Some people say that life imitates art; the marriage of Beth and Robert Clausnitzer in 1999, four years after playing wedded couple Jean McLaren and Charlie Dalrymple in a Saucon Valley Summer Theatre production of 'Brigadoon', certainly exemplifies this saying.
Nineteen years later, Beth and Robert have reprised their performances in 'Brigadoon', this time at Munopco, and this time are joined by their 16-year-old son Christian, who is now playing Charlie.
Robert plays the role of Tommy Albright, an American tourist in the Scottish village of Brigadoon; and Beth plays the role of Jane Ashton, Tommy’s American fiancee.
This story alone is incredible.
But, even without a real life marriage, please go see Munopco’s production of 'Brigadoon'.
It is magical from beginning to end, this fairy tale of a New York lad who stumbles upon a Scottish Highland village that comes to musical life but one day every hundred years, manages to fall in love with a village lass, and is confronted with the decision to return to his beloved Apple or remain in Brigadoon for eternity. (Since there isn't a sequel, take a guess how it all turns out.)
'Brigadoon' starts with high-energy orchestral music, designed to get the audience psyched up for a heartwarming show. The music goes from lively to melancholy, setting the pace for the many emotions felt in this story.
Director Rody Gilkeson leads a strong cast of beautiful singers and hilarious actors.
Musical Director Julius Sarkozy did an amazing job with this cast, as did Choreographer Joey Schubert.
"McConnachy Square" is a very entertaining song and the first one in the show. It showcases many of the ensemble members’ talents. Deven Windisch as Sandy Dean steals the scene with his singing and dancing. Mackenzie Lewis as Maggie Anderson, a featured dancer, and Olivia Theisen as another featured dancer are also strong performers who make the song even more entertaining.
Christian Clausnitzer is another very strong actor, and no doubt followed in his father’s footsteps. When listening to him sing, “Go Home With Bonnie Jean”, it was easy forget that I was watching a 16-year-old boy.
Of all the many heavenly performers in the cast, Elizabeth Marsh-Gilkeson, as Fiona MacLaren, has the most angelic voice.
Jessica Weber provides lots of entertainment as the promiscuous, sassy Meg Brockie.
'Brigadoon' itself has many built-in laugh lines, for example, “Oh, you’re Americans!” “Well, I am. He’s from New Jersey.”
As I mentioned earlier, however, not all moments in this show are funny. For example, there is a heart-rending moment the night before Jean’s marriage to Charlie when Harry Beaton, Jean’s ex-fiancee, doesn’t want anything to do with the wedding and is down on himself for not going to university and “making something of myself”. Actors Nikola Georgievski and David Knoller play that scene beautifully.
Elizabeth Boehm as Jean MacLaren is not only a great singer and actor, she is also a beautiful dancer. Lewis and Theisen join her for a ballet sequence in the scene before her wedding, and it is very moving.
An unusual but still entertaining part of the show was most groups of the ensemble coming out before Jean’s and Charlie’s wedding began, and the father of each group announcing his family names as a way to announce their presence. The four sword dancers during this scene, Danny Garcia, Nikola Georgievski, Jaedon Muhl and Lisa Suppan, were very talented and entertaining. Lewis and Theisen joined this dance, and then more characters did as well, until it gets ugly---but I won’t go into details, lest I spoil the show.
Robert Calder as Mr. Lundie despite having a relatively minor role, carries his scenes very well.
Beth Claustnitzer as Tommy’s snobby fiancee Jane Ashton is very convincing- and considering that the pair is married in real life, their annoyance with each other in the play is either an indication of what fine actors they are, or very true to life after nineteen years of marriage!
All the actors playing Scottish characters had very believable accents. If you close your eyes, you could forget that they’re not actually from Scotland.
No show, especially no musical, would be complete without the works of the too-often unsung heroes in the technical realm.
Brett Oliveira as set designer, who also appears in the show as Tommy’s best friend Jeff Douglas, did an amazing job (as he always does), along with Kristen Wettstein. Each backdrop of every scene made me feel like I was there.
Lighting Technician Jonathan Tobias and Sound Technician Kristi Wagner made the thunderstorm scene very realistic and believable.
Costume Designer Mary Catherine Bracali created costumes highly fitting for the setting of Brigadoon.
Stage Manager and Assistant Stage Manager Michele Cerrone and Laura Hafner help the show move along seamlessly, and Production Manager Vince Rutkowski helps make the production into the great spectacle I saw.
Performances are 8 pm September 21, 22, 28 and 29; 2 pm September 23.
Ticket prices are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors (62 +), $15 for students (K-College), and a group rate of $22 for groups of 15 or more.
The run time for the preview was 2 hours, 25 minutes, including the intermission.