Brigadoon Musical Analysis Essay

Brigadoon is a phenomenal musical written by Alan Jay Lerner. The musical is about 2 American tourists who accidentally arrived at a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Although the story was far-fetched and very fictional, there were multiple aspects of the show in which they excelled tremendously. 

The theme of the show is that love is not always what you think it will be. This is because Tommy who is one of the main characters falls in love with a woman from Brigadoon named Fiona.  The show follows the story of them not being able to be together, but they are meant to be with each other. Fiona’s character did a really good job singing and talking with a Scottish accent. Her phenomenal performance of “Waiting for My Dearie” gave the audience a sweet and romantic introduction to the show’s lead. Although at times difficult to hear when singing because the orchestra would be playing too loud, and the accent was difficult to understand. She could’ve projected her voice a bit more or they should’ve just turned up her microphone up a few levels. The choreography of Tommy and Fiona was also shocking because they just had a combination of classic musical theater dance styles, more formal ballet, and even some traditional Scottish dance. The show features a lot of classic popular songs such as “Almost Like Being in Love” that have become standards in musical theater history. These songs are all performed in a non-diegetic manner, where the character is not aware that they are singing it happens more naturally. This makes the show more interesting less forced, and they all excelled at doing it in a subtle matter. 

The show featured a very vibrant set that featured very colorful backgrounds and make it seem like we are in Scotland. The scenery looked like a high school theatre production, as it wasn’t very complex and simple. Most of the pieces that were used in the set were very versatile as they served more than 1 purpose for the scenes in the show.  The lighting also was very different for every scene, for some it was bright to represent day but then it was also dark to represent a different time of the day. I believe that these together were overall helpful for the play as well as the performers.  I don’t have anything that I would’ve changed about this as it made the musical work. The sets were efficient because they were all movable pieces that allowed all the story elements to be portrayed. At the same time, it opened to allow the large cast to move about freely and dance and it wouldn’t seem like the same stage. The set design was important for my overall perception of the play. This is because a set can make or break a theatrical performance, so when you think about creating a play the set is probably one of the most important things to consider. The musical was enjoyable from start to end. 

The costumes did a tremendous job at giving this production a professional feel. The show had a lot of people and two completely different time periods which I'm sure made it difficult for the costume designers. The costumes were colorful, lively, and historically accurate They were able to make both the 18th Century Scottish costumes and the 1950s American outfits realistic and like they were not just costumes. Costumes are very important for production, and they were able to take the audience to the 18th century. 

In conclusion, I would rate the play 4 stars as it did so many things right like the costumes, set, and sound. No show is perfect and there were some things that I just didn’t enjoy about the show. The play really does a good job of showing a beautiful meant-to-be relationship. It shows that when you least expect it you find love in the most unexpected ways. It also is a testament that everything does happen for a reason. Even though they weren’t sure why they were there was a bigger reason as to why they are where they are. I learned that theater is demanding in so many more ways than just singing. It includes the ability to be able to take on a whole new accent and be able to sing, act and dance at the same time. It showed me that people can’t see how much effort and dedication it takes to perform such as Brigadoon. I would 100% recommend this play to anyone, even if you are not into musicals there is something cool about seeing fellow Penn State students dedicating so much time and effort into something that they care so much about.