Could the pulse of "The Bridges of Madison County" be any fainter?

The national tour of this Broadway musical, which landed Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, is so feeble it needs more than an electric shock to give it life.

It's not the fault of the acting company that "Bridges," adapted from Robert James Waller's big-selling 1992 novel, is stilted. Elizabeth Stanley and Andrew Samonsky, in the lead roles played by Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in the 1995 film version, are strong, charismatic performers with evident chemistry.

But their romantic sparks barely lift the inertia that freights the show. The blame for that goes to book-writer Marsha Norman and composer Jason Robert Brown. "Bridges" has little dramatic tension.

Francesca (Stanley), an Italian war bride living in farm-country Iowa in 1965, is bored out of her mind. Her life consists of household chores for her simple husband, Bud (Cullen R. Titmas), and their two kids, whom Bud has taken to a 4-H competition in Indiana.

Francesca once dreamed of becoming an artist. Enter Robert, a cowboy-esque, globe-trotting National Geographic photographer sent to Iowa to capture images of its covered bridges. Robert has shot six of the seven he was assigned to photograph but cannot find the last one (the locals took down the signs to befuddle tourists). Robert knocks on Francesca's door, and she invites him in for lemonade, which leads to dinner, brandy and much more.

There are no surprises or unexpected turns in the story. So director Tyne Rafaeli, who re-created Bartlett Sher's original Broadway staging, has actors do crossing patterns in an attempt to ramp up the dramatic tension.

In one scene, husband Bud walks between Francesca and Robert as if he's a ghost. It's not effective.

Composer Brown employs different musical styles to identify the main characters, and remains bound to that strategy, to the detriment of a show without a memorable tune. Since Francesca is Italian, she lives in a world of opera. Hapless and simple Bud comes from the world of twangy country. These musical worlds chafe against each other throughout the show, showing that the married couple never had a chance. Similarly, "Bridges" fails to cohere.

Director Rafaeli mostly plants Francesca onstage to sing her arias. From her opening number, the scene-setting "To Build a Home," through her duet with Samonsky ("Always Better"), Stanley doesn't move much. The emotions and longing are conveyed through her gorgeous coloratura. Samonsky is often similarly planted, as if like a prairie crop, singing his heart into the wind.

That "Bridges" fails to connect, both musically and emotionally, is disappointing for a story that's admittedly corny but also offers a lot of heart.

rpreston@startribune.com

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