Steve Martin musical ‘Bright Star’ rises in Bay Area
Once a wild and crazy guy, Steve Martin has long since morphed from being an iconic “Saturday Night Live”-bred funnyman to a movie star and a man of letters.
As a playwright he has created the brainy fantasy “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” not to mention the new comedy of bad marriages “Meteor Shower,” which opened Wednesday on Broadway starring Amy Schumer. He’s also an accomplished banjo player, a master at the art of picking and grinning. Martin taps into both those genres with “Bright Star,” the bluegrass-inflected Broadway musical that opened Tuesday at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre as part of its national tour.
The white-haired Renaissance man recently took a few minutes to chat during a break from previews of “Meteor Shower.” Warm and witty, the 72-year- old is gracious about a scheduling snafu and apologizes profusely when he has to interrupt the conversation to take a call from his wife. Martin holds forth about comedy, theater and bluegrass in his usually down-to- earth manner.
QI know timing is everything in comedy, so I apologize for the mix-up.
ADon’t worry about it. The timing of my life has completely shifted. In stand-up you have to stay up until 5 in the morning. In themovies, you have to get up at 5 in the morning. Now I’m just a regular person with regular hours, and I love it.
QHas the creative process changed for you over the years?
AI write fast now. At some point in my life, something overcame me where I stopped worrying. If I need to add a joke in something, I just write it. I don’t fret about it.
QMany have described “Bright Star” as a bluegrass musical, although I know you don’t think of it that way.
AThere are a lot of misconceptions about bluegrass, which is actually a very specific genre. “Bright Star” has banjo in it, but it also has a cello and an orchestra. It’s really more of an Americana sound than a bluegrass musical. People just don’t have a clear idea of what bluegrass is, that’s all.
QWhat attracted you to “Bright Star”?
AMy job is to get something funny into a play that is essentially not funny. All the laughter comes in spite of the darkness of the story.
QWhat was it like working with Amy Schumer in “Meteor Shower”?
AIt’s so much fun. When I write for myself, there’s only one way to deliver the line. When you write for someone else, it’s completely different. Amy is so deeply funny.
QDoes being a comedy legend make it easier to open a new play on Broadway, or do you still get a little nervous about it?
ABroadway still represents a kind of apex. The “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere” standard still holds true. There’s a different energy about Broadway. For instance “Picasso” was a big hit of mine, but it never made it to Broadway.