The delightful musical of yesteryear offers a welcome respite from today’s ugliness as we journey into the Scottish Highlands and find the perfect girl a-waiting.
By John Lavitt
Pasadena, CA (The Hollywood Times) 05-19-2026
In a time of toxicity, division, and relentless noise, the Pasadena Playhouse production of Brigadoon washes over you like a heartwarming escape into the dream of community, companionship, and love. Lerner and Loewe’s beloved musical has always asked audiences to believe in the impossible: a Scottish village that appears only once every hundred years. Yet in this tender new production, the fantasy does not feel like an antique theatrical device. It feels like a necessary act of imagination.
Directed and choreographed by Katie Spelman, with a new adaptation by Alexandra Silber, Brigadoon finds renewed emotional purpose at the Playhouse. A key transportive element is the inspired scenic design by Jason Sherwood, who has the perfect name. He creates a magical place like Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest, where dreams can breathe far away from the oppression of mad rulers. The Brigadoon archway over the theatre’s proscenium arch creates a sense of timelessness with moss and stone.
Rather than treating the story as a quaint relic, the production leans into its central longing. What if there were still places untouched by cynicism? What if love could interrupt despair? What if community were not a slogan but a living reality?
Max von Essen brings warmth and clarity to the role of Tommy Albright, the American traveler who stumbles into Brigadoon and discovers that wonder can still break through modern disillusionment. His performance has the open-hearted sincerity the role demands, especially when the score allows him to surrender to romantic possibility.
As his best friend and present-day sidekick, Jeff Douglas, Happy Anderson offers a raucous, funny counterpoint, allowing the skeptical outsider to express his brashness with humor and head shaking. Together, they evoke a brotherly duo like Tom Hanks and John Candy in Splash. Indeed, it is a magical friendship that brings out the very best in both actors.
Opposite Max Von Essen in the love story, Betsy Morgan gives Fiona MacLaren a grounded grace. She is beautiful and intelligent, well aware of the value of sudden love, which comes like a gift from the heavens. Their connection makes the musical’s central question feel immediate: when the world offers you a miracle, are you brave enough to believe in it?
Tyne Daly enriches the production as Widow Lundie, a wise and welcome presence who anchors the village with moral authority and gentle humor. Daniel Yearwood’s Charlie Dalrymple brings buoyant energy to the village, and Jessica Lee Keller is disarmingly effective as the mute Maggie Anderson. Her powerful expression of grief through movement is the highlight of the second act. Around them, the ensemble gives Brigadoon the feel of a true community, not merely a backdrop for romance.
The familiar standards, including “Almost Like Being in Love” and “The Heather on the Hill,” retain their sweeping charm. With live orchestration, lush choreography, and a visual world that honors the material’s romantic spirit, the Playhouse production invites the audience to breathe differently for a couple of hours.
What makes this Brigadoon work is not nostalgia alone. The production believes that innocence need not be naïve. In 2026, a musical about a hidden village built on devotion and faith could easily feel shallowly escapist. Instead, this energetic and impassioned production feels restorative.
The dream matters because the real world is so bruised. By the end, Brigadoon reminds us that love is not merely a private feeling between two people. Rather, it is a place we choose to call home, which ultimately becomes the foundation of all true communities.
