Musical Theatre Guild opened its two-show 2022-2023 season in kilts and plaid with a terrifically performed, one-night-only concert staged reading of Brigadoon, the musical that began one of Broadway’s most successful collaborations.

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe may be best known for their musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, but years before My Fair Lady (and Paint Your Wagon and Gigi and Camelot), the duo had their first big Broadway hit in 1947 with Brigadoon.

And though Brigadoon will never eclipse Lerner & Loewe’s masterpiece (you know which one that is), it does have its own decidedly old-fashioned charms as well as songs like “Almost Like Being in Love” that have gone on to become standards.

Long a regional theater favorite (though not so much in recent years), Brigadoon is now the kind of “rarely staged” musical that is Musical Theatre Guild’s bread and butter, and director Kim Huber, choreographer Leslie Stevens, and an almost entirely members-only cast once again delivered the entertainment goods after a mere twenty-five hours rehearsal.

The musical gets its title from a mysterious Scottish village that (according to legend) appears in our world only one day every hundred years before disappearing again into the mist for another century. However, should a resident leave Brigadoon for any reason, the village and all its inhabitants will vanish forever.

Into this magical place stumble two American tourists, Tommy Albright (Will Collyer) and Jeff Douglas (Jason Graae), lost in the Scottish Highlands.

Tommy falls in love at first sight with town beauty Fiona MacLaren (Shannon Warne) while Jeff gives frisky wench Meg Brockie (Dana Meller) a tumble.

Almost all of Brigadoon’s action takes place on a single day, the day of Fiona’s sister Jean’s (Tal Fox) wedding to Charlie Dalrymple (Gabriel Navarro).

Unfortunately for the betrothed couple, Harry Beaton (Seth Belliston), Jean’s jealous ex, is not about to take Jean’s wedding lying down, even if it means escaping the confines of Brigadoon and thus destroying Jean, her family, her friends, and indeed the entire village forever.

Brigadoon’s plot may require considerable suspension of disbelief, and the picture it paints of Scottish village life may border on cliché, but once its characters start to sing, it’s hard not to be captivated, particularly with director Huber eliciting one stellar performance after another. (Having the entire costumed cast seated upstage from the action throughout the show is a savvy reminder that the two American interlopers are never far from the public eye.)

As Tommy, Collyer once again reveals why he is Musical Theatre Guild’s go-to leading man and the incandescent Warne’s glorious soprano is just one reason to celebrate her return to the Alex stage.

Graae may be toning it down as inveterate ladies’ man Jeff, but even a toned-down Jason still steals every scene he’s in, particularly opposite Meller’s irresistible Meg, the epitome of saucy as a girl who “cain’t say no.”

Navarro and Fox make for a charming pair of young lovers, and Eileen Barnett (Mrs. “Archie” Beaton), Gordon Goodman (Mr. Lundie), Joe Hart (Sandy Dean), Susan Edwards Martin (Miss “Angus” MacGuffie), and Robert Yacko (Andrew MacLaren) add maturity and gravitas to their roles as town elders.

A fully staged Brigadoon would doubtless include considerably more choreography than this reading, but Stevens has guest artist Belliston and company member Jasmine Ejan (Maggie Anderson) each executing a stunning solo dance, Belliston as a man expressing unspeakable rage in a breathtaking “Sword Dance” and Ejan as a woman expressing unspeakable grief in “Funeral.”

Completing Brigadoon’s all-around topnotch ensemble are Todd Gajdusek, Maura M. Knowles, Kevin Matsumoto, Ray A. Rochelle, and David Zack, with Knowles and Zack doubling engagingly as New Yorkers Jane Ashton and Frank.

Musical director Jennifer Lin not only elicits gorgeous vocals and full-cast harmonies but conducts a Grade-A mini-orchestra completed by Karen Hall, Catherine Larson, and Jordan Ann Martin.

Carol Kline’s bevy of colorful Scottish village costumes go a long way towards setting the scene, though Brigadoon is one musical that does lose something (elaborate sets and abundant choreography) when scaled down from fully staged production to barebones concert staged reading.

Last but not least, I’d be remiss not to mention the performances delivered by ASL interpreters Angeline Giudice and William Sommer. Though I don’t know a word of American sign language, the art they bring to their interpretive skills is simply captivating.

Christopher Carothers is production supervisor. Leesa Freed is production stage manager and production manager. Liv Bates and Ray Meaddough are assistant stage managers. Andy Janbeck is SAS operations manager.

Though Brigadoon will likely never make it on most theatergoers’ list of shows they’d most like to see revived, it is certainly worth a one-night-only concert staged reading, and not surprisingly, the fast-study triple-threats of Musical Theatre Guild have once again done themselves proud.

Musical Theatre Guild, The Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale.
www.musicaltheatreguild.com

–Steven Stanley
November 14, 2022
Photos: Stan Chandler

Tags: Alex Theatre, Lerner & Lowe, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre Guild