The Queanbeyan
Players,
The
Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre until 17th November
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
 |
| Charles Hudson as Charlie Photo: Rebecca Doyle Photography |
Queanbeyan
Players have built their reputation in presenting unsophisticated, proudly
amateur productions of popular musicals and operettas. So if you’re expecting magical
transformations and misty glens, forget it. This “Brigadoon”, directed by Greg
Wallace, is a rather Spartan affair presented mostly in front of a backdrop
depicting Canadian redwood pines, with other scenes performed in front of black
drapes with basic set-pieces.
This most
delicate of musicals is a fantasy about two young Americans who, while hiking
in the Scottish highlands, discover a
mystical village called Brigadoon which appears for just one day every hundred
years.
For this,
their third production of “Brigadoon” over the years, Queanbeyan Players have
assembled a large cast headed by Gerard Ninnes and Paul Jackson, both excellent
as the two Americans. Among the inhabitants of Brigadoon, Alyssa Morse is a
lovely Fiona singing prettily and acting with sincerity, and Janet Tweedie is delightfully
feisty as Meg. Playing Charlie, handsome Charles Hudson was inexplicably un-amplified
for his important tenor solos. Phil Perman is excellent as Mr Murdoch, and Peter
Smith and Rob Grice add gravitas to the other senior roles.
The gorgeous
Lerner and Lowe score, is , for the main, well sung by the company, accompanied
by an impressive 28 piece orchestra conducted by Jennifer Groom,. Even if your
preference is towards a more ethereal presentation, this production still
provides a welcome opportunity to revisit this classic Lerner and Lowe musical.
This review appears in City News November 8 - 14 issue