The curtain rose on a tree-bordered stage and Scottish accents emerged from beyond the fog machine as Carrington Hall was transported back 200 years for the opening night of “Brigadoon” Friday Nov. 20.

Scene one: a pair of well dressed contemporary New Yorkers wandered through the forests of Scotland, on a vacation hike gone astray.  Following the sound of ethereal singing, they came upon a town called Brigadoon, where ladies still wore corsets and men still wore kilts. They requested to use a phone,  but none could be procured, in a moment of ‘Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in the 21st century anymore.’

As the musical progressed, the New Yorkers were slowly seduced by the magic of Brigadoon, and by the charms of the female villagers themselves. In a final plot twist, the leading man chooses a Scottish lass over his life back in New York, and they live happily and old fashionedly ever after.

Highlights of the play included junior Colston Reinhoff’s performance as the modern leading man, Tommy Albright. The love in the air was tangible as the romance between him and Scotlander Fiona MacLaren, played by sophomore Katie Benway, defied space, time and culture shock.

“My favorite part is the song ‘Almost Like Being in Love,’ because it’s such a powerful moment. [My character and I] both want love in life, and won’t let people beat us down,” Reinhoff said.

Another highlight was junior Noa Amzallag’s featured dance performance as Maggie Anderson, a Scottish lass who unlike Tommy and Fiona, has been unlucky in love. In a several minute long routine, the girls in the cast all kick up their heels in a style of Scottish dancing involving jumps and twists. At the front and center was Maggie, acting out her pursuit of the young man who broke her heart.

“Maggie got rejected so many times, and I wanted to convey all the emotions she felt through my dancing,” Amzallag said.

Another character of Meg Brockie was played by Danielle Croft, whose center stage solo in ‘The Love of My Life’ lit up the whole theater. Croft expressed that the best part of her role was Meg’s free spirit.

In the audience was junior and former Sequoia student Allie Wells, who attends Middle College and once played Meg in a production of Brigadoon with a different company.

“Meg is such a robust character with so much energy, and I think that’s also Danielle as a person,” Wells said. “The whole play was amazing.”

The musicians behind the dance numbers played live below the stage, clad in black and arrayed in a makeshift orchestra pit. The group rehearsed for three hours every Saturday morning for a month in advance, in order to prepare the uptempo pieces full of key changes.

“The music is difficult, but it’s worth it,” junior clarinetist Ariana Lazich said.  

Although the rehearsals were demanding and the routines were challenging, by opening night it all came together. By the final curtain call, it was almost like the audience themselves had fallen in love.