Review Roundup: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, Starring Kate Baldwin & Aaron Lazar

The Axelrod Performing Arts Center is currently presenting The Bridges of Madison County, The Musical, starring Kate Baldwin (Hello, Dolly!, Finian's Rainbow) and Aaron Lazar (A Little Night Music, The Light in the Piazza). The musical, which runs through March 27, is directed by one of its original stars, Hunter Foster (Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors, Million Dollar Quartet, The Producers).

The musical, which played on Broadway in 2014, has a score by one of Broadway's most celebrated composers, Jason Robert Brown and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman. It won Tony Awards for best original score and best orchestrations, and contains "some of the most rapturous music you'll ever hear on a stage," says Artistic Director Andrew DePrisco, who is producing the musical at the Axelrod.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

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Erica Handel, BroadwayWorld: Baldwin and Lazar made an unstoppable pair as the quiet Francesca and adventurous Robert. The actors have worked with each other many times before, and it was evident in their performance. They sang the iconic Jason Robert Brown anthems "Falling Into You," where Francesca and Robert realize they're falling in love with each other, and "One Second and a Million Miles," when Robert convinces Francesca to leave the farm with him. They put their own stamp on the renditions of these classic songs, which satisfied the musical theater fans in the audience. The score did Baldwin and Lazar's voices great justice, and gave a powerful lasting impression. The Broadway veterans have a natural chemistry onstage, which worked well and made it easy for them to carry the show. Baldwin and Lazar's scenes both together and apart were equally as incredible, showing how talented they truly are.

Jay Lustig, NJArts: Two-time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin plays Francesca, an Iowa housewife who escapes the drudgery that her life has become via an affair with Robert (Aaron Lazar), a worldly but lonely, divorced National Geographic photographer who comes to their sleepy rural town in 1965 on an assignment. Both sing beautifully, create fully rounded characters and project the urgent, larger-than-life emotions that Brown's songs call for.

Check back later for updates!

Photo Credit: Mark Krajnak

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