Brigadoon is a village in the Scottish highlands which only appears for one day out of each hundred, although the inhabitants only experience this as a single night. This strange state of affairs had originally saved the village from total destruction, its inhabitants making a covenant that no one would leave, when they wake up. When the village awakes in the twentieth century they prepare to celebrate a marriage, unbeknownst to them the village has accidentally been found by two Americans, whose incursion will change the village forever...

Brigadoon (Original 1957 Studio Cast Recording) is not a recording of the original show, which opened in 1947 and ran for 581 performances. The show was famously made into a movie in 1954, staring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse.

This recording hails from 1957, with the voices of Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, with Frank Porretta, Susan Johnson, and Portia Nelson, and as such does not contain the additional songs which graced the revival in the nineteen eighties. The show proved to be popular, not only spawning a film, but also a number of subsequent revivals.

The first thing that you notice, given the age of the recording, is that it is both clear and free from and damage or distortion, although the Scottish accents are pretty awful, though not quite up there with Dick van Dyke’s cockney.

As would be expected with a show containing lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, the music is pure American with Scottish motifs sprinkled about to remind you where you’re supposed to be.

Obviously with Shirley Jones (Carousel, Oklahoma, The Music Man, and The Partridge Family), who has quality musical theatre running through her veins, you’re assured of a confidently strident version of the show. Here she is counterbalanced by Jack Cassidy, a multi-Tony winner, though not for this particular show.

Overall, the show was entertaining enough, with the standout tune, obviously being ‘Almost Like Being in Love’, though I also liked ‘Waitin For My Dearie’ which is another strong song. Of course, like many a Broadway show there is a lot of padding which no one really remembers, a problem which dogged both opera and operetta, let’s face it how many modern audiences even know the name of the opera which spawned Puccini’s ‘Nessan Dorma’.

The track listing is

01 - 'Introduction And Prologue'
02 - 'Brigadoon/Vendors'
03 - 'Waitin' For My Dearie'
04 - 'I'll Go Home With Bonnie Jean'
05 - 'The Heather On The Hill'
06 - 'The Love Of My Life'
07 - 'Jeannie's Packin' Up'
08 - 'Come To Me, Bend To Me'
10 - 'Almost Like Being In Love'
11 - 'The Chase'
12 - 'There But For You Go I'
13 - 'My Mother's Wedding Day'
14 - 'From This Day On/Farewell Music'
15 - 'Brigadoon Finale'

So a great version of the show sung by a couple of real big names from Broadway on a crystal clear recording, what more could one ask for?

8

Charles Packer