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Brigadoon

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This is a Scottish fantasy about a town that disappears into the Highland mist and returns for only one day every one hundred years. It includes Waitin' for My Dearie, I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean, Come to Me, Bend to Me, Almost Like Being in Love, There But for You Go I, The Heather on the Hill and My Mother's Weddin' Day. This is a tribute to simplicity, true love and goodness, which is hidden from the ordinary traveler.

Music By Frederick Loewe
Lyrics By Alan Jay Lerner
Book/Libretto by: Alan Jay Lerner
Produced by: Cheryl Crawford
Choreography by: Agnes de Mille
Directed by: Robert Lewis
Type of Musical: Broadway
Opened: March 13, 1947
Theatre: Ziegfeld Theatre, (New York)
# of Performances: 581
Licensing Agent: Tams-Witmark

Synopsis

Once in the Highlands, the Highlands of Scotland, two weary hunters lost their way." It is this desolate situation which Tommy Albright and Jeff Douglas, two young New Yorkers, are contemplating when the curtain rises on a misty glen in Scotland. As the two exhausted men reflect on what they have forsaken in the States for their present predicament, a lift in the Highland veil reveals to them the awakening village of Brigadoon; a village which comes into being for only one day in each century.

The strained and strange greetings of the villagers bedecked in 18th century costumes, who have gathered in the market square to sell their wares and to discuss the final wedding preparations of Jeannie MacLaren and the boyish Charlie Dalrymple, are softened for Tommy by his encounter with Jeannie's lovely sister, Fiona, and enlivened for Jeff by his reluctant entanglement with the maid, Meg Brockie.

The blissful occasion is momentarily tinged with gloom when the fate of Brigadoon is threatened by Harry Beaton, Jeannie's rejected suitor. And Tommy, now burdened with the knowledge of Brigadoon's secret and enraptured by the gentle charms of the beautiful Fiona, is confronted with the choice of remaining forever at the side of the Scottish lass or returning to the unsatisfying world familiar to him. At the close of the day he is still unable to commit himself without doubt or regret to Fiona and to Brigadoon, and leaves with Jeff for America.

Restless and unhappy in New York, Tommy finally yields to the haunting memory of Fiona and, guided by the faith and strength of his love, finds his way back to Brigadoon.

The misty mood of this Highland setting is strikingly complemented by bright 18th century costuming, contrasting the idyllic Brigadoon villagers with the malcontent young hunters. The fanciful flavor is augmented by superb choreography by Agnes de Mille which gracefully mingles the regional with the modern. An outstanding band orchestration by Philip J. Lang, as well as the standard orchestral accompaniment, offer a memorable resonance to the production.

Like Tommy, the audience delights in the whimsical loveliness of the Highlands, and it is with similar reluctance that they exit Brigadoon.

Song List

Overture
Prologue
Once In The Highlands
Brigadoon
Down On MacConnachy Square
Waitin' For My Dearie
The Love of My Life
Sword Dance and Reel
The Funeral
I'll Go Home With Bonnie Jean
The Heather On The Hill
Come To Me Bend To Me
Almost Like Being In Love
There But For You I go
The Chase
My Mother's Weddin' Day
From This Day On, Brigadoon
Jeannie's Packin Up

Cast List

David Brooks, Marion Bell, Pamela Britton, Lee Sullivan, George Keane, James Mitchell, William Hansen, Elliot Sullivan, Helen Gallagher, Hayes Gordon & Lidija Franklin

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