This show is a bawsack of haggis with an offal lot of filler, boiled up in a plastic bag – and that’s exactly what I wanted to do with my head after this seeing the first half of this production of Brigadoon at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Brigadoon the musical, is an original work from 1947 written by Alan Jay Lerner (book & lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music), the fantastically successful writers of adaptations My Fair Lady, Camelot and Gigi. This new production has been adapted by Scottish playwright Rona Munro, with original dances created by Agnes De Mille, and directed by Drew McOnie.
This is not the Scotland of rugged men and nervous sheep, this is Tartan-lite, dreamy Highlands seen through a romantic mist of midges – set beautifully amidst the trees of Regent’s Park.
Cue bagpipes, drums, villagers enter… so far so good.
Moving the timeline forward from the 1800s game-hunting tourists’ stumbling across a village in the mist to WWII American pilots, Jeff and Tommy, crash landing there works well, but their first scene shtick is overdone; I thought I’d slipped into Waiting for Godot.
A job lot of tabards and skirts for swishing for the villagers might have been ordered online from Edinburgh Wool Mill, manufactured in Agrabah and dyed in Chartreuse – it’s all very bland and quite yellow.
The plastic heather of Brigadoon.
The heather, which is laboriously basketed onto the set, close-up seems to be re-purposed from a tropical fish tank – plastic and vivid. The local bees will get a shock nibbling these fake fronds.
Characters are cartoon-like panto cut outs – Tommy all beef cake and bravado but with thinnish vocal chops, and his mate Jeff falling foul of the village seductress, milkmaid Meg, and her soiled mattress. The cast try their damn best but there’s too much going on. Fiona carries the show at least up to the interval, at which point we left.
Musical director Laura Bangay and the band, hiding out in a cave deliver the numbers delicately through the overbearing speakers. It’s a lovely score, some favourite numbers like “Come to Me, Bend to Me” and re-orchestrated by Sarah Travis.
There’s whirly ballet dance thrown in for good measure; but the actors all get their steps in emerging from the bushes in the wings and traipsing all the way up the ramps to disappear into the trees. A parachute zip line might have helped move their action along.
The Grand Designs set of Brigadoon Regents Park Theatre
The set by Basia Bińkowska is the star of the show, sharp lines of slate grey, a glacier-formed pool and AstroTurf on the roof. Seen from above it’s clean cut with its clip and lock flooring – it just needed a sliding patio door for that sought after ‘inside-outside’ look, although someone should take a look at that leaky gutter above the band.
Brig o’ doom for me sadly.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, The Regent’s Park, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NU
02 August – 20 September 2025
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes including interval
Here’s another Brigadoon I didn’t like… The Big Gay Jamboree
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