Betsy Morgan and ensemble (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Pasadena Playhouse
Through June 14
RECOMMENDED
Kyle Victoria Edwards and Daniel Yearwood (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Steeped in mist, mysticism, and a mélange of Scottish folk beliefs, Brigadoon — Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s beloved but dramatically creaky 1947 musical — has been substantially reimagined by adaptor Alexandra Silber in a sumptuously realized and revitalized production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Onstage and off, it took 60-plus people – including a 22-piece live orchestra conducted by musical director Brad Gardner — to create this refurbishment.
The latest offering in a spate of local musical revivals, including The Sound of Music at the Pantages and East West Players’ Flower Drum Song, Brigadoon lacks the well-plotted superstructure of other classic musicals, such as the archetypal Oklahoma, a breakthrough that deepened the musical’s revue format into vernacular storytelling. Indeed, Brigadoon’s far-fetched storyline widens the typical suspension of disbelief into an impenetrable gap.
The musical’s basic conceit is that the Scottish village of Brigadoon can only be seen every 100 years, when its inhabitants awaken for exactly one day before relapsing into another century-long slumber — a “miracle,” resulting from a long-ago contract with God that protects the townsfolk from the incursions of the outside world. Yet if even one of them ventures beyond the proscribed borders of Brigadoon, the entire village will vanish without a trace. (Which begs the question, why do these apparently sane people consider this a gift rather than a curse?)
Tommy Albright (Max von Essen) and Jeff Douglas (Happy Anderson), American hikers (not gun-toting hunters, as originally written) are trekking across the Scottish Highlands when they stumble upon Brigadoon on the sole day that is it visible. Jaded by his empty life in New York, Tommy finds his longed-for love in Fiona MacLaren (Betsy Morgan), an ideal pairing that sends them prancing off to gather heather on the hill.
That evening, the townsfolk turn out en masse for the wedding between Fiona’s sister Jean, (Kylie Victoria Edwards) and Charlie Dalrymple (winning Daniel Yearwood), a popular and sunny personality beloved by all, in stark contrast to the brooding, bitter Harry Beaton (Spencer Davis Milford), who is obsessed with Jean. The nuptials are rudely interrupted when Harry makes forcible advances to Jean and draws a knife on Charlie. Rebuffed and humiliated, Harry flees Brigadoon, sending the whole town on a desperate hunt to find and stop him before he broaches the village borders and dooms them all. As it turns out, it is a search with fatal repercussions — a tragic scene that departs from the original story and is one of Silber’s most striking innovations.
More drama results when Jeff persuades Tommy to leave Fiona behind and return to the States — a decision that Tommy, back in rat race New York, soon bitterly regrets. But it seems that Brigadoon’s iron-clad “contract” can be bent, if not broken, in the cause of true love.
Director Katie Spelman, who also choreographs, has assembled a cast of first-rate, polished professionals, spearheaded by Morgan and the Tony-nominated Van Essen, powerhouse performers with show-stopping voices who establish a sweetly believable romantic chemistry. Spelman’s solid staging includes terrific crowd scenes — sequences in which every village character is well-defined and present in the action, no random milling or phony asides in sight. Her impressive dance sequences, based on Agnes DeMille’s original Broadway choreography, are measured and compact, with a folk-inspired undertone that spans generations and reflects a true Highland sensibility —a Scottishness that carries over into the superb production design, most notably Raquel Adorno’s period costumes.
Also firmly rooted in the Highlands, Silber’s adaptation boldly reconfigures many of the roles. Meg Brockie (Donna Vivino) is no longer an empty-headed caricature on the make for a husband. Instead, she is now a bawdy, vivacious tavernkeeper who is quite content to be her own woman. Most effective is the transformation of the schoolmaster, Mr. Lundie, into the Widow Lundy, played by multiple Tony-winner Tyne Daly with impressive matter-of-factness and authenticity. However, the wise-cracking Jeff’s eleventh-hour revelation as a bereaved widower who counsels Tommy on the anguish of lost love seems belatedly thrust into the story.
Initially a peripheral character, Maggie Anderson (Jessica Lee Keller), who was rendered mute after losing both her parents in some unexplained calamity, has been expanded into a central role. Following the death of Harry, whom she loved, Maggie does a solo dance of spasmodic, shrieking intensity, eloquently expressive of pure grief and loss. Beautifully performed by Keller, it’s a transformative scene that, among Silber’s other innovations, burnishes the rusty Brigadoon to a high gloss.
Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Thurs., 7 pm, Sat.-Sun, 2 pm; thru June 14. https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/event/brigadoon/ Runtime: two hours and 45 minutes with an intermission.
