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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; Before we talk about the horrible thing that happens to a baby born to a young couple in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we have to set the stage for the Steve Martin/Edie Brickell musical, &#8220;Bright Star.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s almost 100 years ago, back in the 1920s, when teen-age Alice and Jimmy Ray have their baby and no, they&#8217;re not married.</p><p>&#8220;It was very, very hard,&#8221; said cast member Victoria Pennington, a public relations major from West Wyoming who has three roles in the University of Scranton Players&#8217; production of the musical, set to run Feb. 22 through March 3 at the McDade Center for the Literary and Performing Arts.</p><p>&#8220;It would be hard in any time period, but back then there was no respect for a woman that was single and pregnant,&#8221; Pennington said. &#8220;She&#8217;s 16, a child herself, and it&#8217;s a very religious time. The parents are very hard on her, her father in particular, saying this is a sin. It&#8217;s very hard to watch (rehearsals) at times.&#8221;</p><p>The baby&#8217;s paternal grandfather, mayor of the town, is angry, too, and feels the baby could ruin his son&#8217;s chances for a happy life.</p><p>&#8220;Our director (associate professor Michael O&#8217;Steen) does a really good job telling us what it would have been like back then,&#8221; said Zac Rosencrans, a biology/preveterinary major from Kingston who has the role of Jimmy Ray. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t realize that, if people knew my character had been involved in that kind of scenario, nobody would want to do business with him.&#8221;</p><p>The mayor will insist that Alice spend the remainder of her pregnancy hidden away, and that the baby should be given up for adoption.</p><p>A generation later, audiences will meet Alice as a successful editor in post-World War II Asheville, who wonders what happened to her baby after the mayor took him away.</p><p>She will try to search for him but won&#8217;t find any record of the adoption, because what the mayor did so long ago was put the baby in a valise and throw it off a train.</p><p>&#8220;He does actually throw the baby off a train, which is nuts,&#8221; Pennington said. &#8220;What&#8217;s even crazier is, there is a real event that inspired the play.&#8221;</p><p>Despite the mayor&#8217;s heartless attempt to dispose of his grandchild, the writers/composers managed to craft an uplifting story based on the real-life event.</p><p>Audiences will enjoy the twists and turns of the tale, cast members predicted, as well as the live band that will play fiddle, banjo and other instruments.</p><p>&#8220;The music in the show is absolutely beautiful, very folksy and bluegrass sounding,&#8221; Pennington said, citing &#8220;I Had A Vision&#8221; as a poignant number in which Alice and Jimmy Ray talk about what they thought their lives would be like.</p><p>&#8220;So many of (the songs) have so much energy,&#8221; Rosencrans said. &#8220;I think people will want to get up and dance to them, to be honest.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;In one of the flashback scenes, Alice is talking to her unborn child and sings about how much she loves it and can&#8217;t wait to meet it for the first time, &#8221; said Pennington, who portrays one of three spirits in the background of that scene. &#8220;It&#8217;s beautiful and haunting at the same time.&#8221;</p><p>While the students were working on the musical, they knew one of its writers/composers was at the Mohegan Sun Arena, just 20 miles away from their theater space on Feb. 15.</p><p>&#8220;Unfortunately, no,&#8221; Pennington said, explaining neither she nor the rest of the cast was likely to get a chance to see Steve Martin perform locally with his buddy Martin Short. &#8220;We have rehearsal that day.&#8221; </p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alice Murphy, played by Reilly Charles, second from left, holding the baby, has to deal with some unhappy parents in 1920s North Carolina, including her father, played by Werner Christensen; her mother, played by Amy Black, and her boyfriend&#8217;s father, played by Michael Friedman in the University of Scranton Players&#8217; production of the musical &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alice Murphy, played by Reilly Charles, second from left, holding the baby, has to deal with some unhappy parents in 1920s North Carolina, including her father, played by Werner Christensen; her mother, played by Amy Black, and her boyfriend&#8217;s father, played by Michael Friedman in the University of Scranton Players&#8217; production of the musical &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-7.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"><p style=&quot;margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;&quot;>Zac Rosencrans, Jason Galarza, and Michael Friedman rehearse a scene in &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-7.jpg</photo1><caption1><p style=&quot;margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%;&quot;>Zac Rosencrans, Jason Galarza, and Michael Friedman rehearse a scene in &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kayla Oberholtzer has the role of Margot, a friend of returning serviceman/aspiring writer Billy, in the University of Scranton production of &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Kayla Oberholtzer has the role of Margot, a friend of returning serviceman/aspiring writer Billy, in the University of Scranton production of &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-9.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Daddy Murphy (Werner Christensen) apologizes to his daughter Alice (Reilly Charles) about letting her baby&#8217;s other grandfather take the child away in a scene from the musical &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-9.jpg</photo3><caption3>Daddy Murphy (Werner Christensen) apologizes to his daughter Alice (Reilly Charles) about letting her baby&#8217;s other grandfather take the child away in a scene from the musical &#8216;Bright Star.&#8217; </caption3><photoCredit3>Submitted photo </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Musical set to run Feb. 22 through March 3</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong> </p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Bright Star,&#8217; a musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell</p><p><strong>Who: </strong>Presented by the University of Scranton Players</p><p><strong>When:</strong> Feb. 22 through March 3 with performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Royal Theatre of the Joseph M. McDade Center for the Literary and Performing Arts, 313 Monroe Ave., Scranton</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-941-4318 or thescrantonplayers.com</p><p><strong>Tickets: </strong>$10 for adults, $7 for senior citizens, students and University faculty and staff. Second weekend is free for first-year students</p></factboxMeta></div>

U of S Players to present ‘Bright Star’