Photos: Go Inside Opening Night of Music Theater Works' BRIGADOON

Music Theater Works’ Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon in the North Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts In Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie, is now playing through November 12. Brigadoon’s book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, directed by Sasha Gerritson, assistant directed and choreographed by Clayton Cross and music directed by Michael McBride.

Check out the opening night photos below!

The performance schedule is Wednesdays at 1 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Complete performance schedule is included at the end of this release. Tickets are now on sale from $39 to $106 with tickets for guests 25 years old and younger available at half-price at the link below or by calling the Music Theater Works box office at the North Shore Center, 847.673.6300. Group discounts are also available for groups of 10 or more by contacting 847.920.5360.

The mythical village Brigadoon, in the misty Scottish Highlands, appears for a single day every hundred years. When two American tourists, Tommy and Jeff, get lost and stumble on the village on this magical day, Tommy falls in love with one of its residents and must decide whether to return to the world he knows or stay in Brigadoon - forever. The classic musical, Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon, is a romantic classic that inspired the MGM movie and countless productions around the world with its score that features Broadway songs that have become standards including “Almost like Being in Love,” “Come to Me, Bend to Me” and “Heather on the Hill.”

The cast of Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon includes  Conor Jordan (he/him, Tommy Albright); Sarah Obert (she/her, Fiona MacLaren); Zachary Linnert (he/him, Jeff Douglas); Madison Kauffman (she/her,Meg Brockie); Luke Nowakowski (any pronoun, Charlie Dalrymple); Stan Austin (he/him, Stuart Dalrymple/ensemble); Will Leonard (he/him, Harry Beaton/Tommy U/S);  Bob Sanders (he/him, Archie Beaton, Lundie U/S); Susannah Elizabeth Harvey (she/her, Jean MacLaren); Kent Joseph (he/they, Andrew MacLaren); Timothy Wolf ((he/him, Mr. Lundie); Adam Raso (he/him, Angus MacGuffie/Sandy Dean/ensemble); Delaney Good (she/her, Jane/Fiona U/S); Isa Ramirez (she/her, Maggie Anderson/ensemble); Jimmy Hogan (he/him, Frank/Harry) and Anna Marie Abbate (she/her, ensemble/Kate & Jean/Meg U/S).

Brigadoon’s ensemble includes, in alphabetical order: Theresa Eagan (she/her, ensemble); Emma Jean Eastlund (she/her, ensemble/Jane U/S); Chad Gearig-Howe (he/him/they/them, ensemble, Jeff/Frank/Andrew/Stuart/Archie U/S); David Geinosky (he/him, ensemble/Charlie U/S); Dee Kimpel (she/her, ensemble); Olivia Russell (they/them, ensemble); Alex Villasenor (he/him, ensemble/featured dancer/Sandy/Angus U/S) with Renée Dwyer (she/her, Maggie/Kate U/S). 

Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon’s creative team is Sasha Gerritson (she/her, director); Clayton Cross (he/him, assistant director/choreographer); Michael McBride (he/him,music director); Ann Davis (she/hers, scenic designer); Andrew Meyers (he/him, lighting designer); Jazmin Aurora Medina (she/her, costume designer); Vija Lapp (sound designer); Alice Salazar (she/her, hair, wig and makeup designer); Emmett Wickersham (props designer); Chris Chase (he/him, production manager); Jennifer King Russell (she/her, company manager);  Alison Gonzales (she/her, stage manager); Amber Wuttke (she/her, fight choreographer); Elena Patterson (she/they, intimacy choreographer, she/her); Kathy Logelin (she/her, dialect coach); Anna Marie Abbate (she/her, dance captain); Isa Ramirez (she/her, dance captain); Kristen Brinati (she/her, assistant costume designer/wardrobe run crew); Ethan Colish (he/him, assistant stage manager); Melanie Saso (she/her, assistant hair, wig and makeup designer and hair, wig and makeup runner); Patty Halajian (she/her, stitcher); Cameron Koniarski (he/him, master electrician); Javian Walter (he/him, master electrician); Chelsea Lynn (she/her, lighting programmer); Will Hughes (he/him, scene shop technical director); Forrest Gregor (he/him, production sound engineer); Linda Madonia (she/her, music supervisor);  Lauren Talsma (she/her, wardrobe run crew); Reve Smith (they/them, wardrobe run crew cover); Ethan McIntosh (he/him, light board operator); Chase Gruden (he/him, head audio); Averi Paulsen (they/them, audio 2) and Mia Howard (she/her, audio 2).

The Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon orchestra includes Michael McBride (he/him,conductor/piano); Hillary Bayley (she/her, violin); Matthew Beck (he/him, reeds); Cara Strauss (she/her, reeds); Greg Strauss (he/him, trumpet); Phil Stanley (french horn);Rafe Bradford (he/him, bass); and Lior Shragg (he/him, percussion). Musicians are members of Chicago Federation of Musicians, Local 10-208.

ABOUT SASHA GERRITSON, DIRECTOR

Sasha Gerritson is an opera stage director and directs shows for many local and regional companies. Gerritson is a proud board member of Music Theater Works and recently the chorus master for Music Theater Works’ June production of Pippin and directed for the Opera Festival of Chicago this past summer. She served as the opera and music theatre director of Northeastern Illinois University from 2010-2022, has directed for Musica Nelle Marche (Urbino, Italy), Opera Piccola, DePaul University, the Cherub Music Theatre program for Northwestern University, in addition to various other summer programs in the area.

ABOUT CLAYTON CROSS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER

Clayton Cross works nationwide as a choreographer, performer and dance instructor. Cross was most recently in the ensemble and dance captain of Rock Of Ages with Mercury Theater Chicago, with Drury Lane in the ensemble and dance captain in Grease as well as in the ensemble in Evita. He was last seen on the Music Theater Works stage as “Scuttle” in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and in the ensemble of Mamma Mia! and as choreographer for Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and Billy Elliot the Musical.  He was choreographer in residence with Music Theater Works under the direction of Rudy Hogenmiller for seven seasons where he choreographed and/or performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat  (“Benjamin”), Hunchback of Notre Dame, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Into The Woods, Anything Goes “Ensemble”, Pirates of Penzance (ensemble), Peter Pan (“Nana/Croc”), Gypsy (“Tulsa”), Mame (ensemble), Candide, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, Die Fladermaus, The Fantastiks (“Mute”), Damn Yankees (“Eddie”) and in A Chorus Line (“Greg”) with Porchlight Music Theatre. Cross also performed at Marriott Theatre in La Cage Aux Folles (“Mercedes”). He is an instructor and choreographer for M.A. Dance Nation, a Texas based traveling convention circuit, where he has been choreographing, teaching and judging since 1999. Cross has five times been a consultant and contributed choreography for the Capital One Bowl’s “All American Halftime Show.” Throughout his 25 year career as a dancer he has worked with Robert Battle, Fernando Bujones, Sherry Zunker, Paul Taylor and Anne Reinking. Cross’s television credits include “Every Dancer Has a Story,” a PBS special on the River North Chicago Dance Company, where he was a company member for 10 seasons and toured nationally and internationally. He is originally from Midland, Texas where he received his early training from La Petite Dance Co., Coleman Academy and the Midland Community Theatre as a member of the Pickwick Players. He holds a double B.F.A. in Ballet and Modern Dance from Texas Christian University. 

ABOUT MICHAEL McBRIDE, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Dr. Michael McBride is a Jeff Award-winning music director, internationally-performed composer, performer and educator. He is excited to return to Music Theatre Works after music directing Billy Elliot. Credits include Big Fish (Boho Theatre, Jeff Award); Grease (Drury Lane Theatre); The Scarlet Pimpernel (Engeman Theatre, NY); Rent, New Faces Sing 1951, PorchlightPalooza, Broadway by the Decade (Porchlight Music Theatre); Passing Strange (Theo Ubique); 49th Annual Jeff Awards Ceremony; Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Robber Bridegroom, Jesus Christ Superstar, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Pippin,What a Wonderful World (workshop), Man of La Mancha, Mamma Mia, Into The Woods, The Little Mermaid (Timber Lake Playhouse); The Boys and the Nuns (composer & MD), Fun Home, Violet, Cabaret, Tintypes, She Loves Me, Spring Awakening, Hot Mikado, Urinetown, Into the Woods (Loyola University Chicago); The Christmas Foundling (composer and music director; Pride Arts Center); Footloose (Wallace Bowl); The Drake Hotel holiday programming and The Cabaret Project in Chicago, St. Louis and Lake Geneva. He is proud to be music director at A Church 4 Me MCC in Chicago. Having earned a DM in composition from Northwestern University, He has served on faculty of Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago and North Park University where he is a visiting assistant professor.

ABOUT MUSIC THEATER WORKS

Music Theater Works is a resident professional not-for-profit music theater founded in 1980. During its 43-year history it has presented more than 150 productions and intimate presentations. Music Theater Works is a professional theater company whose mission is to present works for the musical stage including historic repertoire, revitalizing the Golden Age of Broadway and earlier works, celebrating the Great American Songbook and introducing modern classics. 

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