Weber State University’s theater program is putting on the classic golden-age musical “Brigadoon,” written by Alan Jay Lerner and scored by Frederick Loewe. The musical, first performed in 1947, was a major milestone for early Broadway musical theater.
“Brigadoon” will be performed on Feb. 21-22 and Feb. 26- March 1 at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. performance on March 1. The showing on Feb. 27 will have ASL interpreters for Deaf or hard-of-hearing interested in watching the musical.
Andrew Barratt Lewis, Assistant Professor of Musical Theater and the director of Weber’s rendition, said “Brigadoon” contains many of the same elements we see in musicals today.
“It has those ingredients that we kind of have come to expect in musical theater,” Lewis said. “A very strong love story, kind of out of this world scenario, wonderful music.”
“Brigadoon” follows two hunters who stumble upon a mystical village in Scotland that only appears once every hundred years.
Though the story is set in the 1940s, the village is still in an age from a few hundred years ago. The hunters fall in love with the villagers and must decide between staying with them or returning to their past lives.
The musical might have been written decades ago, but its themes of escapism and love are still relevant today. Lewis said that with life getting busier and faster-paced for people, it would be the perfect time to put on the play.
“I think it’s an interesting idea of ‘What would you give up?’” Lewis said. “What is it that actually makes us happy? And so that was kind of what led us to choose this show.”
“Brigadoon” is not only relevant today, but it also holds a historical impact on the musical industry. It was one of the first musicals to use dance to tell the story.
“I think what’s really interesting is that they were really exploring how dance could tell the story because normally dance breaks had just been like, you know, a break,” Lewis said.
Weber State’s Theatre Program performs a golden age musical like “Brigadoon” at least once every four years to ensure each batch of students can participate in or watch a classic musical.
The theater productions are open for any Weber State students to audition for, not just theater majors.
“We have two people in the cast who are not theater majors,” Lewis said. “They came and auditioned and they wanted to be part of it.”
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