What Show is David Eggers Talking About?

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 3:17pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWfSPqTDXW7/

A "big revival" he was assistant choreographer on - that had an out of town press performance - designs were in place - and minutes before the final callback for dance ensemble, the show was cancelled. 

 

should have read comments before posting - it was 2008 Brigadoon to be directed by Rob Ashford

Updated On: 3/31/26 at 03:17 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 3:44pm

Somewhere I once read a synopsis of John Guare's book revisions for that BRIGADOON and it sounded so much better than the original.

Would be interesting to compare the various versions from throughout the years to see which works the best:

• the original
• the film script
• the Brian Hill revision seen in Chicago and at Shaw Fest
• the trimmed City Center gala version of the original
• recent Regents Park production
• upcoming Alexandra Silber revision at Pasadena

(Maybe there have been others, too??)

[joevitus]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 3:57pm

Definitely not the film script. 

I love Brigadoon, and I was in a professional production as a kid, but encountering the script again in college after having only listed to the score all those years in between, I was taken aback by how not a great the book is. Not sure if revisions have improved it or not. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 4:09pm

I saw a production in Pittsburgh with the original script a few years ago. It mostly lays there like a dead fish, and then one HILARIOUS scene which was probably not intended for comedy in the original draft was wisely played as a joke instead.

When the boys have returned to the present, they go to a nightclub, and keep having musical flashbacks to the events in Brigadoon. It plays like a Mel Brooks scene if you do it "wrong," and if the rest of the show had been that whimsical, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience, despite the wonderful voices of the cast.

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 4:09pm

Also, it took me a minute to realize David Eggers was not Robert Eggers, and I was trying to conceive of a Robert Eggers Brigadoon...

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 4:15pm

darquegk said: "Also, it took me a minute to realize David Eggers was not Robert Eggers, and I was trying to conceive of a Robert Eggers Brigadoon..."

💯!!! For a minute, all I could picture was:

"From the Director of The VVitch, The Lighthouse, and Nosferatu...comes Brigadoon." 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 4:25pm

Alan Jay Lerner really should have stuck to lyrics, not books. MY FAIR LADY is far and away his most successful book, and that lifts full scenes from Shaw/Pascal and mostly maintains the play's structure (a wise move!)