Brigadoon

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

Playing until 20th September 2025

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Photo credit: Mark Senior

{From final preview performance}

After crashlanding and losing their bearing in the Scottish Highlands, American pilot Tommy (Louis Gaunt) and his navigator Jeff (Cavan Clarke) stumble upon Brigadoon, a village unlike any they have ever experienced. The villagers are amidst preparations for the wedding between Jean (Jasmine Jules Andrews) and Charlie (Gilli Jones), and quickly welcome the two lost souls to the festivities, with Fiona (Danielle Fiamanya), Jean’s sister, falling in love with Tommy, and dairy maid Meg (Nic Myers) makes her advances to Jeff.

This Regent’s Park production is a re-interpreted revival of the 1947 musical by Lerner and Loewe, telling a love story between two people whose paths should never have crossed, yet they collided. To avoid the conflict of war, a local minister prayed to God to preserve Brigadoon. The village would disappear without a trace each time and reappear once every one hundred years. To the villagers however, only a single night would have passed.

This is a fantastical story with a suitably complementary score and set to highlight the mystical air surround the production. Integrating the stage within nature, the set designed by Basia Bińkowska resembles a winding path leading up to a picturesque mountain filled with heather.  The dreamlike atmosphere is heightened by the placement of glowing lights around the stage, one of the elements that bring the fairy tale aspect to life for the evening performance. For the matinee performance on the other hand, the dream like atmosphere is far less apparent and the overall experience is somewhat diminished.

Act I of this show is spirited and hopeful with songs such as “The Heather on the Hill” and “The Love of My Life”. Meg’s advance on Jeff in particular instigates one of the few hysterical moments of the story especially when Clarke stumbles his way around the stage for an escape route as Meg continues her advance.

The narrative takes a dark turn when Harry (Danny Nattrass) threatens to leave the village, an action that will make Brigadoon disappear forever. Though this appears to serve as nothing more than a plot device to trigger the subsequent events, it also raises an important morality question. In this apparent utopia, it seems the people living in it are devoid of freedom and the inability to escape from their destiny, and dying seems to be the only way out.

This revival of Brigadoon also saw changes in several key elements. For starters, Tommy and Jeff were hunters in the original production. Making them American pilots in the middle of a war create a starker contrast to the old fashioned and traditional village, bringing the culture differences to the forefront. On the other hand, Tommy’s backstory is completely omitted in this version. It was shown that he was mortally wounded before entering the village and as his time starts flowing again, he realises his love for Fiona as he faces his impending demise. This accelerated development was a little difficult to swallow in my view, as if Tommy didn’t have a choice, love Fiona and will Brigadoon to reappear or die, reaffirming the lack of freedom of choice for some of the characters.

The cast joining this production is nothing short of fantastic in acting, singing and dancing talents. The dances created by Agnes De Mille and choreographed by Drew McOnie show the villagers’ joyfulness as they prepare for the wedding, culminating in an elaborate dance number that showcases the passion between Charlie and Jean. Though I lack the understanding to fully appreciate the specifics, Chrissy Brooke’s interpretative dance was a joy to watch, both when she devotes her love to Harry and again when she mourns his passing. Of particular highlight, Fiamanya in the role of Fiona and Jones as Charlie delivered some of the most prominent and consistent vocals, bringing their respective characters to life.

Despite the unresolved and brushed off morality question of choice and freedom, this revival of Brigadoon has managed to create a fairy tale like love story and charms the audience into a land of fantasy.

Creatives

Book and Music: Alan Jay Lerner

Music: Frederick Loewe

Adapted by: Rona Munro

Original Dances created by: Agnes De Mille

Director and Choreographer: Drew McOnie

Musical Director: Laura Bangay

Set Designer: Basia Bińkowska

Costume Designer: Sami Fendall

Lighting Designer: Jessica Hung Han Yun

Sound Designer: Nick Lidster for Autograph

Intimacy Director: Ingrid Mackinnon

Fight Director: Kev McCurdy