VIDEO: Steve Martin, Edie Brickell's BRIGHT STAR Begins Rehearsals For Pre-Broadway Kennedy Center Premiere

As announced earlier this week, BRIGHT STAR, the new musical from Grammy and Emmy winner Steve Martin and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie, will begin previewing at Broadway's Cort Theatre on Thursday, February 25, 2016 with opening night set for Thursday, March 24.

But first, the musical plays a limited engagement at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C. from December 2, 2015 through January 10, 2016, with an official opening night on December 17.

Inspired by an astonishing true event, the wholly original new musical tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and 40s. When successful literary editor Alice Murphy meets an ambitious young soldier just home from World War II, their connection inspires Alice to confront a shocking incident from her past. Together they discover a long-buried secret with the power to transform their lives.

First rehearsals are traditionally a time for company members to get to know each other, often reconnecting with colleagues from past jobs, and be introduced to the production's designs. In this video, the two authors and the director talk about the excitement of creating a fully original musical.

As previously announced, Carmen Cusack will make her Broadway debut as Alice, a role she originated in BRIGHT STAR's world premiere production, and will be joined by co-stars Paul Alexander Nolan, Tony Award nominee Michael Mulheren, A.J. Shively, Hannah Elless, Tony Award nominee Stephen Bogardus, three-time Tony Award nomineeDee Hoty, Stephen Lee Anderson, Emily Padgett, Tony Award nominee Jeff Blumenkrantz, along with Maddie Shea Baldwin, Allison Briner-Dardenne, Max Chernin, Patrick Cummings, Sandra DeNise, Richard Gatta, Lizzie Klemperer,Michael X. Martin, William Michals, Tony Roach, Sarah Jane Shanks and William Youmans.

With music and book by Steve Martin and music and lyrics by Edie Brickell, BRIGHT STAR is based on an original story by Martin and Brickell and features direction by Walter Bobbie, choreography by Josh Rhodes, scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, hair and wig design by Tom Watson, musical supervision by Peter Asher, musical direction and vocal arrangements by Rob Berman, and orchestrations by August Eriksmoen. BRIGHT STAR was developed and had its world premiere at The Old Globe in San Diego (Barry Edelstein, Artistic Director; Michael G. Murphy, Managing Director).