Cassandra Marie Murphy and Caleb Shaw are sheer perfection as the star-crossed lovers of The Bridges Of Madison County, bringing composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown’s and book writer Marsha Norman’s exquisite take on Robert James Waller’s novel to soaringly romantic life in an all too brief, just concluded three-performance-only Inland Valley Repertory Theatre run at Candlelight Pavilion.

 Not that the original 2014 Broadway production didn’t itself deserve ten times more than its 137 performances, though fortunately an eight-month national tour brought director Bartlett Sher’s inspired vision to the Ahmanson in 2015.

Sadly, it took three long years for Angelinos to be given the chance to relive the magic, the music, and the heartbreak, and those fortunate to attend this week’s Tuesday-Wednesday run can rejoice that for one brief shining moment, The Bridges Of Madison County was back.

Italian war bride Francesca (Murphy) could hardly have been less suited to a new environment than the Iowa countryside, but when your native Naples has been bombed to smithereens and your fiancé has been one of WWII’s countless casualties and an American GI has proposed marriage, you travel 5000 miles and begin a new life.

As the years pass by, you learn English, raise two teenage children, and become a part of a community that has accepted you with gratifyingly open arms.

 Then comes the day your husband Bud (Christopher Lindsey) and your two teenagers (Andrew Wade and Jaidyn Young as Michael and Carolyn) head off for three days at the national 4H fair and a handsome National Geographic photographer shows up on your doorstep asking for directions to one of Madison County’s famous covered bridges.

Talk about a recipe for passionate romance, steamy sex, and the need to choose between the life you’ve built and a dazzling new one if only you are willing to accept the consequences.

Though Brown’s Tony-winning score sounds more like Adam Guettel’s for The Light In The Piazza than his Parade, The Last Five Years, or Honeymoon In Vegas, with melodies as exquisite as those he’s written for Francesca and Robert to sing, this reviewer for one has no complaints about the similarities.

Norman’s book grabs us from the moment Francesca and Robert’s eyes first meet. Not only that, but by beefing up the roles of the Iowa farm community who’ve been Francesca’s friends and neighbors these past two decades, she makes it even clearer than Waller’s novel and the Clint Eastwood-Meryl Streep movie adaptation just what Francesca would be leaving behind should she and Robert take a life-changing romantic plunge.

Broadway director Sher emphasized this by keeping the townspeople on stage pretty much throughout as both observers and participants. Directing for IVRT, Frank Minano achieves some of this by involving them in scene changes though their presence occasionally feels awkwardly inserted rather than organic.

 In all other respects, the IVRT production hits the mark, and rarely has a Candlelight Pavilion set proved less in need of Mark MacKenzie’s modification than the one Chuck Ketter has designed for the concurrently running Bonnie & Clyde, period car and all. It may not have the beauty of the landscape-depicting Broadway vision, but its Midwest flavor works, set pieces taking us to various locales, most particularly to Francesca’s lived-in kitchen, and projections of the titular bridges and black-and-white photos of Francesca adding their own emotional punch.

 A cast of IVRT favorites deliver vivid supporting turns—Valerie Jasso’s nosy but caring neighbor Marge, married more than half her life to Peter Schulz’s folksy Charlie; Wade’s and Young’s entertainingly rambunctious teens; and country songbird Kim Eberhardt’s Marian and State Fair Singer giving Dolly, Reba, and Shania a run for their money.

 Kristen Hamilton, MacKenzie, Scott Leland McDermott (Young Bud), Abel Miramontes (Paolo), Natalie Roberts (Chiara), Cindy Smith, and Erin Tierney (Young Francesca) give their townspeople a homespun Iowa look, with McDermott, Miramontes, Roberts, and Tierney scoring bonus points for choreographer Eberhardt’s Italian flashback ballet and the entire ensemble joining in for an infectiously dancy “State Road 21.”

Still there could be no Bridges Of Madison County without a lead couple blessed with gorgeous voices, palpable chemistry, and acting chops to match, and in this IVRT has scored a double bulls-eye.

Murphy follows back-to-back-to-back star turns as Evita, Aldonza, and Esmeralda with a Francesca who excites. astonishes, and moves in equal measure, and in Robert, the charismatic Shaw finally gets the star vehicle that has long been his due, leaving just one question unanswered. When and where can this power pair get the full-run Bridges they so richly deserve?

Music director Ronda Rubio and her onstage orchestra score top marks as well, as do Nick Galvan (sound design), Gabrielle Richardson (costume coordination), Caleb Shiba (lighting design), and Smith (properties design), with major snaps to Sarafina Chimienti for coaching Murphy’s spot-on, appropriately subtle Italian accent.

Hope Kaufman is assistant director. Bobby Collins is production coordinator,

 If The Bridges Of Madison County hadn’t already completed its all too short three-performance engagement, I’d be urging you to run-not-walk over to Candlelight Pavilion for an unforgettable evening of melody, romance, and tears. As is, one can only hope that Murphy, Shaw, and Bridges will be brought back for more.

Inland Valley Repertory Theatre at Candlelight Pavilion, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont.
www.IVRT.org

–Steven Stanley
September 26, 2018
Photos: DawnEllen Ferry

Tags: Inland Valley Repertory Theatre, Jason Robert Brown, Los Angeles Theater Review, Marsha Norman, Robert James Waller