TV: Highlights From BRIGHT STAR At Florida Studio Theatre

Florida Studio Theatre presents Bright Star, the five-time Tony-nominated musical and winner of the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Called "Shining" and "Outstanding" by The Observer, Bright Star tells an inspiring story of forbidden love, betrayal, and the power of compassion.

With Music, Book, and Story by Steve Martin and Music, Lyrics, and Story by Edie Brickell, Bright Star is now held over through Friday, January 17 in FST's Gompertz Theatre. Tickets range from $36-59 and are now on sale at floridastudiotheatre.org, or by calling (941) 366-9000.

"Bright Star touches the chords of our souls," shared Kate Alexander, Director of Bright Star. "It explores our need to belong-to need each other and to confront life's sorrows, and it does so with unadulterated joy. This production shows the joy of reconciling life's journey, not with pleasant diversions, or with a false 'happily ever after' ending, but with real work in understanding each other."

Inspired by a true story, Bright Star centers on Alice Murphy, an accomplished literary editor with a harrowing secret. When Alice meets Billy Cane, a young soldier returned from World War II with dreams of becoming a writer, he awakens in her a longing for the child she once lost. Alice sets out on a quest to understand her past, and what she discovers has the power to transform both of their lives.

Bright Star alternates between two time periods-the 1920s, when Alice was a young teenager in love, and the 1940s, when Alice is the well-respected editor of the Asheville Southern Journal. Through these flashbacks, the audience learns that Alice was once in love with the mayor's son, Jimmy Ray Dobbs, and that the mayor forbade them from being together. Acting out of love for Jimmy Ray, Mayor Dobbs takes the couple's future into his own hands-with disastrous results.

Bright Star is part of a four-show subscription package. Also included in the Mainstage subscription package is the cross-cultural romantic comedy Handle With Care, the gripping new play American Son, and The Legend of Georgia McBride, a musical comedy written by the Obie Award-winning playwright Matthew Lopez. Subscriptions for all four Winter Mainstage shows can be purchased for as little as $69 at (941) 366-9000 or floridastudiotheatre.org.