Chase Lyrics — Brigadoon

Song Overview

“The Chase” is the turning point sequence in Brigadoon, the moment when the men of the village fan out through the Highlands to stop Harry Beaton from crossing the boundary and breaking the town’s miracle. On the Brigadoon (1957 Studio Cast Recording) - produced by Goddard Lieberson for Columbia Masterworks and conducted by Lehman Engel - the cut appears late in the running order, a taut four-plus minutes of shouted calls, urgent choral writing, and hammered rhythm that accelerates the plot toward tragedy. The 1957 studio album stars Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy, Susan Johnson, and Frank Porretta; this track is led by Cassidy and the men’s chorus.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• An ensemble hunt number from Act 2 of Brigadoon that culminates in Harry Beaton’s death offstage and resets every relationship in the show.
• 1957 studio cast cut produced by Goddard Lieberson, with Lehman Engel conducting orchestra and chorus; Jack Cassidy is out front with the men.
• The sequence functions as the dramatic hinge between the communal celebration and the lament that follows, bridging directly to “There But for You Go I.”
• On screen in the 1954 film, the equivalent men’s chorus pursues dancer Hugh Laing in a stylized chase staged for cinema.
• Later revivals, including the 2017 City Center concert, restored the number with full choral force and contemporary orchestral balance.

Creation History

When Columbia Masterworks revived classic scores as modern studio-cast albums in the 1950s, Lieberson regularly paired name singers with Broadway pit specialists and a first-call chorus. Brigadoon got the deluxe treatment: sessions in mid July 1957, conductor Lehman Engel at the helm, and a clear brief - preserve the dance energy and the plot logic in audio form. That approach matters with “The Chase.” Onstage, Agnes de Mille designed the sequence to move like a single breath - shouts from offstage, men flooding in from multiple directions, then a terrible silence. On record, Engel keeps the momentum with crisp choral entrances and a rhythm section that snaps into stride. You can hear why a studio cast album was needed: the original 1947 OBC couldn’t capture everything because of format limits; this one can, and does.

Highlights and key takeaways

1. Form as fuse: It’s less a “song” than a kinetic scene set to music - calls, answers, and terse narrative lines that push action forward.
2. Folk accent, Broadway engine: The writing borrows the cadence of Scottish work calls and drills it into a clean, tight choral texture.
3. Character through chorus: Snatches of solo lines from Angus, Stuart, and Tommy puncture the crowd - individual conscience inside collective urgency.
4. Placement is everything: In text and score, the chase unlocks the funeral dance to follow and deepens the musical’s modern melancholy.
5. Cast album craft: Engel’s balances let you actually follow the cross-cutting, which is hard to do without the stage picture.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Harry Beaton, in love with the already-pledged Jean, decides to flee the village. The miracle of Brigadoon is conditional - a single exit breaks the spell for everyone - so the men sprint into the woods to find him. The chorus fans out, Tommy included, and the calls grow closer. The music stops for a scream. Harry is found dead, his head crushed on a rock. The men agree to keep the news quiet until morning so the wedding night is not destroyed. That bargain sits in the air when the next scene opens and the story changes course.

Song Meaning

“The Chase” is fear put to tempo - not moral panic, but communal responsibility. It’s also Lerner and Loewe working in the same key as mid-40s Broadway breakthroughs: using dance and chorus to stage psychology. What’s being pursued isn’t simply one man. It’s the boundary between desire and duty. Each barked line is an ethic voiced out loud - stop him to save us - and the sound of men moving together is, itself, a theme. In Brigadoon, the group has moral weight. The community sings as one, and that has costs.

Annotations

“Run and get him”

Plain words, hard cutoffs. Engel’s chorus hits the consonants like footfalls. The phrasing tells you to keep the breath short and the pulse sharp.

“Spread your human net”

A Lerner special - metaphor slipped into a barked order. The image makes the group feel like a single organism, not just many voices.

“This must not end tonight”

Tommy’s line carries the outsider’s urgency. Cassidy shapes it less like a solo and more like a flare - a distinct color inside the crowd.

“Say a prayer”

The script positions faith right next to fate. The men ask for help even as they run, a succinct summary of the musical’s worldview.

Style and feel

Orchestrationally, the cut sits in the theater sweet spot: low brass and percussion undergird the men’s chorus, with upper winds and strings punching entrances and sustaining tension. You can conduct the rhythm with your shoulders - square, forward, relentless. There’s no swing and no rubato. The tempo is an argument for order.

Emotional arc

It starts in command mode, ramps to alarm, and then drops away in shock. The silence after the scream is the loudest sound in the show. When the chorus returns with “Thanks to heaven,” you hear what denial sounds like in four parts. The writing takes you from certainty to complicity in a handful of pages.

Touchpoints

Brigadoon was conceived in the tradition of integrated musical storytelling where choreography carries plot. De Mille’s design - chase, then funeral dance - is theater grammar now. Film translations kept the principle intact, assigning the pursuit to a men’s chorus on the soundtrack and to stylized movement on screen. Later concert versions keep the choral pressure and let modern orchestras darken the colors.

Key Facts

• Artist: 1957 Studio Cast of Brigadoon (lead vocal features Jack Cassidy with men’s chorus)
• Featured: Men’s chorus; brief solo lines by character voices
• Composer: Frederick Loewe
• Lyricist: Alan Jay Lerner
• Producer: Goddard Lieberson
• Conductor: Lehman Engel
• Recording Dates: July 15, 1957 - July 16, 1957
• Release Date: 1958 (original LP issue)
• Genre: Musical theater - choral scene
• Instruments: Orchestra and men’s chorus
• Label: Columbia Masterworks (later Masterworks Broadway catalog)
• Mood: Urgent, martial, collective
• Length: Approximately 4:18 - 4:20 on common editions
• Track #: 10 on the 1957 studio cast album
• Language: English with Scots dialect
• Album: Brigadoon (1957 Studio Cast Recording)
• Music style: Driving, accented choral writing with percussive orchestral support
• Poetic meter: Mixed, with anapestic accents matching the shouted imperatives

Canonical Entities & Relations

• Goddard Lieberson - produced the 1957 studio cast album.
• Lehman Engel - conducted orchestra and chorus on the 1957 sessions.
• Jack Cassidy - leads the men’s chorus lines as Tommy in the 1957 recording.
• Shirley Jones - stars on the 1957 album as Fiona.
• Agnes de Mille - created the original stage choreography that frames the chase and the funeral dance.
• Vincente Minnelli - directed the 1954 film adaptation that includes a men’s-chorus “Chase.”
• Hugh Laing - dancer pursued by the men’s chorus in the film sequence.
• Ghostlight Records - issued the 2017 City Center concert album that includes the number.

Questions and Answers

Why does Lerner call the mob a “human net”?

Because the chorus is the point - not any one hero. The men move as one body, and the metaphor turns a group into a single instrument.

How does the 1957 studio version convey a stage chase without visuals?

With entrance pacing and dynamic blocks. Engel tightens the distance between shouts, stacks the parts, then yanks the floor away for the scream.

What’s distinctive about the text setting?

The lines are short and imperative. Consonants land like boots. The lyric avoids poetry in favor of orders, so rhythm carries meaning.

Is this number melodic or percussive?

Mostly percussive. Melodic fragments exist, but the memory you carry is the pattern of repeated calls and the churn of the accompaniment.

Where does the sequence sit in the show’s emotional map?

Right on the fault line. Joy and ritual on one side, grief and self-reproach on the other. The chase cracks the day open.

Does the film treat the moment differently?

It keeps the choral pursuit but translates the danger into stylized images. The men’s chorus sings while the camera cuts through mist and shadow.

Who sings on the 1957 track?

Jack Cassidy carries Tommy’s lines; the men’s chorus answers and surrounds him. The credits list orchestra and chorus under Lehman Engel.

Is there a definitive tempo?

No. Recordings vary. Some modern concert editions ride a medium clip; others press faster to heighten urgency. The studio-cast cut sits in the middle.

Does the number have a standalone life outside the show?

Not in the way ballads do. But cast albums, the film soundtrack, and the 2017 concert release keep it present in the discography.

What follows musically after the chase?

The funeral dance and processional. In staging and on album, that sequence reframes the community, moving from pursuit to mourning.

Awards and Chart Positions

There’s no single release or chart placement specific to “The Chase,” but the work that frames it did receive significant recognition. Brigadoon won the 1947 Tony Award for Best Choreography. The 1954 film adaptation - which includes a men’s-chorus numbered as “The Chase” - was nominated for three Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe for color cinematography. Those honors speak to the integration of music, movement, and image that make this sequence land.

How to Sing The Chase

Think like a section leader in a pit chorus - clarity and stamina, not soloism. This is men’s chorus territory with interleaved character lines; your job is to place consonants together, breathe on the rests, and keep the tempo honest. Modern concert recordings suggest a medium pace; some editions clock slower for suspense, others push forward to mirror the running feet. One commercial accompaniment source lists the number in G and around 4:40 in length, which aligns with many cast albums. A 2017 concert take sits closer to a moderate 90s bpm feel.

• Key: Commonly printed around G for rehearsal accompaniments; cast albums land where the ensemble sits best.
• Tempo: Moderate to brisk. Aim for a pace that allows crisp diction on repeated imperatives without smearing consonants.
• Range & tessitura: Low to mid for tenors and baritones in unison or two-part blocks, with occasional higher punctuation.

Step-by-step HowTo

1. Tempo and feel: Establish a steady pulse before text. Conduct internal eighths so cutoffs are unanimous.
2. Diction: Land the initial consonant together on words like “Run” and “Stop.” Keep vowels short to match the urgency.
3. Breath: Breathe only at rests or punctuation. Stagger if you’re in a smaller chorus to avoid gaps in the texture.
4. Flow and dynamics: Shape a long crescendo from the first call to the scream break. Back off immediately after, as the scene turns.
5. Accent work: Use light Scots color on “ken” and “brae” without caricature. The dialect is a flavor, not a mask.
6. Ensemble balance: Let character interjections sit on top briefly, then rejoin the block. Think crowd psychology - surge and settle.
7. Mic technique: If amplified, favor a slightly off-axis position to keep plosives from popping. In acoustic halls, aim sound straight downstage.
8. Common pitfalls: Rushing the repeated refrains, letting the pitch sag on shouted lines, and swallowing final consonants.

Practice materials: Full vocal scores list the sequence, and commercially available rehearsal tracks provide melody and piano-only versions in standard keys. Pair with the 1957 studio cast track and a modern concert recording to compare tempi and articulation choices.

Additional Info

On the album bench: The 1957 studio cast recording exists because Lieberson believed important Broadway scores deserved full-range studio documentation. With Engel conducting, these projects prioritize clarity of orchestration and story - perfect for a kinetic scene like this one. The track list on this set restores narrative continuity missing from the truncated 1947 album, so listeners get the chase, the funeral, and the love scene that follows as a clean arc.

On film and in concert: The 1954 movie gives the chase to a men’s chorus and to dancer Hugh Laing, who bolts for the edge of the enchanted village. Camera and chorus together do what de Mille’s staging did on Broadway. Decades later, City Center’s concert staging kept male voices front-and-center and recorded the number for a modern audience, proof that the sequence stays potent even without a full book scene around it.

Choreography and legacy: Contemporary critics and revival notes often single out the chase and the funeral dance to explain why Brigadoon feels so integrated. It isn’t just that songs stop for dance - it’s that dance is the story. The 1957 track preserves that feeling on record by keeping the chorus energized and the rhythm section honest. For listeners who only know the big ballads, this cut explains the show’s spine.

Sources: Masterworks Broadway; CastAlbums Database; Music Theatre International synopsis; Wikipedia entries for Brigadoon musical and film; Ovrtur database; Ghostlight Records notes; Apple Music listings; AllMusic; Playbill On the Record; Theatregold database; Tunebat; PianoTrax; Agnes de Mille official site; New York City Center study guide.