RECOMMENDED

Although “Brigadoon” was the first Broadway smash of the songwriting team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick “Fritz” Loewe, the duo’s later successes with “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot” have eclipsed the fame of this earlier effort. Pity that, for their reworking of the German fairytale legend of a mysterious village that appears once a century transposed to the Scottish highlands is pure enchantment, as the current Marriott Theatre production reminds us. Part of the bad rap that “Brigadoon” gets is the corny, miscast film version which features an overacting and over-dancing Gene Kelly in the lead role against studio backdrops so obvious that the actors’ shadows can be seen on them. In its essence, however, “Brigadoon” is an intimate love story that just happens to take place over 200 years time. Thankfully, this is something that director Joe Leonardo never loses sight of, and despite the presence of big production numbers energetically choreographed by Rob Rahn, it is the memorable characters in the story that take precedence. This is a show where every villager has to be able to sing like an angel for the hushed choral sequences as well as dance as if there were no tomorrow during the show’s festive wedding scene, and the Marriott cast is admirably up to the task. (Dennis Polkow)

This production is now closed.