The story of “Seven Brides” is based on the movie adaptation of the short story “The Sobbin’ Women,” by Stephen Vincent Benét, which in turn is based on the Ancient Roman legend of The Rape of the Sabine Women. The musical tells the story of Adam Pontipee and his six brothers in Oregon in the 1850s. He’s decided he needs a wife, and thus goes into town to get one before he returns the next day. He wins over Millie, a local waitress who is sick of men, looking forward to a home with just her husband. He brings her back to the cabin, where she discovers the brothers. She eventually warms to the cabin and the life, and teaches the brothers how to court women. They go into town to a social, and are doing fine until a fight breaks out, resulting from their banishment from town. But they have found girls to love in the town, and so, after reading about the Sabine Women, they go into town and kidnap the women… but forget the preacher. This results in the men living in the barn, and the girls in the house. After a while, however, sparks do fly and courtin’ does occur (and Mille has Adam’s baby). The suitors from town finally get to the cabin, and attempt to take the women back… but all the women claim the baby is theirs, resulting in six shotgun weddings for the brothers. You can find more details in the MTI Plot Synopsis.
As you can tell by reading the plot, it is contrived and dated, and has aspects of political incorrectness from today’s point of view. So why do the show? Because it is a super dancing show, with joyful tunes and a large cast. This is great for regional production… and Cabrillo did their usual excellent job with it. They put together a strong cast of good dancers and reasonable actors, with strong orchestration, sets, and makeup. Their costumes were a little bit incongruous at times (especially Adam’s polo shirt — I didn’t think those existed in the 1850s). They should have fixed one lyric that referred to Mille as having wheat hair and blue eyes (which was being sung to a brown-eyed brunette). I also found the choreography a bit odd at time: since when do brothers in 1850’s Oregon know ballet moves? But on the whole, I had no significant complaints with Cabrillo’s execution.
The production starred Stuart Ambrose* (Adam) and Shannon Warne* (Millie ). Both were very strong singers and dancers, and were a pleasure to watch. The brothers consisted of Jonathan Sharp* (Benjamin), Joe Hall¤ (Caleb), Drew D’andrea¤ (Daniel), Trevor Krahl¤ (Ephraim), Andrew Reusch (Frank), and Jeffrey Scott Parsons (Gideon). Of the brothers, I was most impressed with Jonathan Sharp, who was a strong singer as well as a dancer. Most of the other brothers were more experienced as dancers (and it showed), but their acting was reasonable. Their eventual brides consisted of Aubrey Elson¤ (Alice), Karlee Ferreira¤ (Martha), Sarah Girard (Dorcas), Cassie Silva (Ruth), Andrea Taylor (Sarah), and Marni Zaifert¤ (Liza). All of these were reasonable actors who got into their roles quite well, and excellent dancers. I was also amused by Andrea Taylor’s ponderable in her bio: “If a cat always lands on its feet, and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what would happen if I tied buttered bread on top of a cat?”
Turning to the minor roles… the suitors who lost the girls were Alexander Gomez (Zeke), Eric Hoggins¤ (Luke), Erik Kline (Carl) [his day job is at Google], Jacob Leatherman¤ (Matt), Raymond Matsamura¤ (Jeb), and Don Pietranczyk¤ (Joel). Townspeople included Terrie Benton (Mrs. Kines), Carol-Lynn Campbell (Mrs. Bixby), Jonathan Carlisle (Mr. Perkins), Larry Craig (Mr. Sanders) [a founding member of the Colony Theatre], David Friel (Mr. Kines), Julie Jones (Mrs. Newland), John D. LeMay (Mr. Bixby), Lynda Reed (Mrs. Perkins), and Josh Shipley (Preacher). The children’s chorus consisted of Ashley Marie Arnold, Heidi Bjorndahl, Ben Gutierrez, Madeline Holcombe, Kurt Kemper, Tate Lee, Quincy Unseth, and Sydney Unseth. All of the actors in the minor roles got into their characters; I enjoyed watching them play the parts while others were doing the main singing and dancing.
(*: Actors Equity Member; ¤: primarily dancing credits)
The show was choreographed by John Charron. Musical direction was by Steven Applegate. Lighting design was by Rand Ryan, sound design by Jonathan Burke, prop design and scenery by T. Theresa Scarano, and wardrobe supervision by Christine Gibson. Hair and makeup were by Paul Hadobas and Ashley Hasson. Production stage management was by Linda Tross* and Lindsay Martens*, assisted by Rachel Samuels. The production was directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld.
One last thing while we’re on the show. nsshere and I were musing on how to update the show. I suggested “Seven Brothers for Seven Brothers”, the all-men version of the show. She countered with “Seven Boys for Seven Bruddahs”, and then we started riffing on all the possibilities. I can just see it now…
So what’s next on our theatre calendar? Next weekend there is no theatre, as I’m busy with my 30th High School Reunion on Saturday evening, and working at A Day Out with Thomas at OERM on Sunday afternoon (come on out and say “Hi”). Theatre currently starts up again after Thanksgiving with “The Unexpected Guest” at REP East (Myspace) on 11/24 @ 8pm. This is followed by “Ray Charles Live” at the Pasadena Playhouse on 12/1 @ 8pm; Tom Paxton at McCabes on 12/2 @ 7:30pm; and the highly anticipated “The Stinky Cheese Man And Other Fairly Stupid Tales” at Nobel Middle School on 12/6 @ 7pm, 12/7 @ 7pm, and maybe 12/8 @ 5pm.
