Bright Star: School Edition

Casting

ALICE MURPHY – Plays both 16-17 and 36-37. Alice at age 36-37 is an editor of a southern literary magazine; intelligent, attractive, professional – but with an air of melancholy. Young Alice at age 16-17 is rebellious, high-spirited, adventurous – looking to break out of small-town life and experience the world. She must be very strong singer and comfortable in folk and bluegrass styles.

BILLY CANE – A young soldier returning home from WWII; an aspiring young writer; fresh, open, optimistic, charming, and a little naïve.

DADDY CANE – Billy’s father. A widower. Spry, good looking. Kind hearted, if a bit lonely.

MARGO CRAWFORD – A small-town bookstore owner; a childhood friend of Billy’s who now harbors romantic feelings towards him; a natural beauty with a keen intellect.

MAX – A customer at Margo’s bookstore, at first, he has a crush on Margo, but later becomes Edna’s beau.

FLORENCE – An employee at Margo’s bookstore and a childhood friend of both Billy and Margo.

EDNA – An employee at Margo’s bookstore.

DARYL AMES – An assistant at a literary magazine. Funny, with a dry and officious sense of humor. Insecure, and perhaps a bit socially awkward, but endearing and innately likeable.

LUCY GRANT – A junior editor at a literary magazine. An ambitious, professional young “modern” career woman of the 1940’s. Strong, forthright and provocative with a sharp sense of humor.

MAMA MURPHY – Alice’s mother. A caretaker to her family and her rural community. A warm, loving, sensible woman. Hardworking, with great inner strength and compassion.

DADDY MURPHY – Alice’s father; an authoritative and a stern disciplinarian; devoutly religious, hard-working, a poor but proud farmer.

MAYOR JOSIAH DOBBS – The Mayor of Zebulon; a political and financial powerbroker – distinguished, an imposing and controlling presence; has a genuine interest in protecting his son’s future and his family name, but in doing so, is ultimately pushed to a point of extreme and irrevocable cruelty.

JIMMY RAY DOBBS – plays both age 18-20 and 38-40. Jimmy Ray in his early 20s in flashbacks is Mayor Dobbs’ son and young Alice’s beau; handsome, boyishly charming, well-built and intelligent; from a family of wealth and power and is being groomed by his father for a similar future in the family business; an independent thinker who is not afraid to stand up to his father for what he believes in; he has a sense of personal responsibility and morality as well as a deep reserve of passion and emotion. The same actor will also play an adult Jimmy Ray at age 38-40.

STANFORD – Loyal assistant to Mayor Josiah Dobbs

DR. NORQUIST – The local family doctor in Zebulon

GOVERNMENT CLERK – A clerk at the Office of Records in Raleigh

WELL-DRESSED WOMAN – A woman (38-40) living in Raleigh.

Orchestral Information

Rehearsal Set:

Director’s Scripts – 2

Piano-Conductor Score – 2

Cast Script & Vocal Books – 25

Logo Pack – 1

Orchestra:

Piano-Conductor (Piano, Accordion) included in Rehearsal Set, Keyboard (Keyboard, Accordion, Autoharp), Guitar (Acoustic, Archtop Electric), Mandolin (Mandolin, Guitar), Banjo (Banjo, Long Neck Banjo, Guitar), Upright Bass, Drums, Fiddle, Viola (Viola, Fiddle), Cello

Credits

BRIGHT STAR School Edition

Music, Book & Story by Steve Martin

Music, Book & Story by Edie Brickell

Produced by Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner, John Johnson Zebulon LLC, Jay Alix & Una Jackman, Len Blavatnik, James L. Nederlander, Carson & Joseph Gleberman, Balboa Park Productions, The Shubert Organization, Jamie deRoy/Catherine Adler/Cricket Jiranek

In Association With Rodger Hess, A.C. Orange International, Broadway Across America, Sally Jacobs & Warren Baker, Diana DiMenna, Exeter Capital, Agnes Gund, True Love Productions, and The Old Globe