Carmen Cusack, A.J. Shively & More Will Star in Steve Martin & Edie Brickell's Bright Star in San Diego

Next stop, Broadway? Carmen Cusack and A.J. Shively will star in Bright Star, the new musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Directed by Walter Bobbie, the tuner will receive it world premiere at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre this fall, beginning performances on September 13. Opening night is set for September 28.

Cusack’s stage credits include Wicked, South Pacific and Sunday in the Park With George; Shively appeared on Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles. The cast will also star Stephen Lee Anderson, Stephen Bogardus, Patti Cohenour, Wayne Duvall, Hannah Elless, Jeff Hiller, Kate Loprest, Wayne Alan Wilcox and Libby Winters. They will be joined by Allison Briner, Max Chernin, Leah Horowitz, Joe Jung, Lulu Lloyd, Ashley Robinson, Greg Roderick, Sarah Jane Shanks and Scott Wakefield.

As previously reported, the new tuner, which features music by Martin and Brickell, lyrics by Brickell and a book by Martin, is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and travels between 1945 and 1923. Billy Cane (Shively), a young soldier just home from World War II, meets Alice Murphy (Cusack), the brilliant editor of a southern literary journal. Together they discover a powerful secret that alters their lives. The bluegrass score includes songs from Martin and Brickwell's album Love Has Come For You.

Josh Rhodes will choreograph. Sets will be by Eugene Lee, with costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Japhy Weideman and sound design by Nevin Steinberg.