Theatre review: Brigadoon

Brigadoon! Aha! Take it now or leave it, now is all we get, nothing promised no regrets!

About 18 months after Drew McOnie was announced as Artistic Director of the Regents Park Open Air Theatre we get his first directing gig in the post, the sort of thing that gets seen as a statement of intent for his tenure. And what we get is Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe's (music) Brigadoon, which is certainly... a statement. On the 1st of May 1944, American airmen Tommy (Louis Gaunt) and Jeff (Cavan Clarke) crash in a part of Scotland so remote there's nothing on the map. But on this one day the place is far from desolate, as they encounter the bustling, suspiciously old-fashioned town of Brigadoon, where the people are mainly occupied with moving milk, beer and tartan cloth backwards and forwards, while preparing for a wedding that night. While Jeff gets pursued by the local maneater Meg (Nic Myers,) Tommy finds a more serious romantic interest.