In the spring of 2012, Great River put on its very first musical, Bye Bye Birdie. What a long way we've come since then! A tiny pit band of 3 has become one with 11 talented musicians, a performance space has gone from a shadowy warehouse to a blackbox theatre, and for the first time ever, we'll have two weekends of shows for audiences to enjoy.

The cast of this year's musical, Bright Star, has been hard at work since the middle of January, rehearsing daily after school some Saturday mornings, and even a long day on President's Day! Today we ran the second act for the first time. Our actors have blocked every scene and are working tirelessly to learn lines, songs, and dances. The pit band is doing their part too as they master some challenging bluegrass music. A saxophonist has become an autoharp connoisseur, our percussionist has added spoons to his list of instruments, and Zack Scott is both running pit band rehearsals and also playing a mean banjo.

We've all fallen in love with this beautiful score and script written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Bright Star is set in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Moving seamlessly back and forth between 1923 and 1945, it tells the story of two young couples in love, an unexpected baby, and two writers seeking the chance to tell their stories and let others be witnesses to their truths.

Tickets will go on sale next week. We hope you'll come and join us March 15-16 and March 22-23 in the GRS Performance Space. Details will be coming in the announcement blog!