The Broadway production was directed by Bartlett Sher and starred Kelli O'Hara as Francesca and Steven Pasquale as Robert.

Brown's work on the musical won the 2014 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations after the Broadway production had already closed.

The musical was directed by Bartlett Sher, with scene design by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Jon Weston, and produced by Stacey Mindich.

The cast featured Steven Pasquale (Robert), Elena Shaddow (Francesca), Daniel Jenkins (Bud), Nick Bailey (Michael), Caitlin Kinnunen (Carolyn), Cass Morgan (Marge), Michael X. Martin (Charlie), Whitney Bashor (Marian), John Paul Almon, Jennifer Allen, Emma Duncan, Luke Marinkovich, Laura Shoop, and Tim Wright.

[1][2] Kelli O'Hara had been originally announced to play Francesca in the Williamstown production, but because she expected her second child in September 2013, she was replaced by Elena Shaddow.

[3][4] The musical played on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, starting previews on January 17, 2014, and officially opening on February 20, 2014.

The original cast featured Pasquale, Bashor, Martin, Marinkovich, Morgan, Allen, and Kinnunen reprising their roles.

The new cast members were Kelli O'Hara as Francesca, Hunter Foster as Bud, Derek Klena as Michael,[5] Ephie Aardema, Katie Klaus, Aaron Ramey, and Dan Sharkey.

Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara, it starred Jennifer Ellis, Christiaan Smith, Alessandra Valea, Nick Siccone, Christopher Chew, and Kerry Dowling.

Stars Erin Royall Carlson as Francesca and Kevin Goertzen as Robert, with musical direction by Jeanne McGuire.

[21] The production was directed by Trevor Nunn and starred Jenna Russell as Francesca and Edward Baker-Duly as Robert, along with Georgia Brown, Maddison Bulleyment, Shanay Holmes, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Paul F Monaghan, David Perkins and Dale Rapley.

[24] A Spanish-language production officially opened on December 13, 2022 at the Teatro Gran Vía in Madrid, following previews from November 18, with Nina as Francesca and Gerónimo Rauch as Robert.

[26] The Bridges of Madison County had its Swiss premiere produced by Zurich English-Speaking Theatre (ZEST) at the Theater im Seefeld Neumünster in Zürich for a limited two-week run in November 2022.

[27] Francesca Johnson, an Italian war bride living in Winterset, Iowa in 1965, has had eighteen years of quiet, largely unfulfilling farm life ("To Build a Home").

For the next three days, Her family—stoic husband Bud, rebellious son Michael, and reluctant daughter Carolyn—are journeying to Indianapolis for the national 4-H fair to show Carolyn's prize steer, Stevie ("Home Before You Know It").

That afternoon, a blue pick-up truck pulls into her driveway, carrying Robert Kincaid, a photographer for the National Geographic.

Francesca opens up, revealing her fiancé, Paolo, was killed during the war, and she tearfully describes how her life in Naples corresponds to the photographs that Robert took.

While Robert is cleaning up, Francesca receives another call from Bud: Carolyn's steer has advanced to the final and they have to stay another day at the fair.

After the call, Robert and Francesca dance in the kitchen to the radio ("Get Closer"), and then realize that, while both unknowingly searching for a connection, they have found each other ("Falling into You").

Preoccupied, she constantly checks her watch while unsuccessfully attempting to say her goodbyes to a frustrated Michael, to a devoted Carolyn, and to a misunderstanding Bud.

In the subsequent years, Carolyn marries and has a child, Michael graduates from medical school, and Charlie and Bud both succumb to illness, leaving Francesca and Marge alone ("When I'm Gone").

Robert, now an older man himself, calls the offices of the National Geographic to inform them that he will no longer be shooting photographs due to an illness of his own.

The orchestra is mid-sized, with the musical being scored for piano, 2 guitars (one doubling on mandolin), acoustic/electric bass, 3 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello, and a sizeable array of percussion, including drum kit.

Although the musical had "admirers who responded to Brown's score that mixed folk, country, pop and operatic passages, it failed to ignite wide audience appeal at the box office.