LOGAN – The creative team for the summer season of the Lyric Repertory Company has announced crew and cast selections for the upcoming production of the bluegrass musical Bright Star.
Bright Star is a southern Gothic tale recounting the incredible true story of the Iron Mountain Baby. The play is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1945-46, with flashbacks to a tragic romance in 1923.
Written and composed by comedian Steve Martin and Edie Bricknell, the familiar musical has been performed here previously by Cache Theatre Company.
Lyric veteran Eric Van Tielen will make his directorial debut with Bright Star. He was seen in five previous Lyric seasons, most recently in Murder for Two and Mamma Mia in 2019. He is a graduate of Utah State University and has also appeared at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Pioneer Theatre, the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre and the Hale Centre Theatre, among others.
Leading the cast will be Equity actress Kelsey Crotz in the role of backwoods literary prodigy Alice Murphy.
Ms. Crotz is a Belgian-American actress based in Chicago. Since graduating from Millikin University in 2022, she has played Rizzo in Grease, Amalia Balash in She Loves Me, Kathryn Merteuil in Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical and Mary Poppins in Mary Poppings.
Joining Ms. Crotz on-stage will be the multi-talented and always watchable Tamari Dunbar, in the role of Mama Murphy. Ms. Dunbar is also Lyric veteran, having performed memorably here in nine previous seasons.
Also returning to the Lyric company for his 20th season will be Lee Dailey, taking on the role of Daddy Cane.
His past favorite roles for the Lyric Rep include the Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone and Jinx in Forever Plaid.
Dailey has also worked at Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre and the Desert Star Playhouse in Salt Lake City.
USU professors Richie Call and Stefan Espinosa will be trading in their usual director’s hats to perform on-stage in Bright Star.
From the ranks of USU students, the Lyric Rep has also enlisted the fine talents of Megan Bedell, Marin Robison and Ariana Whatcott.
Other cast members will include Joseph Smentowski, Niko Barlow, Emily Alvey-Despain, Colton Iverson, Micah Coombs, Paddy Berger, Lindsey Kelstrom and Jared Rounds.
Bright Star is scheduled to be performed in the Morgan Theatre in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus from June 13 through July 26.
To learn more about the 2025 season of the Lyric Repertory Company or to purchase tickets, go online to https://www.lyricrep.org