In a Best of category where perennial favorites often have an inherent leg up when it comes to popular appeal, the fact that Bright Star took top honors might indicate just how strong Spokane Valley Summer Theatre's production was. The musical by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin premiered as recently as 2014, and its Broadway run spanned just a few months in 2016. In other words, a theatrical warhorse like The Sound of Music or Les Misérables it is not.
And yet, Bright Star's decade-hopping story based on the folktale of the Iron Mountain Baby clearly struck a chord with SVST's theatergoers — so much so that they had trouble separating themselves from it.
"Usually there's that fourth wall. You know this isn't happening. What was so different about this show is that we could hear people in the audience reacting very strongly," says Andrea Olsen, who starred as Alice Murphy in Bright Star opposite J. Clayton Winters as Jimmy Ray Dobbs.
One Bright Star character who has a sinister adoption ruse became a focal point for the audience's anger. When this character later revealed he was dying, Olsen recalls someone in the house shouting, "Good!" Another audience member commented that they practically had to restrain their mother to keep her from rushing the stage and walloping the baddie.
"My guess is that we were all so committed to the story that it really came across as real," she says. "It was a great team, a great cast. No, not great — fabulous. We felt it. And what was so cool is that we felt that way every night."
But Olsen says that the specialness of this regional premiere didn't stop there. She also points to inspired direction from Yvonne A.K. Johnson as well as sensitive interpretations of the show's bluegrass-style songbook from music director Matt Goodrich and area folk musicians.
"The band was amazing, just first-class," she says. "And the music of Bright Star is so uplifting. You can't help but sit there and tap your toe."
For many, that magical combination of cast commitment, audience captivation and down-home music proved irresistible.
"It was so satisfying on so many levels. People came back and saw it many, many times. They kept asking us, 'Will you do it again?' We probably could've sold out two more weeks. And I think that speaks to the level of the production."
2nd PLACE: The Addams Family, Spokane Civic Theatre
3rd PLACE: Sweeney Todd, Stage Left Theater
NORTH IDAHO'S BEST: Tommy, Aspire Community Theatre, Coeur d'Alene
