Jason Robert Brown’s original musical version of The Bridges of Madison County was nominated for a

total of seventeen industry professional awards. Of the five the show won, (including/comprising all
five Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League awards), all were awarded on the basis of the excellence
of the musical score. That which is, to me, the most outstanding of all the pieces within this score is
sung by the female lead, Francesca – it is this song, ‘Almost Real’, which will be the basis for the
essay which follows. For the benefit of the continuity of my writing, the recording to which I will
consistently refer is from the original Broadway cast recording and is accompanied by a live video
taken within the recording studio.1

In a short documentary, Brown spoke of the song, referencing the elements he claimed are
‘Francesca’s sound’. An in depth look at the song ‘Almost Real’ will take place, with the intention of
discovering what ‘Francesca’s sound’ may be, and whether or not this aligns with the composer’s
idea. Undoubtedly, the song does sound very ‘Francesca’ – but why? A number of possibilities
present themselves, which will be discussed throughout the essay. Francesca’s sound may be:
inseparable from the song’s text and its meaning; inseparable from Kelli O’Hara, the song’s original
performer; entwined with the national identity of the places the song describes; or to do, more
closely, with one of a number of musical aspects – the modality/tonality/harmony, specificity of
instrumentation, the concept of leitmotif and the use of ostinato. Briefly, the first three of the
suggestions will be examined, with a more detailed assessment dedicated to the possibility that
‘Francesca’s sound’ might be linked to one of the musical elements listed. I assume that this study
will provide more than one viable definition of ‘Francesca’s sound’ – that which interests me greatly
is that there should appear to be one at all. That it is present and that it can be identified may be
two separate issues, and the former shall not predispose the latter – but to consider it further will be
of immense interest.

Firstly, to know what the composer himself thinks of as being ‘Francesca’s sound’ – the comment
which, in fact, ignited the interest in such an investigation – should prove helpful. In the
aforementioned documentary, Jason Robert Brown refers to the cello phrase which begins and ends
the piece as ‘her sound’: a motif which follows her around. Certainly, the possibility of this will be
considered alongside the others. To begin, I will determine whether ‘Francesca’s sound’ may well be
inescapably bound with the song’s text and its meaning.

When looking at the text of this song and determining its meaning, it will be important to have in
mind its position in the wider narrative of the show. At this stage in the story, Francesca and the
man who interrupts her Iowan farm life, Robert, have just physically consummated their affair.
Whilst preparing for a trip together to Des Moines, Francesca explains to Robert how it is she came
to be a farmwife in America, away from her home country of Italy. Assessing the backstory to which
‘Almost Real’ belongs is fairly difficult and only somewhat useful, because ‘Almost Real’ is, itself, a
backstory. Rather reportedly, Francesca tells of her life and the choices and events which lead her to
become her husband Bud’s wife – events which, historically, are now fairly distant from the present
day. It is an interesting song, textually, because it informs the listener of the past occurrences which
shape the understanding of Francesca’s current state and temperament. The listener hears what it
is: to be a young woman in Naples; to have to please family; to suffer the jibing of a sister; to lose
love and to dream of the future. Commentating on the song, the composer himself described
‘Almost Real’ as a song about choices and Francesca’s innate desperation for verification and
confirmation.2 Certainly, Francesca’s longing for that which is external to her circumstance seems
evident – the structure of the song shifts textually (and musically) between notions of reality and of
dreams presently out of reach. The truth is, the song seems to be less about the intricacies of the
1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apnHOwWuTkQ
2
‘Ghostlight Shines On…The Bridges of Madison County’, (Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records, 14 th Dec., 2015)
details of life listed above, as it is about the tension between what is real and what Francesca hopes
could be – in her words, she is ‘almost real’, but never quite achieves being ‘real’.

Valerie Accetta suggests that ‘Almost Real’ bridges Francesca’s past and present. 3 Indeed, the song
gives very little detail of anything which resembles Francesca’s current existence, but much of it
gives a degree of clarification to the understanding of her disposition. Certain instances of her past
seem to have foreshadowed what would become her future – or, at least, weigh heavily on her mind
now that that ‘future’ is being lived. For example, her sister, Chiara, warns her against the life of a
farm wife: ‘exhausted and numb’. And to be ‘almost real’ is, for Francesca, about being ‘far from
lonesome’, ‘far from Chiara! Far enough’ to ‘feel almost real’. Perhaps part of her insistence that she
is not completely real (only ‘almost’) is because life as it has panned out has not managed to fully
satisfy despite the past she has fled – even though she ‘knew’ if she just ‘took his [Bud’s – her
husband] hand’ she ‘could at last be free’. At this stage in her life, both the reality and the dream
turned out to be unfulfilling. According to Brown, Francesca has spent her whole life searching for
something which confirms and validates her choices – of which this song tells us a little about – and
that in Robert she finds that validation: it is, so he suggests, whilst singing ‘Almost Real’ that she
discovers it.4 This doesn’t seem to be made entirely clear by the text alone – so, to what extent this
can be a common view of Francesca’s narrative amongst listeners is debatable.

What is clear from the song’s text is that this is an extremely personal piece of music. It cannot exist
apart from Francesca – apart from this show, most probably. The song is only useful for aiding the
listener’s/audience’s understanding of Francesca, and even then the meaning is somewhat
ambiguous. Perhaps this ambiguity is not too dissimilar from Francesca’s inner confusion and turmoil
over her weary life and the results of her decisions; it is, perhaps, a fitting ambiguity.

Something briefly ought to be said about the fact that Francesca’s song ‘Almost Real’ mentions a
number of places. It should be considered whether or not national identity/geographical location
might have anything to do with the notion of ‘Francesca’s sound’. From the song’s very beginning,
within the first sentence, Francesca makes reference to her life growing up in Naples – as she does in
the first line of the entire show (in the song, ‘To Build a Home’) which is set to an identical melody.
The place of Naples, time after time, seems to be the beginning of her story and the marker of her
identity. Indeed, the song has an Italian feel, but what that means – and why – is subject to debate
and further speculation.

Her Neapolitan origins clearly inform many of Francesca’s feelings and decisions about life. The
predominant use of stringed instruments seem to enhance the song’s Italian feel – perhaps most
contributed to by the guitar which, either is, or emulates a Neapolitan mandolin, for which the town
has been famous for centuries. To non-Italian listeners, the effect of this instrument is clearly exotic,
and this seems to be important to Francesca. Of course, Francesca’s Italian accent and operatic tone
separates her sound distinctly from the entirely American cast which surrounds her – even love
interest, Robert’s, who is clearly not Iowan like the others, but emphatically not Italian, like
Francesca. Despite the importance of her roots, it is explained thoroughly throughout the song that
Naples is never where she wants to remain (or, can remain) in order to feel ‘almost real’. She dreams
first of being in Siena, 400km away from Naples, and then of travelling a similar distance to a beach
in Ancona.

The piece climaxes when the prospect of being taken far from Naples reveals itself as a real
possibility to Francesca. It is an American soldier who can take her away from Naples, where the
3
Valerie Accetta, ‘Framing The Bridges of Madison County’, Source: Studies in Musical Theatre, Volume 8,
Number 2, (Jun., 2014), 191
4
‘Ghostlight Shines On…The Bridges of Madison County’, (Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records, 14 th Dec., 2015)
‘streets were rubble’, the ‘water was filthy’, and there were ‘no cigarettes, and no haircuts’ and most
interestingly – ‘no thinking about the future’. This song, which has been largely nostalgic and
backwards-looking reveals that one thing Francesca always wanted was a future, and she believed
America – or perhaps more accurately, being far from Italy – could grant her that. Although America
is what she once believed she wanted, Francesca, in this song, (and in others) makes very clear that
Iowa is where she feels ‘almost’ but still not yet ‘real’. An interesting analysis of the Iowan
temperament as explored in The Music Man compares itself intriguingly with Francesca, making
clear that she and her sound are far from Iowan. Roberta Freund Schwartz declares bluntly that
‘Iowans have a reputation for being stubborn, pragmatic, direct and sometimes contrary’. 5 Francesca
is tough and strong-willed in her own way, but not in the Iowan way. ‘Almost Real’ paints Francesca
as far from pragmatic – she is a dreamer and a romanticist, and although she deals with what life has
thrown at her, she dreads the idea of settling for it. Not an inch of this song sounds American – in
fact, when an American soldiers offers the opportunity to ‘at last be free’, she sounds only more
rootedly Italian as her voices soars operatically, as it hasn’t quite yet done in this song. Place and
geographical context is clearly important to Francesca, but it seems as though in this song, she
begins to realise it is not able to define her or give her meaning – it, still, is not what can make her
feel fully ‘real’.

Kelli O’Hara, who appears as Francesca on the original Broadway recording, is in many ways tied up
with the female lead in The Bridges of Madison County. As the only singer to feature on a
professional recording of the song ‘Almost Real’, for those who want to hear the song again and
again – apart from the context of the theatre – it is O’Hara’s voice which provides the hearing. It is
not only that O’Hara’s voice is the one which the show’s admirers persistently hear, but that it was
the one for which the musical’s character was designed and intended. So, to assess whether or not it
may be plausible to assume that O’Hara’s connection with the song is inseparable from the notion of
‘Francesca’s sound’, it should be considered: first, that the part was written for her, and second, why
that is so.

Numerous reports suggest that composer, Jason Robert Brown, created the music with Kelli O’Hara
specifically in mind for the role of Francesca. 6 According to the star herself, Brown ‘promised to write
something’ for her and what he created was ‘magic’. 7 Referencing the composer and script writer
(Marsha Norman), O’Hara explains that they told her ‘“[We] want to do this and we’re going to write
it for you”’.8 By O’Hara’s understanding, at least, it seems as though she was indeed always intended
to fill this specific role – but why? According to an article from the New York Post, Jason Robert
Brown ‘tailored her character’s numbers to his star’s range and sensibility’. 9 So, it must be
investigated why it is so that Kelli and Francesca are two individuals so entwined – in turn, this may
help us to consider whether what the listener hears of ‘Francesca’s sound’ in the song ‘Almost Real’
really is down to O’Hara’s portrayal. In commentary specifically concerning this song, 10 O’Hara
claimed that to sing the song on stage each night was a gift designed to allow her to reflect on her
own past – to sing as Francesca allowed her, by way of ‘substitution’ to experience and contemplate

5
R.F. Schwartz, ‘Iowa Stubborn: Meredith Wilson’s musical characterization of his fellow Iowans’, Studies in
Musical theatre 3: 1, (2009), 31
6
Suzy Evans, ‘Jason Robert Brown Shares What He Looks for in Actors’, backstage, (28th Jan., 2014)
7
Harry Haun, ‘Bridging Screen and Stage: With Help from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs, Kelli O’Hara Takes on a
Challenging Role’, Observer, (20th Feb., 2014)
8
Hayley Levitt, ‘Kelli O’Hara’s Transformation From Out-of-Town Understudy to Broadway Muse’,
THEATERMANIA, New York City, (2nd Jan., 2014)
9
Elisabeth Vincentelli, ‘Kelli O’Hara makes the most of ‘Bridges of Madison County’, New York Post, (20th Feb.,
2014)
10
‘Ghostlight Shines On…The Bridges of Madison County’, (Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records, 14 th Dec., 2015)
her personal journey: the phrase ‘almost real’ is broad enough for her to have experienced a
‘playground of emotion’ and to feel whatever was right for her to feel, but in the body of Francesca.
It seems as though O’Hara felt so in tune with the song because she felt it allowed her to explore
emotion which was personal to her own experience; however, speaking of her connection with the
character elsewhere, she puts the connection down to verifiable similarities. On the one hand,
O’Hara claims that playing Francesca allows her to experience her own story, at other times (and
seemingly contrary to the first notion) she identifies the aspects of Francesca’s story which she so
easily resonates with and slots into – the parts she says are ‘so much that I feel right now’. 11 In an
interview for Observer, O’Hara lists the things which make her feel as though she ‘knows’ Francesca
– her operatic (thus, Italian) background, her childhood on a farm, and her exposure to maternal,
housekeeping relatives.12 She also has been recorded having said ‘I knew that I would be ready at
this time in my life’ – that being a mother and growing older made her ready to play a ‘woman with
some experience’.13 As a Broadway singer with operatic training, the way in which Brown composed
Francesca’s songs with a rich, classical sound is clearly tailored, as O’Hara puts it: to ‘that part of my
voice’.14

That the part was written for her gives substantial leeway to the notion that Francesca’s true sound
is not that different (if at all) to O’Hara’s. Even so, O’Hara is not the only person to have portrayed
the part on stage – although she is the only one to appear on a professional recording. Joanna Ampil
succeeded O’Hara’s performance in the Philippines, and Elizabeth Stanley on the U.S. tour – they
performed, therefore, in O’Hara’s shadow. However, nor was Kelli O’Hara the first person to play the
part. Because O’Hara was pregnant during the show’s pre-Broadway run at the Williamstown
Theatre Festival, Elena Shaddow – who reportedly taught O’Hara ‘so much about the role’ 15 – played
the part of Francesca before O’Hara ever did. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that, despite the
arguable calibre of each of these performers, the average fan and listener will have trouble
identifying Francesca’s role, and indeed the song ‘Almost Real’ with anyone other than Kelli O’Hara
because it is she who appears on the album recording which is available for repeated listening.

It makes sense to analyse the music more closely to assess the intricacies of what actually makes the
sounds heard whilst listening to ‘Almost Real’. Taking a brief look at the harmonic make-up,
instrumentation, use of leitmotif and ostinato will help to inform the discussion of the discovery of
‘Francesca’s sound’.

In a fashion that is untypical for Brown’s composition, the harmonic writing for ‘Almost Real’ is fairly
straightforward – it also correlates very clearly with the emotional sentiments of the text it supports.
From the beginning a minor tonality is enforced repetitively by violins, but when the language turns
to that of dreams and ambitions, the key is simply and plainly C major – there is much toing and
froing of a similar nature, with a seamless flow back to the minor phrase, which started the piece, at
its end. When Francesca is haunted by the words of her sister, Chiara, the tonality changes and the
harmony becomes less structured and full of minor chords and accidentals; there is not too much
which is startling or surprising within the harmonic movement, given the context of the text of the
song. What is interesting is how faithfully it is borrowed from other moments in the show: the
show’s opening number ‘To Build a Home’ begins with the exact harmony as does ‘Almost Real’. It is
11
Harry Haun, ‘Bridging Screen and Stage: With Help from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs, Kelli O’Hara Takes on a
Challenging Role’, Observer, (20th Feb., 2014)
12
Ibid.
13
Louis Peitzman, ‘Tony Nominee Kelli O’Hara Refuses To Burn “Bridges”’, BUZZFEED, (5th Jun., 2014)
14
Barbara Chai, ‘Kelli O’Hara on Starring in Broadway’s ‘Bridges of Madison County’’, The Wall Street Journal,
(17th Feb., 2014)
15
Hayley Levitt, ‘Kelli O’Hara’s Transformation From Out-of-Town Understudy to Broadway Muse’,
THEATERMANIA, New York City, (2nd Jan., 2014)
not difficult to see how the themes of each are closely connected. ‘To Build a Home’ allows
Francesca to proclaim her achievement in escaping Italy and becoming a newfound woman in
America, ‘Almost Real’ allows her to question it. ‘To Build a Home’ transforms from the minor to the
major very quickly, and remains there firmly, whereas ‘Almost Real’ presents more of a harmonic
and emotional struggle. The harmony is simple, but not safe or settled, and Brown acknowledges the
way in which Francesca’s part ‘dances around’ her accompaniment. 16

It may be that ‘Francesca’s sound’ is more obviously to do with the instrumentation of the piece.
This song is heavily and noticeably stringed, with the added interest of the mandolin, but this may
not be too wildly distinct from the show as a whole which features strings considerably, probably
due to its country setting. It is the cello, however, which is claimed – by the composer, at least – to
embody most clearly ‘her sound’,17 over any of the other stringed instruments which can be heard. It
is the only instrument to appear prominently and persistently as a solo instrument, it begins and
ends the entire show, so it feels considerably like the show is in some way about the cello –
musically speaking, it is its own character. The Vienna symphonic library describes the cello as an
instrument with a double personality: on the one hand reliable and steadfast, on the other
passionate and heroic.18 ‘Almost Real’ is about a woman who is both of these; Francesca is a
dedicated mother and wife, but inescapably an incessant dreamer. The Philharmonia fact file paints
a compatible, but different shade, considering cello to be arguably the instrument most capable of
creating a ‘melancholy mood’:19 in ‘Almost Real’ it most certainly does. Although it often provides its
own independent motif, it doubles Francesca’s line at pertinent moments: for example whilst she
achingly sings ‘Chiara would laugh at me: quiet and scared’. It is at these moments the cello is most
evidently melancholic. Although it does not play an exceptional role, the piano, whilst Francesca
speak-sings of the war-ruined streets of Naples, plays the dream-sequence tune in the background,
as though allowing Francesca the space to breathe and process her inner thoughts.

The importance of the cello’s presence is not just due to its sonority, but also due to the fact that it
provides for Francesca a leitmotif that accompanies her during this and other moments of the show.
Ruth Hacohen and Naphtali Wagner, in their chapter dedicated to the notion of the ‘leitmotif’,
define the term explaining that, primarily, leitmotifs are ‘carriers of emotions’ 20 and that ‘In the
leitmotifs, the musical cohesion brings about a semantic coherence: The entire motif conveys the
entire multidimensional message’.21 For Francesca, the cello motif provides quite a weighty
emotional depth: both mysterious and sad. It features much more significantly in the beginning of
the show’s first song, but its reoccurrence here enforces the fact that ‘Almost Real’ is about
Francesca’s inner being and reality, and that the sadness it embodies carries on with some
continuation. According to Brown, it is a motif which follows Francesca around, 22 but that she skirts
around it – it is as though she is unwilling to settle with it completely or contently: that it exists as
her shadow rather than her sole identity, perhaps. That the phrase is repeated in an ostinato-like
manner is most interesting. The same motif which starts the song brings about its ending; it provides
some sort of conclusion, but not a very sincere one given that it appears elsewhere in the show. It

16
‘Go Behind the Tony-Nominated Music of “The Bridges of Madison County” with Jason Robert Brown’,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aGT54taz_M8
17
Ibid.
18
https://vsl.co.at/en/Cello/Sound_Characteristics
19
http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/instruments/cello
20
Ruth Hacohen and Naphtali Wagner, ‘The Communicative Force of Wagner’s Leitmotifs: Complementary
Relationships between Their Connotations and Denotations’, in Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal,
Vol. 14, No. 4, (Summer, 1997), 449
21
Ibid., 448
22
‘Go Behind the Tony-Nominated Music of “The Bridges of Madison County” with Jason Robert Brown’
circles around, as though aiming to find its way – not too dissimilar from the way Francesca is trying
to discover what is able to make her feel ‘real’. The phrase, like Francesca, is never truly satisfied –
which seems to be a key sentiment of this song – and it provides for her a musical companionship.

It is difficult to reach a conclusion about what ‘Francesca’s sound’ might really be, considering it will
means something different to each individual. Describing ‘sound’ as a noun is also problematic
because providing the term with a definition depends on the cohesion of musical factors as well as
narrative and character-specific ones. However, it seems as though there is a plethora of factors to
which one could associate the concept of ‘Francesca’s sound’ quite reasonably. Rather than
demanding only one meaning, it seems that the notion of ‘Francesca’s sound’ lends itself to a
number of contributing factors present in the song ‘Almost Real’. It has been seen that: the song’s
text and its meaning reveal much about Francesca’s feelings about the life she has lead thus far; Kelli
O’Hara’s identity as the character’s voice is caught up so intensely in the meaning and portrayal of
the song, primarily because the part was written for her; the places mentioned in the song are
crucial to the narrative of the text and are somewhat present in the musical choices of the
composer; and that the musical elements including the harmonic make-up, instrumentation, use of
leitmotif and of ostinato contribute to a listener’s understanding of ‘Francesca’s sound’ – particularly
the presence of the cello and its exudence of melancholy and passion. All of these, so it has been
argued, are compelling explanations of what ‘Francesca’s sound’ might be. It has been of interest to
consider that there is such a thing as ‘Francesca’s sound’ because it is a term that Jason Robert
Brown himself uses. It has been a helpful term inasmuch as it has inspired a thorough assessment of
what it is for a character to be so well suited (or not, as the case may be) to the song he or she sings.

‘Francesca’s sound’ has by no means been clearly or perfectly defined by this study, but it has
presented itself as a concept which will perhaps be transferable in the study of other characters
linked closely to specific songs. It is my hope that this will inspire thorough analysis of this style in
other songs as well as increase listeners’ enjoyment of favoured songs and the characters to which
they belong.