Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Florida - West Coast

Brigadoon
Manatee Players

Also see Bill's review of Life Upon the Wicked Stage


Lindsay Yarbrough and Bill Shideler
Manatee Players has chosen to ring in 2015 with the perennial Brigadoon, my favorite Lerner and Loewe musical. Yes, My Fair Lady is more perfect, but the Scottish setting and those glorious songs ... "Heather on the Hill," "Almost Like Being in Love," "Come to Me, Bend to Me," "There But for You Go I." I am much more inclined to pull John McGlinn's almost perfect studio recording of this show off the shelf than My Fair Lady any day.

Brigadoon is difficult for a community theater company to do well, as it requires several really strong voices, makes great demands on the costume department, and the director needs to establish an otherworldly atmosphere. Manatee Players meets met some but not all of these challenges.

I saw this production at the first Sunday matinee, after a very long week of tech rehearsals, dress rehearsal, opening night, and subsequent performances. Some of the principal singing seemed to suffer; both Hunter Brown as Charlie Dalrymple and Lindsay Yarbrough as Fiona MacLaren had an unfortunate afternoon, often singing sharp. Ms. Yarbrough is otherwise a charming Fiona opposite the Tommy Albright of Bill Shideler. Mr. Shideler sings well but strikes me as more juvenile than full out leading man. He better encompassed the role of Dick in the recent Dames at Sea. Jason Moore provides the proper dry humor as sidekick Jeff Douglas, pursued by Noelia Altamirano as Meg Brockie. She has two show-stopping comic numbers, "The Love of My Life" and "My Mother's Wedding Day," and delivers both strongly. One suggestion to her, from someone who has done most of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic roles: slowing the tempo down just a little will make it seem to the audience that you are singing faster. Aside from the singing issues, Hunter Brown is a perfect romantic tenor, strikingly handsome with great stage presence. Sophia Masterson as his beloved Jean does not sing except as part of the ensemble, but she dances well. In important supporting parts, Cole Kornell as Harry Beaton and Alex Topp as Mr. Lundie are very good. The single most exciting moment is when Bob Davidson playing the bagpipes enters from the rear of the auditorium to lend gravitas to the funeral sequence.

Brigadoon is a heavy dancing show; it was originally choreographed by the legendary Agnes De Mille. Dancing is rarely the strongest element in community theater, but Cynthia Ashford gets respectable dancing performances from her entire cast.

Steve Dawson, a much beloved leading performer in his own right, directs this production. I wish he had a better sense of time and place for this show because his cast does not capture the atmosphere that I referred to above as strongly as I might have wished. Music direction by G. Frank Meekins finds a great deal of the romantic sweep in the score.

Costumes designed by Becky Evans are one of the strongest elements of this production. Ditto the lighting by Joseph P. Oshry. Scenery by Bill Booth is cleverly realized and two of the backdrops are wonderful—the scene in the town square looks like the cast could actually walk the roads right out of town.

I'm glad that Manatee Players has mounted Brigadoon. It is such a great show that audiences deserve a chance to see it often.

Manatee Players presents Brigadoon at Manatee Center for the Performing Arts through January 25, 2015, at 502 3rd Ave W., Bradenton; 941 748-0111, manateeplayers.com.

Cast (in order of appearance):
Tommy Albright: Bill Shideler
Jeff Douglas: Jason Moore
Archie Beaton: Kevin Kalley
Harry Beaton: Cole Kornell
Fishmonger: Daniele Grutzner
Angus McGuffie: Mark Eichorn
Sandy Dean: Bradley Keville
Andrew MacLaren: Kris Thoreson
Fiona MacLaren: Lindsay Yarbrough
Jean MacLaren: Sophia Masterson
Meg Brockie: Noelia Altamirano
Charlie Dalrymple: Hunter Brown
Maggie Anderson: Rachel Gross
Mr. Lundie: Alex Topp
Sword Dancers: Joshua Van Dyke, Mark Eichorn, Cole Kornell
Frank: Dan Wuethrich
Kate: Alexa DiTaranto
Jane Ashton: Megan Dunn Cox
Stuart Dalrymple: Craig Engle
MacGegor: Dan Wuethrich
Bagpiper: Bob Davidson
Townsfolk: Joshua Van Dyke, Liam McGuire, Cheryl S. Gutner, Alexandra Mackey, Madeline Cashen, Daniele Grutzner, Patty McGuire, Nancy Brining,

Orchestra:
Conductor/Keyboard: G. Frank Meekins
2nd Keyboard: Christine Allen-Bruno
Reeds: Teri booth
Trumpet Victor Mongillo
Percussion: Paul Henry

Directed by Steve Dawson
Music Direction by G. Frank Meekins
Choreography by Cynthia Ashford
Costumes Designed by Becky Evans
Scenery by Bill Booth>br>Lighting Designed by Joseph P. Oshry
Production Stage Manager: Sarah Martin

Manatee Players has announced their 2015-16 season. Highlights of the Main Stage series include Cats, The Secret Garden(The Lucy Simon version), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the area premiere of The Little Mermaid, Chess, and Maury Yeston's Phantom. In the Kiwanis Theater, The Boys Next Door, Yank a WWII Love Story, Bark the musical, The Diary of Anne Frank and To Kill a Mockingbird will be presented. Please visit the Manatee Players website for additional 2015-16 titles.


Photo: Denny Miller, Manatee Players

--William S. Oser