Brigadoon, the Shaw Festival’s big musical offering for the season, has a great
deal to offer. It has marvelous melodies by Frederick Loewe and a wonderful
book by Alan Jay Lerner. It has humour, love stories, the attraction of a
simple life in a mythical village in the Scottish highlands, the triumph of
love and in all it is a grand musical.
The Shaw Festival production directed by Glynis Leyshon and using a
revised book by Brian Hill captures many of the virtues of the musical but it
is also disappointing in some respects.
Two young New Yorkers are hunting in the Scottish Highlands as part of
a bachelor party. Tommy Albright (George Krissa) is about to get married but he
and his friend Jeff Douglas (Mike Nadajewski) lose their way in the woods. They
end up in the magical village of Brigadoon hidden in the mist and mountains
which does not appear on the map.
Matt Nethersole as Charlie Dalrymple with the
cast of Brigadoon.
Photo by David Cooper.
They find out from Mistress Lundie (Patty Jamieson) that the village
appears only for one day in every 100 years because the residents want to maintain
their pristine way of life. If anyone leaves, the magical existence ceases.
The production has a cast to fill a village and most of them are kept
pretty busy. They have a lot to accomplish in one day, I suppose. Jean (Madelyn
Kriese) is about to marry Charlie (Matt Nethersole) but Harry (Travis Seetoo)
is going into catatonic depression because he is madly in love with Jean.
Maggie (Genny Sermonia) is crazy about Harry but that is not enough for him.
Fiona (Alexis Gordon) falls for Tommy (and vice versa) and the lively
Meg (Kristi Frank) goes after Jeff. But the distraught Harry runs away thus
endangering the very existence of Brigadoon. He meets an unhappy end. Tommy and
Jeff return to New York but Tommy’s fiancée Jean has nothing to offer compared
to Fiona and Brigadoon. The friends return to the highlands looking for Brigadoon.
Amor vincit omnia.
Once you get past the atrocious Scottish accents of the cast, the idea
and charm of the story will carry you splendedly. The idea of a simple life no
matter if it is mythical is always attractive. The humour and the drama of the
unhappy lover are handled well, romances are humorous or moving and we simply
like where we are. We love the people, we love the place and we love the idea.
Alexis Gordon as Fiona MacLaren and George Krissa as Tommy Albright
with
the cast of Brigadoon. Photo by Emily Cooper.
The singing and dancing are not always up to snuff. Many of the cast
are barely adequate vocally and the few that can hold and belt out melodies are
not enough to carry the show into the upper echelons of a production. The choreography
suffers the same fate with few dancers that show superior talent.
The sets by Pam Johnson, from the environs of the village to Brigadoon
itself are gorgeous. The lush greenery, the rising mists, the imposing
mountains are all of mythical beauty. The costumes by Sue LePage are
traditional and beautiful. The kilts, the bagpipes and the rest convince us we
are in another world. Decent accents would have nailed the location as a
Scottish other world. The projections by Corwin Ferguson bring reality to our
faces with pictures of war.
Despite some disappointing aspects, this Brigadoon has many pleasures to offer.
Brigadoon by Alan Jay Lerner (book and Lyrics) and
Frederick Loewe (music) continues until
October 13, 2019 at the Festival Theatre, 10 Queen’s Parade,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.
James Karas is the Senior Editor – Culture of The Greek Press. www.greekpress.ca
James Karas is the Senior Editor – Culture of The Greek Press. www.greekpress.ca
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