Review: National Tour of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY Bows Gracefully at the Ahmanson

The Bridges of Madison County The Broadway Musical/book by Marsha Norman/music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown/based on the novel by Robert James Waller/Bartlett Sher's original direction recreated by Tyne Rafaeli/Ahmanson Theatre/through January 17

The Bridges of Madison County was a hit film in 1995 for Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. The 2014 Broadway musical version with a gorgeous operatic score by Jason Robert Brown and stellar book by Marsha Norman is now playing at the Ahmanson downtown through January 17. When you look closely, there's so much to praise that it makes no sense whatsoever that the show closed early on Broadway and won only one Tony for Brown's music. It should have played on and on and walked away with a slew of awards.

The play has Francesca Johnson's (Elizabeth Stanley) and Robert Kincaid's (Andrew Samonsky) 1965 love story at the core, but it incorporates so much more of the family unit and the entire community of Winterset Iowa than did the movie. The angle in the movie is that at Francesca's death, the Johnson children, now married and living elsewhere, come back together for her funeral only to discover in a letter she composed to them that she had been unfaithful to their father Bud (played here by Cullen R. Titmas) but had stayed with him until the end out of love for him... and for them. She believes it possible to love two men equally. In the stage version Norman allows us to see the story unfold through Francesca's eyes. We see the children and their father go to the fair, return and live out their lives through graduation and marriage until their father's death. At the end of the musical they are not aware of their mother's affair, as the plot does not reach further into the future. Just as well! What we have onstage is akin to an opera, full of passion, especially Francesca's and that by itself is enough to sustain audience attention.

Throughout her riveting book, Norman shows the typical family Bud (Titmas), son Michael ( Dave Thomas Brown) and daughter Carolyn (Caitlin Houlahan) and their everyday struggles, particularly the growing pains of the kids. The married neighbors Marge (Mary Callanan) and Charlie (David Hess) are true friends. They snoop, especially Marge when she gawks at photographer Robert, and involve themselves in Francesca's affair, but in a good, honest to goodness sense of caring, there to cover and to help, particularly Marge. In a small town like Winterset, everyone knows everything about everyone else. Norman is also careful to present Francesca's background in Naples, Italy, how she came to leave her beloved country with Bud, to settle down with him and eventually to long for a return, as her married years in Iowa became endlessly the same without any hope of change...until she unexpectedly met and fell in love with Robert, who just happened by the farm one day and asked directions to the famous Rosemead covered bridges, which he was on assignment to shoot. What if this had not happened, what if Francesca had not fallen in love... it would not have transformed her life...for the better. She remained loyal to Bud, brought up her children, yet managed to cling to her passionate memories with Robert, her one true love.

Brown's luscious score as well as Norman's eloquent book transplant the audience into different worlds, from Italy to Iowa and back, from farm and family into the realm of erotic dreams, that become almost every bit as real as what transpires around the two lovers. Great literature comes to vibrant life when we feel that life may indeed be a dream, and that it is nothing without love.

The ensemble are sterling. Stanley is a marvelous actress/singer who wears Francesca's skin quite naturally, accent and all. She essays the woman's journey of love and passion fully and beautifully. A truly great performance! Samonsky as Robert is so real and vulnerable. He has one of his best roles to date. The supporting cast are all wonderful, with a standout to Callanan as budinski Marge and to Katie Klaus as Marian, Robert's first love who takes us back through song to "Another Life". All the actors serve the piece well as they move the set pieces between scenes throughout and sit around the perimeter of the stage when not in the action...a real feel of community involvement.

Michael Yeargan's original scenic design (with adaptations by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams) adds so much to the poetry of the play. We see the farm, the land, the sky; it envelops the characters and the story, as does Donald Holder's lovely lighting design. Lucky Los Angeles, as prolific, award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown conducts the orchestra here!

The Bridges of Madison County the Musical should be at the top of your must see list. It is a cherished piece of life and love which should one day return to Broadway to reap the awards it missed. In the meantime, go and savor every moment of this precious piece of poetry.

www.centertheatregroup.org

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