‘Brigadoon’ fails to ignite

By MILAN PAURICH

news@vindy.com

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Despite a typically jewel-box-like production, the New Castle Playhouse production of Lerner and Loewe’s 1947 chestnut “Brigadoon” that opened Friday night at New Castle Playhouse stubbornly refuses to ignite.

Director Peggy Hanna’s musical looks — and sounds — like a million bucks. Jack Hanna’s painterly set design, Moulton Ferguson Jr.’s top-notch lighting and a gorgeous assemblage of (uncredited) costumes ensure that the NCP “Brigadoon” is a feast for the eyes.

Plus, splendid contributions by musical director Kevin Danielson, conductor Melinda Beatty and an 11-member orchestra guarantee that the show’s vocally adroit cast sounds sensational at every turn.

Maybe the problem is with “Brigadoon” itself. Although widely acknowledged as a “classic” American musical, the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe score doesn’t contain nearly as many golden nuggets as later L&L shows such as “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.” (“Almost Like Being in Love” is as good as it gets).

And Lerner’s book — never all that special to begin with — hasn’t aged terribly well either. This musical fantasy about a bucolic Scottish town that makes itself visible only every 100 years is still burdened with gaping plot holes (Just how do American visitors Tommy and Jeff manage to return to present-day Manhattan? Are all Brigadoon-ites immortal?).

At times it’s as much of a metaphysical, wrinkle-in-time head-scratcher (and nearly as confusing) as an episode of “Lost.”

Furthermore, there’s the whole “Act One Versus Act Two” matter to consider. Like many vintage Broadway tuners, “Brigadoon” has an unwieldy, well-nigh interminable first half that’s only partially redeemed by a relatively brisk (and considerably shorter) second act.

Just making it to the intermission takes a wing and a prayer, though. Not helping the show’s cause is Hanna’s uncertain pacing, particularly in the sluggish first act.

The cast is something of a mixed bag, too. As comic sidekick Jeff Douglas (second-banana specialist Van Johnson played the part in Vincente Minnelli’s 1954 screen version), Jeff Carey is aces. Carey, so good in NCP’s “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and “All My Sons” last season, brings his patented teddy-bear charm to the role and never overplays the more buffoonish aspects of his character.

I also loved the wonderful Mary Ann Mangini (Nellie Forbush in Michael Cavalier’s superb 2008 NCP production of “South Pacific”) as lissome lass Fiona Mac-Laren. Besides her knockout singing voice, the fetching Mangini brings oodles of charisma to Lerner’s underwritten ingenue.

There also are impressive turns by NCP newcomer Jesse Pomerico (sword-dancer extraordinaire Harry Beaton), Zack Varrati (blushing groom Charlie Dalrymple) and bagpiper Richard Hoise, who literally brought down the house with his mellifluous playing.

Less successful is Matthew Di Battiste as romantic lead Tommy Albright. Since the wooden Di Batttiste really only evinces a pulse when he’s singing, the play’s emotional center (the Tommy/Fiona love story) is as frigid as the Arctic Circle.

As Brigadoon busybody Mr. Lundie, Thom Ewen seems to have taken a wrong turn in the Scottish Highlands and somehow wound up in Anatevka (the setting of last summer’s NCP production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” where Ewen played the rabbi). His performance feels completely wrong for the Scot-centric “Brigadoon.”

Choreographer Kathy Kunz handles the show’s many large-scale dance sequences with lan, and tech directors Alan Hanna and Alan Houk manage the enviable feat of pulling off the myriad fog effects with remarkable subtlety and restraint.

I just wish that the rest of this uneven production were as sure-footed as their admirable contributions.

“Brigadoon” runs through next Sunday at the New Castle Playhouse. For tickets, call (724) 654-3437.