Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor —

The Public Theater of San Antonio was ready to open the San Antonio premiere of the musical “Bright Star” just when the health and civic authorities told us to stay home and avoid mixing with other people to prevent the spread of COVID -19.

The huge show, involving 36 creative team members, including actors, musicians and technicians, had to close before it opened. Officially, it is postponed, but there’s no telling when this new situation we all find ourselves in will end.

“We are cautiously optimistic, is the best way to put it,” said the Public’s CEO and artistic director George Green in a phone interview Tuesday. “We have made prudent decisions to make it through this timeline whatever it may be. On March 15 we made plans for about 25 financial scenarios for different durations of the crisis, all the way through August. We certainly hope it will end sooner than that but we did what we had to do to slow down the spread of the virus.”

Right now, “ ‘Bright Star’ is ready in the wings, sitting on stage, just waiting for the doors to open.  When we open, it will be there, a beautiful story of hope and resilience to offer to the community.”

Green also happens to be the director of the musical that features a highly-praised country & bluegrass score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, who won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and were nominated for a Tony as well.  In addition, the original Broadway cast album was nominated for a Grammy in 2017.

Unfortunately, the musical opened in New York the same year that “Hamilton” took Broadway by storm. Had it not been for “Hamilton,” “’Bright Star’ would have won everything,” he noted.

“This show is perfectly written, with stellar music. The choreography by Courtnie Mercer (the Public’s resident choreographer) is just gorgeous,” he explained. “The show doesn’t stop. The cast is incredibly talented, but at the core of it, is love and hope, and a story of intertwined destinies.”

The roots of the tale told on stage can be found in an event dating back to the early 1900s. According to reports, about that time, a very young baby fell from a train into The Big River in Irondale, Missouri, but was rescued by one William Helms, a Civil War veteran who, with his wife Sarah Jane, later adopted the child, naming him William Moses Gould Helms. Many women reportedly claimed the boy but young William stayed with the man who found him and became known as the Iron Mountain Baby. His strange rescue and survival inspired a folk ballad, named, in fact, “The Ballad of the Iron Mountain Baby.” More than a century later, in 2013, Martin and Brickell issued their Grammy-winning album, “Love Has Come for You,” which featured the song “Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby.”

The musical, however, is more complex than William’s story, with two narratives – one from 1946 and the other set in 1923 – developing throughout the play and ultimately connecting in a deeply meaningful way.

That should keep you in suspense until…, well, until the musical actually opens.

In the meantime, watch the gorgeous video the Public has put together, featuring the cast singing a song from the show that seems to be especially appropriate at this moment: “Sun’s Gonna Shine,” which becomes “The Sun’s Gonna Shine Again” when they sing it. https://youtu.be/jZNrw3spZHQ

And while you are doing that and “sheltering in place,” Green would like you to consider how important the arts are for our well-being. This is the time to help the Public and all the other arts organizations in town that had to close their doors for what may be several months, meaning, of course, no income. Your donations may make it a little easier for them to reopen when life returns to normal.

To donate go to https://bit.ly/2UjYR8J