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| Brigadoon alumni from the casts of 1994 and 2009 returned home to see the new 2024 production at Woodstown High School. A reception was hosted by director and choreograph Paul and Claudia Kranz prior to the performance (group photo on top). The photo at the bottom shows all three casts after the Friday, March 8 performance. |
It was a Brigadoon reunion for the ages.
Woodstown High School alumni from the 1990s and late 2000s assembled at the North Main St. residence of Paul and Claudia Kranz for the "Brigadunion," an event to commemorate the past productions of the musical "Brigadoon" on the Woodstown stage and celebrate the 2024 production by today's students.
For a little background, Woodstown High School Drama Club has produced the musical "Brigadoon" twice before 2024. It is produced in 15-year intervals. The casts and creative teams of the past "Brigadoons" assembled, had a wonderful time together, and spent the evening at the high school watching the current class of students perform the same musical.
The school repeats this musical for a variety of reasons: first and foremost, because the story follows two hunters who stumble upon a mystical village in Scotland that only appears for one day every 100 years. More so, the musical is full of universal, timeless themes of true love, being true to one's self, kindness, compassion, and pride and togetherness in a small community which resonate with any generation of students.
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| Brigadoon alumni from the casts of 1994 and 2009 returned home to see the new 2024 production at Woodstown High School. A reception was hosted by director and choreographer Paul and Claudia Kranz prior to the Friday and Saturday performances (group photo on top). The photo at the bottom shows all three casts and crews after the Saturday, March 8 performance. |
Their home was decorated spectacularly with the tartans of the different family names featured in Brigadoon — the same names rapidly rattled off by Brannagh Rattigan and Virginia Messick as Meg Brockie in the second act, and enjoyed by our returning Meg Brockies — Amy Probasco-Kennedy (1994) and Mary Gismonde (2009) — who were both in the audience.
There was a Christmas tree of family tartans, a chandelier of family tartans, bushels of heather, and memorabilia and photos from the prior production
Alumni traveled from as far as Hawaii, Texas, Maine, Washington D.C., and many other places all over the United States to rejoin their fellow cast and crew-mates in Woodstown and Brigadoon.
Meeting and catching up with our alumni sent a true thrill backstage. When I told the students the alumni were pouring into the audience in droves, everyone was jolted with kinetic and contagious enthusiasm.
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| 2024 Director Shannon Sheridan (who also music directed the 2009 production) and 1994/2009 Director Paul Kranz share an embrace during the pre-show ceremonies prior to Friday's performance, among the 2024 cast of Brigadoon and the Woodstown alumni who performed in the same show in 1994 and 2009. |
Prior to each performance, the Drama Club assembles outdoors to warm-up their vocal chords and participate in certain pre-show traditions which have been passed down for decades.
At the Friday and Saturday performances, all alumni were invited outside to join the cast before the show to participate in their old traditions (and many of the news one). We've never had a more rousing "Modern Major General" — the lyrics of which are spoken by a senior, then repeated by the cast as a way to open up the vocal chords and practice good diction. Chris Tighe, our Charlie Dalrymple, led the tradition perfectly and all students, crew, staff, and alumni joined in.
Alumni and packed audiences gave the 2024 students a standing ovation for what will be remembered as one of the most enjoyable and riveting experiences in Woodstown Drama Club history. It was a tremendous honor as Town Crier to meet the 1990s alumni, catch-up with old friends from the 2000s, and welcome Woodstown home.
I'd go as far to write that it was even more special than, say, a high school reunion, because, instead of assembling to celebrate having simply graduated together, everyone assembled to celebrate what they made together and can still enjoy being made by the next generation of Woodstown students: good theatre.
Learn more about Woodstown's theatre department and efforts to enhance theatre education and production in Woodstown schools, at The Curtain Call Club of Woodstown.
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Do you have Woodstown-Pilesgrove news to share? Email your Town Crier, Jim Cook at WoodstownCrier@gmail.com
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