Brigadoon

THE MYSTICAL Scottish town of Brigadoon has been transported to the stage of North Carroll High School, where the sometimes bawdy, sometimes tender musical of the same name will be performed May 10, 11, and 12. Two Americans, played by Joshua Hunt and Chris Grove, get lost on a hunting trip and stumble into town on the wedding day of Charlie Dalrymple, played by Matt Perry, and Jean MacLaren, played by Amy Havlicsek. More than one romance is afoot. Harry Beaton, played by Adam Henry, also loves Jean, but is torn by a desire for a college education.

Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon describes a mythical village in which 18th-century folks wake up for only one day after sleeping 100 years. Reckoning in performing arts time, one might say nine years between performances in Annapolis equals a "Brigadoon" century. In February 2000, Annapolis Chorale music director J. Ernest Green brought Brigadoon to Maryland Hall's stage in what he recalls as "only the second musical in our 'Broadway in Annapolis' series." When Brigadoon debuted on Broadway in 1947, it marked musical team Lerner and Loewe's first success and was followed by blockbusters My Fair Lady in 1956 and Camelot in 1960.

Don't expect sequined show girls or helicopters landing on stage. But if your idea of heaven is a simpler place and time, then "Brigadoon" may be the ultimate in escapist entertainment.The fact that this vintage Lerner and Loewe musical romance is dated is its principal charm, for "Brigadoon" is an 18th-century village stuck in time. The premise is that the minister, worried that his blissful village would be corrupted by the encroaching evils of civilization, prayed for a miracle to preserve Brigadoon forever from the outside world.

We're approaching the dog days of August, my air conditioning isn't working properly and, still, I'm spending a lot of time whistling happily. What I've been whistling are songs from two of the wonderful musicals crafted by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, whose works are de rigueur from one end of the Annapolis Historic District to the other. At Summer Garden Theatre across from City Dock, Professor Henry Higgins is busily at work elevating the horrific speech patterns of Eliza Doolittle in the classic My Fair Lady.

The legendary village of Brigadoon is said to emerge from the Scottish mist only once every 100 years, but for the next six days you can catch an enticing glimpse of it at Essex Community College's Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre.Lerner and Loewe's first hit musical, "Brigadoon" features some of their loveliest songs, including "Almost Like Being in Love," "Come to Me, Bend to Me" and "The Heather on the Hill." And, under the baton of Edward M. Shipley, the voices and orchestral players in Cockpit's production do a bonnie job with these lilting melodies.

Lerner and Loewe's "Brigadoon" score might not conjure up "the street where you live," and the musical's fanciful plot, with a 1947 romanticized spin, might seem remote to today's audiences. But the production being staged by Second Star at the Bowie Playhouse in White Marsh makes the show relevant, offering a talented, committed cast faithful to the show's premise. The story centers on two American tourists - idealistic Tommy Albright and cynical Jeff Douglas - who are lost in Scotland's woods and discover a village that is not on their map. The village appears only one day every 100 years.

If there's a lesson in the story of "Brigadoon", it's this: Love something enough and anything is possible.At least, that's how the Alan Lerner/Frederick Loewe musical ends for Fiona and Tommy, two leadcharacters in South Carroll High School's spring production scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday and Saturday."

Over the past season, the Annapolis Chorale's musical director, J. Ernest Green, has been building a repertory group of soloists for popular and classical concerts. Last February with "Guys and Dolls," he introduced soprano Amy Cofield, bass-baritone Stephen Markuson and tenor Tom Magette. Elizabeth Saunders made her debut in September at the opening pop concert, "Celebration of Song." Because I had heard these artists, "Brigadoon" held great promise for Saturday, but what a special musical evening it was. The chorale's version of Lerner and Loewe's first hit sparkled with excitement from the first note.

The folks at 2nd Star Productions are sprinkling a little pre-holiday magic with their production of the musical fantasy "Brigadoon," starting tomorrow and running on weekends through Dec. 9 at Bowie Playhouse in White Marsh Park. Debuting in 1947 with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, "Brigadoon" was the team's third show on Broadway and its first big hit. Through this integrated musical based in the past, Lerner and Loewe proved to be innovators and heirs Rodgers and Hammerstein.

We're approaching the dog days of August, my air conditioning isn't working properly and, still, I'm spending a lot of time whistling happily. What I've been whistling are songs from two of the wonderful musicals crafted by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, whose works are de rigueur from one end of the Annapolis Historic District to the other. At Summer Garden Theatre across from City Dock, Professor Henry Higgins is busily at work elevating the horrific speech patterns of Eliza Doolittle in the classic My Fair Lady.

We're approaching the dog days of August, my air conditioning isn't working properly and, still, I'm spending a lot of time whistling happily. What I've been whistling are songs from two of the wonderful musicals crafted by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, whose works are de rigueur from one end of the Annapolis Historic District to the other. At Summer Garden Theatre across from the City Dock, Professor Henry Higgins is busily at work elevating the horrific speech patterns of Eliza Doolittle in the classic My Fair Lady.

Each summer for about the past 15 years, theater in Annapolis has entered the machine age. That's machine as in Talent Machine, of course. The brainchild of the late Bobbi Smith, the demanding, dynamic director-choreographer who had hundreds of kids hoofing with primal energy and immense joy during her remarkable career, Talent Machine has become an integral part of Annapolis' summer season in the arts. What a proud legacy this appropriately named ensemble has bequeathed to its audiences over the years.

Mary Kathryn Martinet, who danced in classic Broadway musicals, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Conn. She was 76 and lived in Cos Cob, Conn. Born in Baltimore and raised on Woodlawn Road in Roland Park, she was a graduate of Girls' Latin School, where she won awards for playing tennis, badminton and field hockey. She was the daughter of Eugene Martinet, a singer, vocal teacher and founder of the old Baltimore Civic Opera Company, who appeared in the Broadway operetta Blossom Time.

THE MYSTICAL Scottish town of Brigadoon has been transported to the stage of North Carroll High School, where the sometimes bawdy, sometimes tender musical of the same name will be performed May 10, 11, and 12. Two Americans, played by Joshua Hunt and Chris Grove, get lost on a hunting trip and stumble into town on the wedding day of Charlie Dalrymple, played by Matt Perry, and Jean MacLaren, played by Amy Havlicsek. More than one romance is afoot. Harry Beaton, played by Adam Henry, also loves Jean, but is torn by a desire for a college education.

Lerner and Loewe's "Brigadoon" score might not conjure up "the street where you live," and the musical's fanciful plot, with a 1947 romanticized spin, might seem remote to today's audiences. But the production being staged by Second Star at the Bowie Playhouse in White Marsh makes the show relevant, offering a talented, committed cast faithful to the show's premise. The story centers on two American tourists - idealistic Tommy Albright and cynical Jeff Douglas - who are lost in Scotland's woods and discover a village that is not on their map. The village appears only one day every 100 years.

The folks at 2nd Star Productions are sprinkling a little pre-holiday magic with their production of the musical fantasy "Brigadoon," starting tomorrow and running on weekends through Dec. 9 at Bowie Playhouse in White Marsh Park. Debuting in 1947 with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, "Brigadoon" was the team's third show on Broadway and its first big hit. Through this integrated musical based in the past, Lerner and Loewe proved to be innovators and heirs Rodgers and Hammerstein.

We're approaching the dog days of August, my air conditioning isn't working properly and, still, I'm spending a lot of time whistling happily. What I've been whistling are songs from two of the wonderful musicals crafted by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, whose works are de rigueur from one end of the Annapolis Historic District to the other. At Summer Garden Theatre across from the City Dock, Professor Henry Higgins is busily at work elevating the horrific speech patterns of Eliza Doolittle in the classic My Fair Lady.

Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon describes a mythical village in which 18th-century folks wake up for only one day after sleeping 100 years. Reckoning in performing arts time, one might say nine years between performances in Annapolis equals a "Brigadoon" century. In February 2000, Annapolis Chorale music director J. Ernest Green brought Brigadoon to Maryland Hall's stage in what he recalls as "only the second musical in our 'Broadway in Annapolis' series." When Brigadoon debuted on Broadway in 1947, it marked musical team Lerner and Loewe's first success and was followed by blockbusters My Fair Lady in 1956 and Camelot in 1960.

Over the past season, the Annapolis Chorale's musical director, J. Ernest Green, has been building a repertory group of soloists for popular and classical concerts. Last February with "Guys and Dolls," he introduced soprano Amy Cofield, bass-baritone Stephen Markuson and tenor Tom Magette. Elizabeth Saunders made her debut in September at the opening pop concert, "Celebration of Song." Because I had heard these artists, "Brigadoon" held great promise for Saturday, but what a special musical evening it was. The chorale's version of Lerner and Loewe's first hit sparkled with excitement from the first note.

Brigadoon on the bay; Making memoriesSomewhere down there near the bay there is a lost village, a Brigadoon. I used to spend a lot of Sunday afternoons poking around the Chesapeake Bay Western Shore country; I enjoyed the gentle beauty of the Southern Maryland countryside, the hamlets, the woodland, coves, ravines, the fenced horse farms, the rolling fields of tobacco growing like Jack's beanstalk from the tiny, lop-eared seedlings set out in the spring of...