Brigadoon - Chicago (Goodman) leads with 9 Jeff nominations- Page 2

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 8:35am

Very jealous- I wish I could see this!

[tgrabon2]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 2:34pm

MCFan2: There isn't a bad seat in that theater. Only a few seats in the Mezz were left for the performance I saw. We sat second to the last row and it was fine.

[tgrabon2]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 2:34pm

MCFan2: There isn't a bad seat in that theater. Only a few seats in the Mezz were left for the performance I saw. We sat second to the last row and it was fine.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 3:01pm

The shooting is something that's partially lifted from the movie for this new production.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT: Harry does fall on a rock and get hit in the head. (Is it suicide or a mistake?) Jeff isn't involved with Harry's killing.

IN THE MOVIE: Jeff skips the wedding to go hunting. During the chase, Harry climbs up a tree. Jeff thinks he's an animal and shoots him. He falls to the ground. Jeff realizes it's Harry and freaks out. The townspeople find him and declare that he must have fallen to his death.

Wish I could see this Chicago production! It sounds lovely. What's the run time? The original is at least 3 hours.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 3:39pm

This production ran about two and a half hours.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 9:53pm

Good to know, tgrabon2, thanks!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 10:13pm

In other threads, I've been been very critical of the original book. These changes sound promising, to say the least!

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/5/14 at 10:57pm

ORIGINAL SCRIPT: Harry does fall on a rock and get hit in the head. (Is it suicide or a mistake?) Jeff isn't involved with Harry's killing.

In the original libretto, Jeff confesses to Tommy that he accidentally killed Harry by tripping him. Harry falls and hits his head. Jeff meant to stop him, but not kill him. But he does kill him.

In the movie, he accidentally shoots Harry, thinking he was a bird. He doesn't mean to kill him, but he does kill him.

Different methods, but both are accidental deaths at the hand of Jeff.

Neither one is intentional murder, though.

EDIT: And it's because Jeff accidentally kills Harry that Tommy changes his mind and decides to leave Brigadoon.

Updated On: 7/5/14 at 10:57 PM

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/7/14 at 3:11pm

New video about the Making of Brigadoon:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152118005586237

Opening night is tonight. Reviews to follow tomorrow.

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 12:52am

Reviews coming in:

Chris Jones (Tribune) is mixed -

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-0708-brigadoon-review-20140707,0,798786.column

Hedy Weiss (Sun Times) is a rave -

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/28445406-421/glorious-brigadoon-re-emerges-in-dazzling-goodman-theatre-production.html#.U7t4omdOXAU

More to follow.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 10:20am

Neither has much to say about the book revisions. From what I've read on this board the big changes are in Mr. Lundie's monologue of the town's backstory and Jeff's monologue about the death of Harry Beaton. Time Out comments that the society fiancee in act two is played sympathetic enough to make us distrust Tommy.

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/theater/brigadoon

Anyone here notice other significant changes?

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 11:04am

SPOILERS GALORE:

Saw the show last night, and enjoyed it very much. It is a darker take on the material...it opens with the offstage voices, and then a moment where Jeff fires a rifle and wakes Tommy, played for full realism...a pretty sobering start to a romantic musical. Everything (with the exception of the Meg Brockie scenes, which are overplayed) is played very naturally and with great complexity.

The biggest revisions that I noticed: "Almost Like Being in Love" is now sung by both Tommy and Fiona, but in different locations. Tommy sings the song to Jeff outside Fiona's cottage, while Fiona simultaneously sings to Jean about her day with Tommy inside. It works gangbusters and stopped the show.

Other major changes: "From This Day On" is now Fiona's big Act II solo, and is sung to Tommy right after the funeral when they part from Brigadoon...I think that's typically where "There But For You Go I" is. The latter song is now the eleven o'clock number, sung by Tommy when he revisits Brigadoon with Jeff at the end and it has vanished. His singing is what "wakes up" Mr. Lundie and brings the two together. Those changes work very well. The scene with Tommy's fiancee is rewritten, and she is more sympathetic - realistic, like Jeff...but hardly unlikeable. I think if Mr. Earley had painted a more vulnerable portrayal of Tommy at this point (more on that later), it would work better. Emily Rohm, who played Jane, did a very nice job with it.

Jennie Sophia is an incredible Fiona, despite her resemblance to a certain Disney princess, and completely just oozes love, optimism, and a soaring soprano. She is the heart of the show. Kevin Early sings amazingly well but his Tommy is very chilly - invulnerable. We didn't see him grow and truly fall in love with her over the course of the show. Nothing that can't be fixed with time, though - he's clearly very good. Rod Thomas is a terrific Jeff, and Roger Mueller a great Mr. Lundie. All of the changes in Mr. Lundie's monologue work very well. Yes, it is true that Jeff kills Harry, but it is not as intentional as you may think...it is staged that Harry, on the run, bumps into Jeff back to back, gets spooked and makes a run for it - Jeff, also spooked, draws his rifle immediately and shoots Harry through the head. He then retreats and watches as the village takes him away. The changes in the dialogue in the following scenes play more as a confession..."I did it, Tommy"...although he does say that he killed Harry because he has a strange belief in the place. Might need some looking at.

Choreography is strong throughout, but there were some moments that could improve - Jean's big solo during "Come to Me, Bend to Me" is a little static for my taste. "Sword Dance" and "Funeral Dance" are INCREDIBLE; well-choreographed, and danced with passion by Rhett Guter and Katie Spelman, respectively.

Set design is decent...the effects are played with projections against a curtain of a silky, string-like material, which allows for beautiful visual effects...such as when Fiona disappears into the mist with the town in Act II, and at the end of "Heather on the Hill" when the lovers embrace in a thunderstorm. At times it feels there is too much space - that the Albert is swallowing the show a bit.

Them's my thoughts.

Updated On: 7/8/14 at 11:04 AM

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 12:09pm

Brigadoon has been extended again thru August 17. I will try and post more reviews as they come in.

[tgrabon2]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 2:26pm

An article in the Windy City Times:

To put it bluntly, out playwright Brian Hill is tampering with a classic. The Goodman Theatre brought him aboard to revise the script for its new production of Brigadoon, the 1947 Broadway musical about a magical Scottish village that reappears for one day every 100 years.

Considering that Brigadoon creators Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner would go on to collaborate on other classics like My Fair Lady and Camelot, Hill knows that he has to tread carefully in his work. And that's even with the blessing of Lerner's daughter, Liza Lerner, who has granted the Goodman creative team permission to revisit and revise Brigadoon for the 21st century.

"I'll admit that it's daunting because I have such a love and respect of this piece," said Hill, adding that it was Jeff Award-winning director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell who specifically requested him to collaborate on her Goodman Theatre debut of Brigadoon after they worked so well on the 2011 musical The Adventures of Pinocchio for Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

"My history with this show goes back to when I was six years old. It was one of the first musicals I ever heard," said Hill, citing a 1957 Brigadoon studio recording featuring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy that his Scottish grandmother owned. "I used to listen to it religiously, so it's one of those shows that's in my DNA."

Where Hill is making most of the changes to the show is with the origin story of why Brigadoon disappears and reappears every 100 years. Though the first time disappearance of the town of Brigadoon happens in 1746, there was no mention in the musical of the historic Battle of Culloden from that same year when British forces ruthlessly crushed the Scottish highlanders who were part of the Jacobite Rebellion. As a punishment, the British government banned Scottish family tartans and kilts and set in motion policies that would play a part in the devastating Highland Clearances when several thousands of Scots were forced from their lands.

"Something that really wasn't prevalent in the original was the presence of war," Hill said. "In 1947 when Brigadoon premiered, the Second World War was still very much an open wound for all of America and I think ( Lerner and Loewe ) wrote what they wanted to be an escapist musical."

Hence in the original script for Brigadoon, the town disappears as a way to ward off black magic and witchcraft—quite an ironic premise. And when Brigadoon was originally staged in London in 1949, historians were appeased by the show's exclusion of the Battle of Culloden by having the show's current and flashback dates shifted respectively to 1935 and 1735.

"Now I think ignoring the Battle of Culloden and the Second World War—two things that profoundly affect the characters in our play—both those historical events are very helpful for us now in terms of raising the stakes and giving our characters an absolutely strong reasons to do what they do," said Hill, adding that he has also made the show's hero, Tommy Albright, a WWII veteran. "And frankly to give the town a very, very strong reason for the town to disappear from the face of the earth for another 100 years."

Veteran Chicago-area actor Roger Mueller plays Mr. Lundie in the Goodman's Brigadoon and he's very pleased with the revisions that Hill and Rockwell have made. Though Mueller hasn't previously appeared in a production of the show, he's very familiar with Brigadoon since both of his daughters have starred in it. Abby Mueller ( currently on Broadway in Kinky Boots ) starred as the leading lady Fiona MacLaren in the Marriott Theatre's last revival of Brigadoon, while Jessie Mueller ( the Tony Award-winning star of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ) starred as the sidekick Meg Brockie in a high school production.

"These changes are really first-rate. People are going to be rather stunned by the new gravity of the show," Mueller said. "It still has the harmony and the light-hearted moments, but even those are kind of fed by an urgency of the situation."

"We want to retain what people love about the show, and that is the magic and the charm and the passion of the piece," Hill said. "The biggest compliment to me is if people come to see the show and didn't notice the ( revisions ) and simply got swept up in the story. That would make me so happy."

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/8/14 at 10:44pm

More reviews:

http://www.theatreinchicago.com/brigadoon/reviews/6237/

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/9/14 at 6:23am

Thanks for the detailed write-ups! I wish I lived closer so I could see it. I'm not opposed to bringing out the darker aspects of the story, especially set against the magic and whimsy and the love story (as long as they're still in it). There are a couple of things, just reading about them, that I don't like. Jeff's sudden belief in Brigadoon and his (slightly) more aggressive murdering of Harry Beaton, and making Jane sympathetic at the end would weaken the final journey for Tommy.

I'm also not sure I like them moving "There But For You Go I" to the very end when he wakes up the town again. I would probably miss the simplicity (and real power) of that final scene on the bridge. Now he wakes them up with an 11 o'clock number (aka a sledgehammer) rather than the deep quiet feelings he has. At least "on paper," I much prefer the latter. In a musical, it's equally important to know when NOT to sing as it is when to sing.

After reading the other reviews (via links), it sounds like Kevin Early isn't all that great. I've seen him on stage before. I find him fairly unremarkable all around. His voice is fine, but not particularly memorable, his looks are average (aka "everyman"), and his acting is fairly wooden and never risky. These reviews echo what I've seen from him in the past. For Brigadoon to truly work, you have to have a fantastic Tommy and Fiiona. If you aren't pulling for them both, you have no story to tell. I'm not sure Kevin is up to the challenge. From what I've seen myself prior, I would say no.

As far as Jane (at the end), I've seen that role played "realistically" before and "campy" before. If she's a full-on raging diva, she can walk away with that scene completely, and depending on the strength of the show, the entire production as well. Not exactly a desired effect, but it's possible. It's easy to turn Jane into a cliche. At the same time, I don't think she should be remotely sympathetic. She is there to represent the world that Tommy wants to leave. The world he doesn't belong to and probably never did. The audience has to want him to leave or you'll kill the end of the show.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 7/9/14 at 11:13am

Well said best12bars. Tom and Lorenzo's film recap sums up my feelings nicely.

http://tomandlorenzo.com/2007/03/musical-monday-brigadoon/
"Back in New York, we meet Gene’s fiance, Jane. Sure, she’s straight out of the “Big City Bitch” file in central casting, but she’s the one character in the entire film that we wanted to spend time with. She’s fabulous. We just want to smoke cigarettes and drink Manhattans with her while we make fun of all the other women in the room."

The fact that I leave productions of Brigadoon wanting to see more of Jane explains why I'm not the target audience for this show.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/9/14 at 1:59pm

^ How I miss TLo's Musical Mondays! Thanks for the reminder, Sally.

Updated On: 7/9/14 at 01:59 PM

[Rinaldo]

Posted: 7/10/14 at 12:01am

One slight correction to the above: in the original show, "From This Moment On" is the final moment before Tommy leaves Brigadoon (on the McGlinn recording, by far the most complete, you can hear the end blending into the transition music and the NYC bar scene). Tommy sings "There But For You Go I" to Fiona earlier in Act II.

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/10/14 at 6:55pm

Another clip from the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxd8K8J9hw

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 10:11am

Review from New York critic:

http://newyorkarts.net/2014/07/revised-brigadoon-important-musical-theatre-milestone/#comments

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 10:23am

Another clip from the show:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152124890056237&set=vb.43695791236&type=3&theater

[jon5202]

Posted: 7/14/14 at 6:52pm

Charles Isherwood (NY Times) gives a rave review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/theater/brigadoon-a-musical-revival-at-the-goodman-theater.html?ref=theater&_r=1

Updated On: 7/14/14 at 06:52 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:03pm

Is there any talk of this production possibly transferring to Broadway outside of rumors?

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 2:02am

What do you mean by "talk outside of rumors"? Wouldn't that mean confirmation? From what I've heard, the plan was that if press and audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive, they would look to transfer. Chris Jones's review in the Tribune seemed to squash these dreams, but the rave from the times very well could make up for that. But should it transfer, I think it would probably have to wait until fall of 2015 because Rachel Rockwell (director/choreographer of this production) is pretty thoroughly booked until at least next summer.