With her family away at the 1965 state fair, Francesca Johnson looks forward to a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm. But when ruggedly handsome National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid pulls into her driveway seeking directions, what happens in those four days may very well alter the course of Francesca's life. Based on the best-selling novel, and developed by a Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning creative team, this new musical captures the lyrical expanse of America's heartland along with the yearning entangled in the eternal question, 'What if...?'"
The Bridges of Madison County stars four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific, The Pajama Game) and Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me, reasons to be pretty). It features a score by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years) and a libretto by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman (The Color Purple, The Secret Garden). It will be directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific), who reunites with his celebrated Tony Award-winning South Pacific design team, including scenic designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Catherine Zuber, and lighting designer, Donald Holder. Sound Design is by Jon Weston (How to Succeed..., The Color Purple).
It helps that Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years) has written a lush and deeply romantic score, filled with rich and melodic duets that show off its leads' terrific voices - their second act rafter-shaker 'One Second & a Million Miles' is destined to become a cabaret staple. The tunes help compensate for Marsha Norman's more problematic book, which stumbles whenever the spotlight isn't on Francesca and Robert. The story has no real villains, or even antagonists, to work up a plot worth sustaining for 2 hours and 45 minutes...Director Bartlett Sher does his best to fill the space in the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Ultimately, this is a chamber musical that is both introspective and modest at its core. But when O'Hara lets her guard down and opens herself up to the possibility of romance, and when her magnificent soprano belts out Brown's swooping melodies, even a small space can seem as wide and expansive as an Iowa cornfield. B+
The Bridges of Madison County, though based on an insipid novel, is a very serious musical indeed, both rapturous and moral, with a gorgeous score by Jason Robert Brown. It is also one of the few recent Broadway shows to take up the challenge laid down by the great midcentury works of R&H and their cohort: to tell stories that weld important sociological upheavals to personal conflicts and somehow make them sing...the leading performances, shaped by Sher to preserve a sense of character modesty within the vocal extravagance, are exemplary. Kelli O'Hara, who plays Francesca, is never better than when working from loss and confusion; her prettiness has always contained more than a hint of hurt, which gives her voice its richest colors...And barihunk Steven Pasquale, as Robert, who starred opposite O'Hara in Far From Heaven off Broadway last spring...at last gets a chance to be heard singing on Broadway. He was worth the wait.
2014 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2015 | US Tour |
First National Tour US Tour |
2019 | West End |
Menier Chocolate Factory's West End Premiere Production West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Score | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Steven Pasquale |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Kelli O'Hara |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Marsha Norman |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Bartlett Sher |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | The Bridges of Madison County |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Jon Weston |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Kelli O'Hara |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Steven Pasquale |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | The Bridges of Madison County |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Kelli O'Hara |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Donald Holder |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Jason Robert Brown |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Kelli O'Hara |
Videos