Brigadoon at Pasadena Playhouse (Photo – Jeff Lorch)
Before their ubiquitous hits of My Fair Lady and Camelot, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe created Brigadoon in 1947, their first musical to achieve a long run. Postwar audiences were ready for entertainment as whimsical and otherworldly as opera, with music aspiring to that genre’s grandeur while remaining accessible in English.
By Marilyn Fuss
The plot premise might have been a hard sell in 2026: two contemporary young men, lost in the Scottish Highlands, stumble upon a village apparently suspended in the 1700s. The village appears only once every hundred years, and permanent entry depends upon finding true love with one of its inhabitants. Yet this adaptation of a play not seen on Broadway since 1980 makes suspension of disbelief remarkably easy. Playwright Alexandra Silber has gracefully updated and liberated the original narrative, removing clichés and gender bias to create more memorable characters and resonant themes.
Tyne Daly, as Widow Lundie, is comfortably inserted into a role once written as patriarchal but, on reflection, feels more plausibly matriarchal.* Another change dispenses with the comic sidekick pair that formerly served as foils to the young lovers. Instead, Meg, played by Donna Vivino, emerges as a capable and compassionate pub owner, guardian not only of the Scottish spirit but also of what is brewed and distilled there. The reluctant male figure from the original survives in Jeff, one of the two travelers, played by Happy Anderson. In this adaptation, Jeff possesses his own history and grief, becoming a steadfast adviser to his smitten friend Tommy, portrayed by Max von Essen.
Truly captivating Fiona, as expressed by Betsy Morgan, astonishes with her soprano, along with Mr. von Essen’s tenor. We are uplifted from operetta to opera, befitting a story at once fey and deeply human. The engaging and competent voices of the supporting actors keep us afloat. Jessica Lee Keller’s tragic Funeral Dance provides contrast, reminding us that loss is always possible. The dances, originating with Agnes de Mille and choreographed by Katie Spellman in close collaboration with Ms. Silber, are transportive and, with the music, sustain the audience in a state of exuberance.
*Reference: “Reviving the Revival” by Sherry Stern
Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon Through June 14 Pasadena Playhouse 39 S. El Molino Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101
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