It’s
here, ladies and gentleman: Jason Robert Brown’s return to Broadway. And it
just so happens that he’s provided us with the most intensely romantic score
since Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza.
There’s
a difference here, though. While Piazza gently floated on the wind with a
classical sensibility infused with piano, strings, and harp that touched us in the
heart, The Bridges of Madison County has a musical approach that’s more
muscular… it virtually punches us in the gut. It reflects a type of love unlike
the innocence of Fabrizio and Clara, two naïve young people from two different
worlds. The romance between Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid is one of
forbidden love, a deep and complex affair that oozes with palpable danger and
sexuality. And Jason Robert Brown’s work reflects that in a way that few other
composers today could achieve. If Brown hadn’t written the brilliant score for
Parade, I’d say Bridges is his most significant contribution to musical theatre
to date.
