SCRANTON — 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, “Bright Star.”

It’s almost 100 years ago, back in the 1920s, when teen-age Alice and Jimmy Ray have their baby and no, they’re not married.

“It was very, very hard,” said cast member Victoria Pennington, a public relations major from West Wyoming who has three roles in the University of Scranton Players’ production of the musical, set to run Feb. 22 through March 3 at the McDade Center for the Literary and Performing Arts.

“It would be hard in any time period, but back then there was no respect for a woman that was single and pregnant,” Pennington said. “She’s 16, a child herself, and it’s a very religious time. The parents are very hard on her, her father in particular, saying this is a sin. It’s very hard to watch (rehearsals) at times.”

The baby’s paternal grandfather, mayor of the town, is angry, too, and feels the baby could ruin his son’s chances for a happy life.

“Our director (associate professor Michael O’Steen) does a really good job telling us what it would have been like back then,” said Zac Rosencrans, a biology/preveterinary major from Kingston who has the role of Jimmy Ray. “I didn’t realize that, if people knew my character had been involved in that kind of scenario, nobody would want to do business with him.”

The mayor will insist that Alice spend the remainder of her pregnancy hidden away, and that the baby should be given up for adoption.

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.

She will try to search for him but won’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.

“He does actually throw the baby off a train, which is nuts,” Pennington said. “What’s even crazier is, there is a real event that inspired the play.”

Despite the mayor’s heartless attempt to dispose of his grandchild, the writers/composers managed to craft an uplifting story based on the real-life event.

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.

“The music in the show is absolutely beautiful, very folksy and bluegrass sounding,” Pennington said, citing “I Had A Vision” as a poignant number in which Alice and Jimmy Ray talk about what they thought their lives would be like.

“So many of (the songs) have so much energy,” Rosencrans said. “I think people will want to get up and dance to them, to be honest.”

“In one of the flashback scenes, Alice is talking to her unborn child and sings about how much she loves it and can’t wait to meet it for the first time, ” said Pennington, who portrays one of three spirits in the background of that scene. “It’s beautiful and haunting at the same time.”

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.

“Unfortunately, no,” 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. “We have rehearsal that day.”

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’s father, played by Michael Friedman in the University of Scranton Players’ production of the musical ‘Bright Star.’
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-1-1.jpg.optimal.jpgAlice 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’s father, played by Michael Friedman in the University of Scranton Players’ production of the musical ‘Bright Star.’ Submitted photo

Kayla Oberholtzer has the role of Margot, a friend of returning serviceman/aspiring writer Billy, in the University of Scranton production of ‘Bright Star.’
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-4.jpg.optimal.jpgKayla Oberholtzer has the role of Margot, a friend of returning serviceman/aspiring writer Billy, in the University of Scranton production of ‘Bright Star.’ Submitted photo

Daddy Murphy (Werner Christensen) apologizes to his daughter Alice (Reilly Charles) about letting her baby’s other grandfather take the child away in a scene from the musical ‘Bright Star.’
https://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_Bright-Star-9.jpg.optimal.jpgDaddy Murphy (Werner Christensen) apologizes to his daughter Alice (Reilly Charles) about letting her baby’s other grandfather take the child away in a scene from the musical ‘Bright Star.’ Submitted photo
Musical set to run Feb. 22 through March 3

By Mary Therese Biebel

mbiebel@timesleader.com

IF YOU GO

What: ‘Bright Star,’ a musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell

Who: Presented by the University of Scranton Players

When: Feb. 22 through March 3 with performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Royal Theatre of the Joseph M. McDade Center for the Literary and Performing Arts, 313 Monroe Ave., Scranton

Info: 570-941-4318 or thescrantonplayers.com

Tickets: $10 for adults, $7 for senior citizens, students and University faculty and staff. Second weekend is free for first-year students