So you say you read the book, saw the movie or both? And so you may wonder what is to be gained by going to see the musical version of The Bridges of Madison County?
Hint: it’s the music, the evocative score and the songs, many of which have some fine lyrics, so good, in fact, that they could pass for hits in the best of all possible worlds.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre opened the regional premiere of the play Friday night, and, just so you know, the show is the final one for the Rep’s producing artistic director, Robert Hupp, who’s leaving for a similar position in Syracuse, N.Y. Hupp certainly earned his keep with the finale, which not only had a well-known tale to tell, but seemed at times to also be akin to a ballet of cast and crew deftly moving set pieces and props around in amazingly synchronized timing, never to collide with one another.
Joan Hess and her amazing voice portrays Francesca, an Italian war bride living in 1965 Iowa on a farm with her husband, Bud (Noah Racey), and their two teenagers, Carolyn (Julia Nightingale) and Michael (Henry Nettleton). Bud and the kids go off to Indiana for a 4H competition, and temptation enters Francesca’s life when a stranger stops to ask directions.
Michael Halling plays Robert, a handsome photographer for National Geographic who has been checking out the covered bridges in the area. The stranger and the farmer’s wife have the sort of chemistry that can wreak havoc in a marriage, and that’s the situation in which Francesca finds herself. Hess does a remarkable job of juggling those tensions and her passions, plus an accent that manages to reveal 20 years of Midwestern wear and tear. Halling is also intense as a professional who never before took time for love before his travels took him to Iowa.
For comic relief, a nosy neighbor and her wise husband come and go smoothly, with both Marge (Ann-Ngaire Martin) and Charlie (Timothy Shew) delivering a pair of the most memorable songs in the show: “Get Closer” by Marge and “When I’m Gone,” mostly by Charlie.
Other fine songs, mainly sung by Halling or Hess or both, were “Home Before You Know It,” “Wondering,” “Falling Into You,” “Who We Are and Who We Want to Be” and “It All Fades Away.”
Jason Robert Brown wrote the songs, lyrics and orchestration, all of which were richly brought to life by a 10-person orchestra. Robert James Waller wrote the novel, and the play’s book was written by Marsha Norman. Mike Nichols did his usual superb work with an abstract design of a bridge mixed with a farmhouse that houses the multiple sets that come and go so smoothly.
Additional performances continue Wednesday through Sunday nights, along with matinees on Sundays, through May 1. For more information, call (501) 378-0405 or see the Web site therep.org/attend