`BRIGADOON' BRINGS FANTASY TOWN TO LIFE ON PALMDALE STAGE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Enchantment and romance in the misty realm of the Scottish Highlands will come to the Palmdale Playhouse this weekend with Desert Opera Theatre's production of ``Brigadoon.''

Considered the first major success of the songwriting team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, the 1947 musical tells the story of two men who get lost while hunting and chance upon Brigadoon, a town that emerges for only one day every 100 years.

``Basically, it's a musical fantasy as opposed to a musical comedy,'' said director Bill Dearth. ``It has a lot to say about dreams and believing in something deeply enough to give up your life for it. It's a message we desperately need to hear.''

The performance will start at 8 p.m. tonight at the Palmdale Playhouse, 38334 10th St. E.

Other performances will be at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9-10 and Aug. 16-17, with 2 p.m. shows on Sunday, Aug. 11, and Aug. 18.

Tickets are $12 for general admission; $10 for seniors, students and military personnel; and $8 for young people.

Co-creators of ``My Fair Lady'' and ``Camelot,'' Lerner and Loewe in ``Brigadoon'' penned some of their loveliest music, including ``The Heather on the Hill,'' ``From This Day On,'' and ``Almost Like Being in Love.''

It was the first musical chosen as Best Play by the New York Drama Critics Circle, and Agnes De Mille won a Tony Award for her outstanding dance direction.

The musical was made into an MGM film in 1954 starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse.

Among the cast of 35 is Scott Lubinski. He plays Tommy Albright, who falls in love with a Brigadoon girl, Fiona MacLaren, and must decide if he loves her enough to stay in Brigadoon forever.

``It's one of the best-written musicals,'' said Lubinski, 33, the music director at the First Assembly of God Church in Lancaster. ``When it first came out, Lerner and Loewe received a lot of criticism because it wasn't funny. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be a serious play with music.''

Cynthia Casey, 33, of La Crescenta plays Fiona. She had appeared in the musical when she was 16, playing Fiona's sister Bonnie Jean.

``I love the play, the enchantment of it,'' said Casey, who works as a senior secretary at a hospital. ``I really like the love story. I'm also Scottish. That might have something to do with it.''

``Brigadoon'' marks the fifth theatrical production for Bill Smith, who plays Tommy's friend Jeff Douglas. Smith, 37, is a flight test engineer who works on the B-2 program at Edwards Air Force Base.

``I have the only nonsinging, nondancing role in the show. I'm the cynic,'' Smith said. ``This show is a love story about miracles. Jeff is a cynic. He doesn't quite believe in all of it.''

Donna Burke, who had worked with Desert Opera Theatre since 1984 before moving three years ago to Pasadena, garnered the ``comic relief'' role of milkmaid Meg Brockie, whom Burke describes as the town's ``loose woman.''

``I was in it in high school,'' said Burke, 43, who works at a bank card security division. ``When I found out they were doing it, I felt it was worth the commute. It's a very heartwarming story in that it touches some of the innocence and purity that can be in a true-love relationship.''

Audience members can look at the ``minimalist staging,'' as the theater company attempted to create a town that's really not there, Dearth said.

``We wanted to create a very dreamlike quality,'' Dearth said. ``For example, nothing is complete. There are pieces of things, parts of a wall or a well.''

Desert Opera Theatre was formed in 1971 and is celebrating its 26th season.

Actors may be anyone - schoolchildren, homemakers, teachers, doctors, lawyers or retirees, Dearth said.

``It's people who have a love of theater,'' Dearth said. ``Most of us would be unhappy people if we didn't have this to do. We would feel very empty.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Director Bill Dearth, center, instruct s the cast in the town square scene of ``Brigadoon,'' which Dearth calls a ``musical fantasy.''

(2--Color) Donna Burke rehearses a ``Brigadoon'' scene with William L. Smith.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News