Review: BRIGADOON, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Photo credit: Mark Senior

For his first production as Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Olivier Award-winning choreographer Drew McOnie has chosen to revive Brigadoon, Lerner and Loewe’s 1947 musical about a fantastical town that only appears for a day every 100 years. This production, newly adapted by Rona Munro, makes it difficult to see why this show has been absent from London stages for 35 years.

Brigadoon is a soaring and lyrical spectacle, mirroring the sweeping Scottish landscapes of its setting. There is more than a passing resemblance between the plot of this show and Powell and Pressburger’s 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death, and similarly demands the audience surrender itself completely to a sense of dreamy romance in order to accept the magical lore laid out in the script.

It makes a lot of sense for McConie to revive this production as a director with a demonstrable penchant for a dream ballet. This is a dance-heavy show, but the lyrical movement is matched by Lerner and Loewe’s songs which swing from cheeky, humorous ditties to yearning ‘I want’ numbers of the exceptional standard one can only expect from the writers behind ‘On The Street Where You Live’.

The cast are a formidable ensemble. They fly across the stage with effortless grace, somehow simultaneously not compromising on vocals. Some standout performances include Chrissy Brooke’s anguished dance solo, and Nic Myers’ turn as the brazen and boisterous Meg, holding her own throughout her comedy songs and defying the laws of lung capacity. Gilli Jones also shines in his professional stage debut as the labrador-like Charlie Dalrymple.

As has become expected from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, which this year won an Olivier for Fiddler On The Roof’s set, the design of this production is nothing short of magical. Basia Bińkowska’s set design is immersive, blending with the trees of the Royal Park and bleeding purple heather from the edges of the stage. Sami Fendall’s costume creatively play with period, timelessness and fantasy to create the garb of the Brigadoon locals. This is a colourful and sunny production – pinks and yellows and purples that blend and weave together in sunset tones that could, in theory, mimic the real London sunset. The press night audience were instead treated to a brief downpour which, if anything, heightened the immersive setting of the show, making it really feel like we were in Scotland.

You’ll be charmed, seduced and undoubtedly fall head over heels for Brigadoon. An unmissable evening of magic – you’ll never want to leave!

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

Brigadoon plays at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 20 September, with further info here.