Author: Tom Williams

This set-up is more than simply a dazzling Broadway musical and a buddy comedy. It is a hhilarious spoof on classical theatre, Shakespeare, and is an amazing tribute to the history of Broaday musicals. Smart humor with puns, double-entendres and raw sexual references fuel the adventures of the lovable Bottom brothers played with empathy and truthful bu Rob McClure as Nick Bottom and the funny, sweet Nigel Bottom played with sincerety by Josh Grisetti. These brothers strive to mount a new work – a musical – to survive in the London of Shakespeare.

The Bridges of Madison County is the story of a Italian war bride, Francesca, who is saved from raveged Italy by an americal GI who marries her and takes he back to his farm in rural Iowa. Francesca and Bud (Bart Shatto) in 1965 have been married for 18 years and they have two children, Michael (Tanner Hake) and Carolyn (Brooke MacDougal) now teenagers. Bud is a good man despite being a bore-he is a typical farmer bent on raising his crops and providing for his family. Francesca loves him but she urns for more exciment in her life.

We meet the Miller family – four children, the mother and father with an aunt and an uncle all surviving living together in an upper middle class Connecticut house. It is the 4th of July, 1906 in a time of pure innocence in America. The patriarch, Nat Miller (the commanding Randall Newsome) is a kind heart and understanding father while Essie (a winning Ora Jones) is the controlling old-fashion mother always looking out for her children. Sid Davis (Larry Bates) is Essie’s drunken brother who loves Lily Miller (the chaeming Kate Fry) Nat’s sister who refuses to marry Sid as long as he drinks.