The Bridges of Madison County, In Concert @ WaterTower Theatre
Photo Credit: Paris Marie Productions
—Ramona Harper
Do you believe in soul mates? How else to explain a man and a woman, complete strangers, who get hit with a love jones so hard they’re on the verge of risking it all for love at first sight? They must be soul mates—because she’s a married woman with kids, and a lot to lose.
The Bridges of Madison County, a New York Times bestselling novella written by Robert James Waller in 1992, tells this romantic drama so convincingly that it was made into a film, (check out Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, currently on Netflix), and then into a Broadway show that’s still going strong on regional stages around the world.
Now playing at the WaterTower Theatre in Addison, The Bridges of Madison County, In Concert, with music and lyrics by James Robert Brown and book by Marsha Norman, boasts an ensemble of nineteen performers. This “in concert” version has enough dialogue to tell the story, and the playlist of nineteen songs ably fills in most of the missing pieces.
Though the show leans toward folk music, the orchestration vibes to other styles as well: bluesy rhythms, a bossa nova beat, full-blast country twang—plus some moments with a hint of Gershwin or Sondheim. Bridges is a multi-genre musical treat with a Tony Award-winning score.
From the moment the story opens to the mournful sound of Brian Seo’s cello solo, you get the feeling that you are in for events that will touch you in deeply emotional places.
Set in small-town Iowa farm country in 1965, an Italian-American war bride encounters a worldly photographer by chance. He’s in town to shoot the famed seven covered bridges of Madison County for National Geographic. Her husband and teens are away at the state fair for a long weekend, leaving Francesca home alone.
Instant sparks lead to a four-day affair between Francesca and Robert that changes both of them forever. Francesca’s bored desperation with her mundane farm life and unfulfilling marriage succumb to the temptation of spending a few days with Robert. But the intensity of the new relationship surprises them, and leaves both feeling vulnerable and unsafe. A painful ending seems inevitable. So, the storyline goes. There’s a whole lotta drama in Bridges.
The upsides and downsides of strained relationships are at the core of this story and many of its characters. There’s the passionless but stable relationship between Francesca (Laura Lites) and her GI-turned-farmer husband Richard “Bud” Johnson (Aaron C. White); the family feud between Bud and rebellious son Michael (Bryson Pope); the sibling rivalry between Michael and Carolyn (Analyse Melendez); and the old-fashioned marriage of Marge and Charlie, the nosy but friendly couple down the road ( Caroline Rivera and Stan Graner).
And then there’s the center-stage relationship between Francesca and Robert Kincaid (Christopher J. Deaton).
Laura Lites has mastered the dialect of the transplanted Italian, and her beautiful soprano vocals fill the room whether she sings solo in “What Do You Call a Man Like That?” and “Almost Real,” or in her dramatic duets with Robert, “Wondering” and “Falling into You.”
Christopher J. Deaton is a powerful tenor who commands the stage in numbers such as “The World Inside a Frame” and the emotional “It All Fades Away,” arguably the most moving song of the entire production.
Mention needs to be made of a few standout solos: Caroline Rivera is a sultry hoot in “Get Closer.” Amber Marie Flores (as Marian, Robert’s ex-wife conjured from the past) gives a wonderful singing and guitar performance in “Another Life.” And Rachel Nicole Poole (as a “State Fair Singer”) sings up a storm in “State Road 21.” Move over Mickey Guyton, because Poole’s talent is ready for the Grand Ole Opry.
In a clever and very effective way to transition some scenes away from the constant focus on Francesca and Robert, director Shane Peterman fills the stage with an ensemble of Pit Singers (all understudies garbed in plaid shirts, jeans, and boots) who play the townspeople of the village of Winterset. They sing, dance at an improvised hoedown, and generally gin up the feeling of what life is like in the Iowa farmland.
Set and prop design by Kennedy “Kae” Styron make full use of space with attractive bi-level staging that takes you from Francesca’s homey kitchen to Marge and Charlie’s screened porch to an ascending side staircase leading to a white-sheeted bed—all backed by a picket fence sweeping across the upper stage.
Under the musical direction of Vonda K. Bowling, an excellent eight-piece orchestra of piano, strings, guitar, and percussion (sitting at mid-stage) provides musical context for the story and accompaniment for this outstanding ensemble of performers.
Passions run high in every aspect of Bridges, but there seemed to be more emotion in Bud’s weekend phone calls home to Francesca than real passion between Francesca and the very stoic Robert. Lites and Deaton fully embody the two characters in their individual performances, but an anticipated flame between them felt more like a flicker. And just when did the flicker begin that led to Robert’s kitchen kiss and time spent in Francesca’s marital bed? The in-your-face subject of Francesca’s infidelity doesn’t surface here, as it did in the filmed version—and perhaps this makes their encounter lack a degree of authenticity.
A decade in time passes as the story line unfolds, yet the characters remain in the same clothing and hair styles. Perhaps that’s a feature of the “in concert” concept—but slight costume changes, graying hair and other details might help us “see” the long timeline of Francesca’s losses, and Michael and Carolyn’s growth from teens to adulthood.
Opening night for The Bridges of Madison County: In Concert had a packed house. This is a well-rehearsed, well-produced show with a Broadway tour quality any regional theater can be proud of. Catch it quickly—the show only runs through this weekend!
When: Through September 11
Where: WaterTower Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, TX
Web: watertowertheatre.org
