Bright Star had four evening performances and one matinee in the Duke Family Performance Hall. I was able to watch three of the five performances. Bright Star is a musical set in North Carolina during the mid-1940s. The musical follows Billy Cane as he pursues his dream of being a writer in Asheville, North Carolina where he meets Alice Murphy, an editor who decides to give him a chance. As the musical progresses, details about Ms. Murphy’s past are revealed to the audience, explaining why she keeps to herself. The major event in her life that contributed to her current demeanor was when her baby son was taken away from her by force leading to her never seeing him again. The end of the musical reveals that Billy Cane is the son that was taken away from her, allowing them, alongside Jimmy Ray, the biological father of Billy Cane, to reconnect.
I admired the energy of the actors and how that contributed to the delivery of their performance for each of the shows. The genre of music the songs from Bright Star fall under would be bluegrass music. Bright Star the musical not only aimed to share a story about family and community with the audience but also share music from the bluegrass genre. The performance given by the actors and the musical ensemble of Bright Star allowed for the story and the music that came with it to be delivered in a memorable way. I also admired the choices made by the actors in terms of changing the delivery of a line or action. One instance that comes to mind occurred during the song “I Can’t Wait” and changed how I viewed the delivery of the actor’s performance going forward.
In the song “I Can’t Wait,” Alice Murphy talks about how excited she is to meet her baby. Towards the end of the song, Jimmy Ray comes to see Alice intending to propose to her. After Alice accepts but tells him that they will have to wait to get married, she feels the baby move, prompting her to have Jimmy Ray place his hand on her stomach to feel the movements of their baby. During the Thursday evening performance, Jimmy Ray’s actor almost began singing before his cue but promptly stopped himself from doing so. I had been unaware that Jimmy Ray’s actor had almost begun singing before his cue and that the sound he made before his correct cue had been a “mistake.” Despite this, the abrupt stop made it seem as if the character Jimmy Ray had been so overcome with emotions due to the situation that he had to give himself a moment to collect himself before he could go on talking. Since the Thursday performance was the first performance I saw of Bright Star, I had thought that moment was part of the script and was expecting to see it happen again Friday evening. When Jimmy Ray’s actor got his cue correct on Friday evening, however, I realized that that the sound Jimmy Ray had made on Thursday evening that I had found to be a perfect display of raw emotions for that given scenario had been a mistake.
In plenary we’ve discussed how no two performances of the same show are the same, therefore making each performance and the experience had at that show unique. Each Bright Star performance was similar content wise. However, the small “changes” made by the actors for certain scenes alters the audience’s experience of the show, especially if they’ve already seen it. These changes, particularly those done by Jimmy Ray’s actor, create an experience unique to the show that affects the way future, or past performances can be perceived as the “change” made by the actor cannot be replicated.
Aside from the “change” made by Jimmy Ray’s actor, technical changes such as sound and volume also impacted experience at the show. The volume for the sound on Friday night’s performance was louder than Thursday night’s performance. While the sound was clear on both Thursday and Friday, the volume increase for Friday night’s performance made the show more immersive. From what I noticed, lighting remained consistent on all three nights that I watched the show. The consistency in the lighting allowed for the mood each individual scene was trying to invoke consistent for all three shows as well.
Out of the three performances of Bright Star that I watched, one was a matinee. Although the two previous performances I had been two had a lively audience, the Sunday matinee had the most energetic audience out of the three. There was also a significant increase in the number of audience members compared to the previous two shows, which most likely contributed to the amount of energy that was put out. Susan Benett’s “On the Threshold of Theatre,” touches on a variety of factors such as time, location, and people in attendance that shape the audience’s experience at a performance. Since the final Bright Star performance was held in the middle of the day, more people from the community outside Davidson College could attend.
Each Bright Star performance was unique in the experience and atmosphere it created each night. The actors, musicians, and light and sound technicians put in their best effort to replicate the performance itself to the best of their abilities. While all these factors contribute to the experience and atmosphere created, they do not dictate how the experience or atmosphere will take form. It is the audience members, their reactions, and their energy that molds the experience and atmosphere associated with each show. All three performances of Bright Star that I attended had great audience members who were very responsive to the show.