Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Music by Frederick Loewe. Directed by David Adams. A Gateway Theatre production. At the Gateway Theatre until January 1

Brigadoon makes the mistaken assumption that audiences will find its kitsch Scottish characters irresistibly quaint.

The premise of this sentimental 1947 piece is that in 1705, the Christian minister of a wee town in the Highlands worried that his parishioners might come under the influence of witchcraft, which, in the terms of the musical, is supposed to represent the wickedness of social change. To save his friends from Wiccans and hell, he prayed for a miracle, and God obliged: now, every night when the townspeople go to sleep, 100 years pass in the rest of the world. The inhabitants of Brigadoon, so the reasoning goes, won't live in any century long enough to be affected by its evils.

It makes sense that Brigadoon was a postwar hit. After the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the future can't have looked too promising. No wonder this fantasy of returning to a bucolic-and totally fictitious-Anglo-Saxon past appealed to white America. It doesn't wash in the 21st century, though. Watching the show, I couldn't stop thinking that Highland villagers from 300 years ago would be smelly little runts with bad teeth. And the plan of waking once every century seems awfully optimistic; if you fall asleep for the first time on Monday night, what are your chances of finding an inhabitable world in which to greet the dawn a week Friday?

In the story, two American hikers from the present day-this production makes them Canadian-happen upon Brigadoon as it makes a rare appearance in the mist. One of the guys, Tommy, falls for Fiona, a local lass, but he has to believe in the miracle of the town-and in the miracle of love-to win his heart's desire. The setup for all of this is clumsy and takes forever. "Come to Me, Bend to Me" is the only good song, and many of the musical numbers are oddly shaped, with long dance sequences following the vocal bits. That might be okay if the choreography were more inspired-Agnes De Mille set the movement for the original production-but in this version, a little Highland fling goes a very long way, even though the dancers are obviously skilled.

The leads deliver work of varying quality. Jeremy Crittenden plays Charlie Dalrymple, who marries Fiona's sister. Crittenden has a sweet, flexible tenor and he knows how to take the stage. He's a charmer. As a sex enthusiast named Meg Brockie, Laura Jaszcz is inventive and engaging. And I enjoyed the timing and honesty that Leon Willey brings to the role of Tommy's cynical pal, Jeff. As Tommy, Mark Pawson has to fight the natural reserve of his stage presence; the night I was there he didn't win. Evelyn Thatcher (Fiona) sings like a nightingale.

Overall, there's a big stylistic problem: director David Adams has encouraged his largely amateur cast to act with all of the subtlety of the Ice Capades, especially during the musical numbers.

The physical production is mostly traditional, but Shane Droucker lights midday as if the sun had already set; if this is supposed to be expressionistic, it's out of place here.

Why mount a production of Brigadoon at Christmas, even if you put sprigs of holly in the women's hair? Why do Brigadoon at all?