Brigadoon

‘Brigadoon’ was first performed at the Ziegfield Theatre, New York in 1947 and two years later could be seen at His Majesty’s Theatre in London. At that time it was said to be original and inventive and the attraction of the piece is its other worldliness. The excellent lighting certainly helped achieve this. The scenery too created a dreamlike quality, as did the smoke which perhaps could have been used more often to maintain the atmosphere.

The opening chorus number was a difficult one in fact most of the music was challenging, not only for the cast but also for the audience who would recognize possibly two tunes during the whole show. That’s not to say that the same old musicals should be churned out time after time just because they are familiar and comfortable.

Scenery was good, act two was especially good, as were the properties, and the market place was super. There was plenty of business going on with each member of the cast involved in their own particular purpose of either selling or buying, and it made for a colourful, lively scene. The swipe for the funeral scene was super but should have be pulled across from behind so that the person pulling it was not seen walking across the stage.

Dialogue at the opening was clearly delivered by Kevin King and Lloyd Walsh and, despite the difference in their ages, their on stage friendship worked well. As Jeff Douglas, Kevin was excellent. He brought out the comedy in his role and his American accent was consistent.

Playing his young friend Tommy, Lloyd Walsh took a little time to settle into his accent but it improved as the show progressed. It’s so good to see young people (especially men!) on stage and Lloyd has had the opportunity to play lead roles. He is growing as a performer but this role did not suit him as well as his last one in ‘Die Fledermaus’. He had a tendency to play to the audience, which is the right thing to do in certain situations, but when singing a romantic duet he must look at his partner too.

In his bright yellow tartan trews Paul Charman was credible in the role of Donald Ritchie, and Geoff Morris acted the part of Harry with conviction. Because of the heat of his anger and the Scottish accent some of his words were lost. Perhaps if the character had been portrayed as a more brooding one and less angry, then that particular problem wouldn’t have arisen. I’ve not had a problem hearing his dialogue in previous shows.

Fiona McKeith was splendidly played by Lisa Waters whose singing was faultless. She was bright, a joy to listen to and had no problem at all with the top notes.

As her sister Jean, the less down to earth of the two girls, Wendy de Maaijer acquitted herself well. During the scene when Charlie is singing ‘’Come to me’’ she needed more direction as to what to do. Her movements on the porch were repeated over and over whilst she was apparently looking for the source of the sound. It went on much too long and she could have stepped out nearer the end of the song.

The singing was of course by her boyfriend, and Tom Hudson made a likeable, fresh-faced Charlie Cameron. He acted and sang well and had a very good accent but the top notes in his songs were just out of his range.

This is probably a good time to say that the top notes were challenging for almost all of the male singers which is not a criticism of the members of KASJOG whom, you will have noted from my previous reports, have never failed to impress me by their singing. It is a criticism of the choice of show which I believe did little to demonstrate the high vocal ability of your society. The varying Scottish accents also made it difficult to pick up what was being said.

Jane Ward clearly enjoyed the saucy role of Meg Brockie and gave a lively interpretation of the comic character. I know Jane has a good singing voice but I felt she could have forgone the quality in her voice and, in common parlance, ‘belted’ her solo ‘The Love of my Life’. Her accent was good.

The only person I noted with perfect accent was Mr Murdoch and then I read in the programme that he is a Scot! He also sported the only authentic kilt, (in fact whole outfit ) which was probably his own.  He did very well in this his first speaking role and only his second musical.

Ross Elliott, also new to the world of musical theatre, was credible as Andrew McKeith father of the two girls but made no attempt at an accent.

Tommy’s fiancée Jane Ashton was played with style and confidence by Giselle Thorne, and Martin Dunham was convincingly at home as the bar tender Frank.

There are a number of other named male characters, and Jim Lewis, David Crocker, Rod Parsons and John Atkinson played them convincingly, creating the feel of a close knit community.

During one particularly long scene change, item 27 in the programme, the orchestra played some interesting music and, apart from the percussion which was a little heavy on occasion, the orchestra was nicely balanced and expertly controlled by Christopher Slater.

Sound was consistent and the sound effects were good.

Costumes were colourful but when the clans names were called out they did not match the tartans they were wearing. Northern Costume Hire should have provided the correct ones for the named families.

‘Brigadoon’ is a vehicle for lots of dancing, some of it specialised, but there was very little choreography apart from a few basic moves. Geoff’s sword dance was too long and repetitive and was not stylised enough.

Sylvie Petersen dances beautifully but her dance at the funeral was also long and repetitive. That particular scene was a moving one.

Tom had a problem getting the door open and put his hand through the window to open it from the inside which caused some amusement to the audience.

All the necessary information is contained in your programme (there are a couple of spelling mistakes) and I was so pleased to see the two page tribute to Anne.

Thank you for inviting me to see ‘Brigadoon’ which, although I felt was not one of your better productions, you tackled with enthusiasm. Thank you also for your hospitality on the evening. I enjoyed meeting Iris and David again and of course the cast and backstage crew, and am now looking forward to working with them all in ‘Ruddigore’.

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