Liam Phillips (left) as Billy Cane and Miller Richardson as Margo Crawford.
“I’m ready for my life to begin. I’m ready for it all to start.”
These lyrics from “Bright Star,” a bluegrass-inspired musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, strike a personal chord with University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman Liam Phillips.
They are also the lyrics he will sing on stage as one of the lead characters, Billy Cane, at the UTC Theatre Co. production of “Bright Star.”
“I feel like I can embody that character pretty well,” said Phillips, a creative writing major from Franklin, Tennessee. “It feels so true to how I’m feeling right now at this point of my life.”
Sharing the stage with Phillips will be senior Pearson Smith, playing the role of Alice Murphy. While Phillips will make his first appearance on the UTC stage for a musical theatre performance, it will be Smith’s last.
“It’s very sad because I pretty much only do musical theatre, so I’ve been in a musical for the past three years now,” said the theatre entrepreneurship major. “I cry at the end of every performance on any closing night. It’s so sad because you get so close with your cast and you get so close with the character that you’re playing, and it kind of feels a part of you.”
Similar to their own lives, Phillips’ and Smith’s characters experience both loss and new beginnings. Murphy, a literary editor with a concealed past, and Cane, a young soldier-turned-writer searching for his voice, find their lives intertwined. As their paths cross, buried secrets emerge, revealing a profound connection that changes everything.
Inspired by actual events, the story takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina spanning the 1920s and 1940s.
Smith, who hails from Ringgold, Georgia—a geologic region of the Appalachian Mountains—and Phillips also have geological and cultural ties to the musical.
“I grew up watching Andy Griffith which is all set in the North Carolina and Appalachia region,” Phillips said. “My grandma lived in North Carolina for a lot of her life. It feels like I’m in connection with my roots.”
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“Bright Star” runs at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 25-March 1—with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, March 1, at UTC Fine Arts Center’s Dorothy Hackett Ward Theatre.
Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here and through the UTC Box Office—in person or by phone (423-425-4369). Tickets are $25 for general admission and $20 for students (with proof of student ID) and seniors.
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Pearson Smith (center) rehearses with the cast of UTC Theater Co.’s “Bright Star.”
Director Steve Ray, head of the Department of Theatre and artistic director of the UTC Theatre Co., said the score by Martin and Brickell weaves bluegrass instrumentation with a pop sound.
“It’s unusual for musicals to have this many catchy singable tunes—and this one does,” Ray said. “You can’t walk away from this production without singing the songs in your head.
“And it’s more emotional than you would think. You hear bluegrass-inspired and bluegrass-infused, and you have a certain notion of it. But it weaves between heartbreak and hope and takes you on a real emotional journey.”
With a cast that Ray described as “the best voices that we’ve probably ever had in a musical,” Smith said the audition process felt a bit “cutthroat.”
“Everyone is obviously very supportive of each other,” she said, “but there was so much talent.”
Phillips felt the same level of artistry from his peers.
“I did not expect to get such a large role so early in college,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Without any spoilers, Smith said the musical has several twists, turns and time hops. She said it tells a sometimes sad—but hopeful—story.
“I’m most excited to tell the story,” she said. “It’s fun to step into someone else’s shoes, and a lot of it is based on a real story, so I love getting to portray that.”
After several UTC Theatre Co. productions—including “9 to 5 the Musical,” “Into the Woods” and “The Threepenny Opera”—Smith said it would be hard to say goodbye.
“It is sad,” she said, “but I’m excited to see what’s next for me and I’m excited to come back and watch all the people that I’m in the show with perform again.”
Phillips said his biggest takeaway from the show is the strong sense of comradery among the cast. As for the audience, he hopes they resonate with an important message.
“Similar to Steve Martin, what he wanted the audience’s big takeaway to be was that people from Appalachia and from the South aren’t just from a stupid hick town in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “Everyone’s got a story regardless of where they’re coming from.”
He said he is excited for his lead role in the show, especially with the unwavering support from the cast and Ray.
“I really want to do this show and the material justice,” he said. “It really is an epic story.”
“Bright Star” cast
Pearson Smith and Liam Phillips
- Pearson Smith (senior/theatre: theatre entrepreneurship/Ringgold, Georgia)
- Liam Phillips (freshman/English: creative writing/Franklin, Tennessee)
- Gunter Hullander (sophomore/theatre: theatre education/Ringgold, Georgia)
- Miller Richardson (senior/communication/Collierville, Tennessee)
- Harrison Faulkner (junior/marketing/Signal Mountain, Tennessee)
- Annie Mitchell (junior/humanities: liberal arts/Brentwood, Tennessee)
- Mattilynn Moyle (freshman/theatre: design and technology/Spring Hill, Tennessee)
- Cooper Lebo (sophomore/theatre: acting/Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
- Kyra Hollmon (sophomore/theatre/Memphis)
- MJ Moyle (senior/theatre: acting/Spring Hill, Tennessee)
- Solomon Ledford (sophomore/theatre: theatre education and secondary education: history/Dunlap, Tennessee)
- Cody Robinson (junior/theatre: acting/Ringgold, Georgia)
- Teagan Bartz (sophomore/criminal justice/Gallatin, Tennessee)
- Prince Jackson (freshman/theatre/Nashville)
- Katie Forrester (senior/theatre: acting/Rocky Face, Georgia)
- Bronwyn McEwen (junior/theatre/Lookout Mountain, Tennessee)
- Alan Du (sophomore/finance: business finance/Germantown, Tennessee)
- Brandon Toste (senior/theatre: acting/Collierville, Tennessee)
- Mitchell Davis (freshman/theatre: theatre education/Cleveland, Tennessee)
- Samantha Baker (sophomore/theatre: theatre education/Sevierville, Tennessee)
- Miles White (senior/theatre: acting/Chattanooga)
- Katie Mullins (junior/theatre: theatre education/Antioch, Tennessee)
- Cory Tilley (freshman/theatre: theatre education/Soddy Daisy, Tennessee)
Learn more
UTC Theatre Co. presents “Bright Star” Feb. 25-March 1
