Passion runs hot in Bridges of Madison County at Wharton Center
EAST LANSING, Mich.–The musical version of Bridges of Madison County isn’t going to make the moral questions easy for you.
It is a story of passion and romance; of looking full-on at the opportunity to live out the dreams of the soul no matter what the cost, and choosing between that and keeping to the commitments one has made.
It is a story filled with tension, for every time you start falling into the fantasy world of international photographer Robert Kincaid and Iowa housewife Francesca Johnson, the phone rings with her husband, neighbor or child on the line and reality comes crashing in.
Bridges of Madison County, the musical version of the Robert James Waller bestselling novel, is playing now at The Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing through May 22. Francesca, played by Elizabeth Waller, is an Italian woman who married an American serviceman during World War II and escaped Italy to end up on an Iowa farm with Bud, played by Cullen R. Titmas. Her family heads off to Indianapolis for four days to show a steer at the nationals in a state fair. Into her life walks Robert, played by Andrew Samonsky, a National Geographic photographer, who can’t find the final covered bridge he needs for his assignment.
The two of them hit it off immediately, the sparks ignite a torrid four-day affair that neither of them bargained for. They are soul mates, and all their dreams of the heart seem to be realized in one another.
Waller and Samonsky have amazing chemistry, even when it seems at the beginning that they have little in common or reason to be drawn to each other. But somehow, as the song “Look At Me” explains, they see into each other’s soul and form a connection. They make it clear this is not just a case of two horny individuals having a mid-life crisis. Composer Jason Robert Brown makes sure the audience understands that this is a deep relationship of soulmates, of people who are right for each other. He makes it heartbreakingly clear in such songs as “Falling Into You” and “Who We Are and Who We Want to Be.”
Waller masters the Italian accent, which is just one of the things that sets her apart from her community and establishes how lonely she is even surrounded by people who care about each other. She’s out of place in Iowa. It is unfulfilling and nothing like the dreams she had for her life. Waller infuses each of her songs with a compelling emotion. She draws us into her soul and makes the fantasy accessible. She is passionate and deftly handles the difficult task of making the audience understand why she would fall into an affair and why she would ultimately turn her back on all the promises it holds out to her.
Samonsky plays the outsider well. He drifts into the town of Winterset, Iowa in 1965 and causes a commotion as he is written off as a “hippie,” something still new and strange to people in mid-America. His vocal abilities match Waller and the two of them have incredibly moving duets.
Titmas helps to make this story complex and layered. His Bud is simple compared to the world traveling Robert, but Titmas makes sure the audience knows he’s not simply some hick who neglects his wife. Rather, he is solid and a good man. He has kept his promises and loves his wife in all the ways he knows how. Bud isn’t simply oblivious to his wife’s loneliness. He tries to give her a good life. Titmas has a strong number in “Something from a Dream” where he shows just how much he is devoted to his wife, even while recognizing he hasn’t given her the life she might have wanted.
Adding to the challenge of Francesca’s decision is her neighbor Marge, played perfectly by Mary Callanan. Book writer Marsha Norman could have fallen into stereotypes with this character, making her a nosy neighbor with binoculars spying on Francesca and Robert, but she went a step further. Marge may show her disapproval and engage in gossip with her husband, but ultimately she becomes the example of how the community rallies around each other and helps to knit each other together. Callanan even gets a featured solo “Get Closer” where she is able to show off just how talented of a vocalist she is and how she fits well with this cast.
Even though the love story of Francesca and Robert is compelling and seemingly the fulfillment both of them have been seeking all their lives, the performances of Titmas, Callanan and Francesca’s children—Caitlin Houlahan as Carolyn and John Campione as Michael—make it clear that the choice is not a simple one. There is a world beyond personal fulfillment and it encompasses the commitments we make to others.
Michael Yeargan’s scenic design is minimalistic, creating a set where the audience is invited to fill in the blanks with their own romantic imagination. It has everything it needs, but never goes overboard. It puts the world in a frame, as Robert explains to Francesca at one point. Thematically, it makes the story even more powerful.
Director Bartlett Sher also gets a shout-out for blocking that tugs at the heartstrings. When Robert pursues Francesca as she pulls away, volumes are communicated by their movement across the stage. He creates dramatic tension by the placement of family and community juxtaposed against the lovers, never letting the audience forget what is at stake.
The musical won Tony awards for best original score and best orchestrations and the awards are well-deserved. It isn’t just that Brown created beautiful, moving music. It’s that the music draws the audience into the story, helping them to buy into both the intensity of the affair and the ultimate choice that Francesca makes.
While the entire score is compelling, it is ultimately the final number, “Always Better” that makes the entire story work and has the greatest emotional impact. In it, Francesca shows she has no regret for either the affair or the ultimate choice she made. It is a song that acknowledges the high stakes of the story and makes it satisfying.
After seeing the musical version, it becomes difficult to imagine the story was once told without music, for the music is so powerful in revealing the souls of each of the characters and helping to explain the complexity of the choices being made.