	2016 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Bright Star is a musical written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. It is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1945-46 with flashbacks to 1923. The musical is inspired by their Grammy-winning collaboration on the 2013 bluegrass album Love Has Come for You.

Bright Star was workshoped by the New York Stage and Film at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College in July 2013. It had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre (San Diego) on September 28, 2014 and ran to November 2, 2014.

The musical opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on December 2, 2015.

The show began previews at the Cort Theatre on Broadway on February 25, 2016 before officially opening on March 24. Directed by Walter Bobbie, the cast features Carmen Cusack as Alice Murphy, Paul Alexander Nolan as Jimmy Ray Dobbs, A.J. Shively as Billy Cane, Hannah Elless as Margo Crawford, Michael Mulheren as Mayor Dobbs, Stephen Bogardus as Billy's father, Dee Hoty as Alice's mother, and Stephen Lee Anderson as Alice's father. Sound design is by Nevin Steinberg, choreography by Josh Rhodes, scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Jane Greenwood and lighting design by Japhy Weideman.

Despite support by Martin and Brickell, and occasional appearances by Martin, the musical closed on June 26, 2016 after 30 previews and 109 regular performances.