The rash of revivals of classic musicals in recent years has swung the emphasis away from music to drama. In such prize-winning shows as the Royal National Theatre's Carousel, critics consistently praised the insights into the characters and the story. But, especially in the New York version, the leads couldn't nearly do justice to Richard Rodgers' innovative and lyrical score. You don't have to worry about the music in Lyric Stage's Brigadoon , which is playing at the Irving Arts Center's Dupree Theatre through Saturday. The singers tear into the score as if it were a 10-course banquet.
Nobody is positively bad.
It's just that these actors are taking the broader and more generalized approach that summer stock companies, with little rehearsal time, used to resort to. On Broadway itself, in the 1940s, when Brigadoon premiered, the acting probably wasn't much better than this. The ideal, of course, is to find performers who can act as well as the best and sing superbly, too. The female leads, Dara Whitehead and Laurie Vlasich, excel in both departments. Lucky is the director, such as Brigadoon 's Cheryl Denson, who can cast them both.