The Bridges of Madison County began life as a best-selling 1992 romantic novella by Robert James Waller, then found new fans through Clint Eastwood’s 1995 movie in which he starred opposite Meryl Streep.

The musical, featuring music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Marsha Norman, had a three-month Broadway season in 2014, winning a Tony Award for Best Original Score after it closed. Now comes the Australian premiere of the musical, directed and co-produced by Neil Gooding at the Hayes Theatre Co.

Ian Stenlake and Kate Maree Hoolihan. Photography © Grant Leslie Photography

Set in Iowa, most of the musical takes place over four intense days in 1965. It then leap frogs across a few key events in the years that follow, in sketchy fashion, as it builds to the big, emotional ending. Italian-born Francesca (Kate Maree Hoolihan) met her American husband Bud (Anton Berezin) in Naples during the war and now lives a reasonably happy but uneventful life on their farm with their two teenage children Carolyn (Zoe Ioannou) and Michael (Grady Swithenbank). Bud is decent but dull, and their children are always arguing.

When Bud takes the kids to...