Brigadoon
Brigadoon is a popular romantic musical revolving around a fictional Scottish village of the same name that appears only once every hundred years. The story has achieved such fame that the term Brigadoon is often used to refer to any person or place that is seen only occasionally.
The musical paints a highly romaticised, stereotypical and old fashioned picture of Scotland, which is of course part of its charm. It's also led to the term Brigadoonery being used to refer to any such over-the-top depictions of Scotland.
History
Brigadoon was written in 1947 by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe and began life as a Broadway musical which transferred to London in 1949. The show won several awards and was extremely successful, so a movie version was released in 1954. The film starred Gene Kelley and was directed by Vincente Minnelli. Since then there have been several stage revivals and TV adaptions.The basic concept of the story is an old one. It has elements of the fairy legends which say that any mortal who enters fairyland will never be able to return. More specifically it was probably based on an old German story concerning the vilage of Germelshausen - the action was moved to Scotland to avoid post-WWII sensitivities concerning Germany.
The Real Brigadoon?
The village of Brigadoon is, of course, pure fiction. However there is a real Scottish village called Brig o'Doon (Bridge of Doon). This is situated near Alloway and may well have been the inspiration for the name.Interestingly, Brig o'Doon itself has magical literary connotations. It appears in the Robert Burns poem Tam o'Shanter when Tam escapes a witch by crossing the bridge over the river Doon - witches, of course, can't cross running water.
External Links:
Lerner & Loewe's
Brigadoon
