Louis Gaunt and Danielle Fiamanya in Brigadoon [Mark Senior]

REGENT’S Park Open-Air Theatre is the perfect location for Drew McOnie’s revival of Brigadoon – his first production as artistic director. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 musical, famously adapted into a 1954 film starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, hasn’t been seen in London for over 35 years.

Set in the Scottish Highlands, David Colvin and Robin Mackenzie’s bagpipes provide a thrilling prelude to Rona Munro’s new adaptation.

Munro introduces a darker thread by situating the story during, rather than after, the Second World War. The two outsiders, originally hunters, are now fighter pilots, Tommy (Louis Gaunt) and Jeff (Cavan Clarke), who have crash-landed in the Highlands and are searching for a way home.

They stumble upon the village of Brigadoon, where sisters Fiona (Danielle Fiamanya, alternating with Georgina Onuorah) and Jean (Jasmine Jules Andrews) are preparing for a wedding.

Tommy falls for Fiona but soon learns why this mysterious village doesn’t appear on any maps: Brigadoon emerges for only one day every hundred years. To stay with Fiona, Tommy must leave behind the war and everything he holds dear.

Aside from Almost Like Being in Love, the score isn’t especially memorable, though the duet between Jean and her fiancé Charlie (Gilli Jones) is a highlight. Lusty Meg (Nic Myers) injects comic energy with The Love of My Life and her playful baiting of Jeff.

It’s beautifully choreographed by McOnie, who builds on Agnes de Mille’s original dances with panache. Basia Bińkowska’s heather-covered set rivals that of last year’s smash hit Fiddler on the Roof, while Sama Fendall’s costumes are a delight, reflecting the colours of the Scottish glens, and using newly designed tartans for kilts and shawls.

Warmly recommended before the weather turns.

Until September 20
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