Brigadoomed

I just watched the 1954 MGM musical Brigadoon. Normally, I cannot stand Van Johnson (who, by the way, is still alive and kicking at age 90. Well, maybe not kicking. Maybe just sputtering). But my disdain for him was balanced out by my affection for co-star Gene Kelly and director Vincente Minnelli, whose name I can spell thanks to the song "Liza With a Z."


Anyway, Brigadoon is about two modern-day hunters who, lost in the Scottish Highlands, come across a town (called Brigadoon) that awakens once every hundred years, thanks to a magical spell meant to protect the town from witches. At one point, we find out that it's May 24. And I can imagine high schools and community theaters across the country, in May 2054, putting on productions of Brigadoon. I can also imagine the ultimate musical theater geek traveling to the Scottish Highlands on May 24, 2054 in search of Brigadoon.

But what really bothers me about the musical (even though, for the most part, I enjoyed it), was that, if it was a magical village with a spell set on it, why was it impossible for the spell to be broken so that the village could, you know, wake up every day and learn how to assimilate into modern life? Now, THAT would be a movie. They're learning jazz music! They're eating hamburgers! They're watching I Love Lucy. And loving it!

Brigadoon 2: Brig it On!