Love, regret, and secrecy. These are a few themes that you will encounter if you make a trip to The Studio Theatre at Penn State Behrend this weekend. Penn State Behrend’s theatre department has successfully opened their fall production of “The Bridges of Madison County” with an excellent reception.

  

“The Bridges of Madison County” is a story that follows Italian war-bride Francesca (played by Lia Vinciguerra), and her encounter with National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid (played by Donovan Owens). Robert strolls into Francesca’s rural Iowa town while her husband Richard “Bud” Johnson (played by Logan Saborsky) and kids Carolyn (Emily Eiss) and Michael (Francesco Corso) are away for several days; what follows, is a story of forbidden love, passion, and uncertainty.  

  

Based on the novel by Robert James Waller of the same name, the script writing of Marsha Norman balances very serious themes with comedy quite well, particularly between the hilarious sibling bickering of Carolyn and Michael as well as between Francesca’s neighbors Marge (Kristin LaCross) and Charlie (Edward Attal). With an exceptional music score by Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County can be enjoyed by theatre fans as well as first timers.

  

While the demanding vocal scoring of Jason Robert Brown was, at times, difficult to execute, the cast did an excellent job overall under the musical direction of Rhonda Berlin. The set was beautifully designed by Scott Rispin and worked very well with the small space that The Studio Theatre has to offer.

  

Director Emily Cassano was asked in an interview prior to the show opening as to what her reasoning was for choosing this particular production. She believed that it would be a good challenge for her students. “The Bridges of Madison County” was written for a cast of characters in their 30s and 40s (excluding the teenagers Carolyn and Michael) while Behrend’s cast is comprised of actors in their late teens to early twenties.

  

One may think that this would be a difficult production for college students to put on; however, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of maturity that was shown during the performance, particularly with leading lady Lia Vinciguerra who delivered very compelling character progression.

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The Bridges of Madison County is cer   tainly a show that some may never have the pleasure of experiencing due to how different it is. It is not your typical “musical theatre” production that one would expect to sit down to. It is a very serious and human story that delves into dark and heartbreaking subjects. The cast and crew of this production should be proud of the work they have done.

  

I was very entertained throughout the show and urge anyone who is interested in an unorthodox yet beautiful story to reserve a ticket. The Bridges of Madison County at Penn State Behrend is playing its second weekend November 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Studio Theatre.