On Cedar Street is a musical based on Kent Haruf’s final novel, Our Souls at Night,a simple, bittersweet story about two lonely, damaged, widowed neighbors, Addie Moore and Louis Waters, who have discovered through each other a second chance at connection, companionship, and even love.  In the novel, their unorthodox relationship is destroyed by societal pressure from family and community.  But the musical, now playing at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn, enlarges this delicate story to include current politics, climate change, a long musical score, feminism, a massive set and a deus ex machina leading to a fairy tale ending.  Haruf’s concept could not possibly retain its shape or its fragility bowed down by all of this weight.  

On the other hand, this world premiere production features a who’s who of award-winning talent:  the book was written by Emily Mann, Artistic Director and Resident Playwright who spent thirty years at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey; the composers are Lucy Simon, a singer and songwriter, who debuted on Broadway as the composer of The Secret Garden, and Carmel Dean, a composer/lyricist and Broadway music supervisor/director/arranger; lyricist Susan Birkenhead collaborated with George C. Wolfe on Jelly’s Last Jam and with Lynn Nottage and Duncan Sheik on The Secret Life of Bees; and the director, Susan H. Schulman’s Broadway credits include The Secret Garden, a revival of Sweeney Todd and The Sound of Music, and the premiere of Little Women.  The cast is led by exceptional Broadway veterans:  Stephen Bogardus, Lauren Ward, Lana Gordon, and Lenny Wolpe.  

High expectations have resulted in sold-out performances (the theatre only seats 122).  But the handsome yet overly-ambitious set (designed by Reid Thompson) becomes an obstacle for the actors, with its heavy wooden look, various levels, steps, a large bed, a kitchen table, movable panels, and high perches for politician Ruth Clark’s campaign speeches.  Though the script calls for a spare set “so we can move swiftly between scenes,” that’s not the case here.  Despite Thompson’s clever ways of wheeling large pieces like the bed and kitchen table underneath platforms when not needed, the overworked cast is charged with changing the set for every scene (there is no intermission for stagehands to do so).  Terry Berliner, choreographer and associate director, attempts to add dance movements as performers twirl around moving furniture.  Fortunately, there are young people in the cast who make it look like fun, but what a constant burden!  Perhaps the September 2017 film of Our Souls at Night, starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in their fourth collaboration, is a better choice for bringing the novel to life because of the cinematic ease of presenting the townspeople in their homes.

The two main characters manage to overcome their surroundings:  what a pleasure it is to watch Stephen Bogardus and Lauren Ward, as Louis and Addie, in their shy attempts to open up to one another, after Addie’s proposal that he come to her house at night so they can comfort each other, soothing their passage into sleep.  In an interview with Haruf’s wife by his publisher Pan Macmillan, (who received the manuscript days before Haruf’s death), Cathy Haruf said Our Souls at Night was about herself and her husband, who would “lie in bed at night, hold hands, and talk about everything.” Their counterparts Bogardus and Ward hold on even tighter in the face of withering criticism and threats by Addie’s dysfunctional son Gene (Ben Roseberry), who, destroyed by his guilt over the death of his sister Connie (played by C. Wild Handel as Connie’s silent ghost) in a car accident thirty years ago, cannot keep his own marriage together or be a father to his young son Jamie (Hayden Hoffman).  The emotional folk-rock music and narrative, comprehensible lyrics express the pain this family has suffered as Louis and Addie attempt to stay together.  Above the stage, the musicians (on cello, guitar and keyboard), led by music director Kristin Stowell, are all that is needed to make the music soar.

The other denizens of the fictitious town of Holt, Colorado, are Ruth Clark (Lana Gordon), who, campaigning for Town Council, is constantly putting up signs to dissuade her neighbors from using water in a time of drought with its risk of fire, and Lloyd Beckman (Lenny Wolpe) and his son Russell (Dan Teixeira), the MAGA contingent, who fight for their freedom to do whatever they want.  Wolpe is perfectly cast, as funny as he is obnoxious, while Teixeira and Hoffman share lovely moments with Charley (Addison), the wounded and very well-trained rescue dog that Russell, forced by his Dad to give up, offers to Jamie.  Lana Gordon, a dynamite singer and strong onstage presence, dominates her scenes, whether she is advising her friend Addie to fight back against her bullying son, or handling Lloyd’s incivilities, she is the one to watch, though we may wonder how she has come to live in this small town.

Lighting designer Alan C. Edwards and Projection designer Shawn Edward Boyle create colorful and frightening illumination for the conflagration, foreshadowed throughout the play. that contrives to resolve all conflicts in a production that often struggles to discern the real from the imaginary.  Sometimes less really is more.  

ON CEDAR STREET runs from August 12—September 2 at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre, The Larry Vaber Stage, 6 East Street, Stockbridge, MA.  For tickets call 413-997-4444 or online at BerkshireTheatreGroup.org. The production runs one hour 45 minutes.  There is no intermission

Berkshire Theatre Group presents ON CEDAR STREET by Emily Mann, adapted from the novel “Our Souls at Night” by Kent Haruf.  Director:  Susan H. Schulman.  Cast:  Stephen Bogardus (Louis Waters), Lana Gordon (Ruth Clark), C. Wild Handel (Young Girl/Jamie Moore Understudy), Hayden Hoffman (Jamie Moore), Ben Roseberry (Gene Moore), Dan Teixeira (Russell Beckman), Lauren Ward (Addie Moore), Lenny Wolpe (Lloyd Beckman), Addison (Charley).  Scenic Designer:  Reid Thompson; Costume Designer:  Alex Allison; Lighting Designer:  Alan C. Edwards; Sound Designer:  Julian Evans; Projection Designer:  Shawn Edward Boyle; Orchestrations:  Michael Starobin; Fight Choreographer:  Isadora Wolfe; Music Director:  Kristin Stowell; Choreographer, Associate Director:  Terry Berliner.  Production Stage Manager:  Jason Weixelman.