Highland Fling

By T.E.Kalem

BRIGADOON

Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner Music by Frederick Loewe Choreography by Agnes de Mille

Of the 27 shows now on Broadway, 16 are musicals. Such is the appetite of the U.S. public for this native American art form that revivals multiply like the biblical "begats."

Any musical out of the nostalgic past has its ardent fans, and Brigadoon addicts will doubtless be entranced by the show's reappearance at Broadway's Majestic Theater. This revival is handled with tender loving care--and professional spit and polish. Brigadoon's spindly, implausible book was a glaring weakness, even in 1947, but that scarcely matters to the true believers who embrace the show as a dewy fantasy.

And it is rather like a storybook fable. A mist-glazed 18th century Scottish village, unknown to any map, wakes from its protective sleep one day in each 100 years. Two 20th century Americans stumble on the town's inhabitants on just that fateful day. Susceptible Tommy (Martin Vidnovic) soon tangles heartstrings with a bewitching local lass, Fiona (Meg Bussert). This actress has a voice of Baccarat crystal. When she pairs with Vidnovic to sing Almost Like Being in Love, all heaven breaks loose.

The strength of Brigadoon lies in its songs and dances. Lerner and Loewe struck a rich melodic vein, and this full-throated cast mines every golden nugget. Agnes de Mille's dances summon up atavistic ceremonies that might have been carved in bas-relief on the walls of ancient temples. Two standouts: Sword Dance, done with steely balletic precision by John Curry of ice-skating fame, and the Funeral Dance, performed with melancholy fury by Marina Eglevsky to a dirge of bagpipes. The guiding intelligence behind every moment of every scene belongs to Vivian Matalon, who makes of the director's craft a magic potion.

--By T.E. Kalem

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