Seven Brides make for a great ol' time

MUSICAL - SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS
Theatre Royal, Haymarket

IT may sound like a cliché to say that Seven Brides for Seven Brothers harked back to the old days of MGM technicolour when actors could sing, dance and bandy about the odd line without making anyone cringe.
But here goes. The UK Production’s spectacular performance at the Royal Haymarket Theatre was a true feast for the old-fashioned senses that Howard Keel and Jane Powell (stars of the original 1954 film) would be proud of.
The singing and acting were just the ticket, if a bit clichéd for today’s audience, but the band were superb and the dancing – we are talking fully-fledged acrobatics here – definitely had the sit-up-in-your-seat wow factor.
Girls in ruffly petticoats being whooshed around by boys who were alternately doing somersaults in seamless and endlessly inventive dance routines – what more could you possibly want?
The story is originally based on a Greek fable by Plutarchus about the abduction of the Sabine women by Roman soldiers which was then re-worked into a slightly less serious version by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1928 (and in this production it got gigglier still with three counts of bottom slapping in the first 15 minutes).
Adam, first of seven brothers, falls for local girl Millie, because of “her spunk and her hair” that shines brighter than a thoroughbred after a good brushing.
She, conveniently also one of seven, in turn decides to marry Adam because there’s goodness in his eyes, which sets somewhat the tone of the rest of the play and they way things will pan out.
The two leads, Dave Willetts and Shona Lindsay, as Adam and Millie, were both comparably excellent, and it was a particular delight watching Millie get the measure of the six brothers and educate them about women (you can’t just grab a girl like a flapjack).
And the brothers‚ hilarious hillbilly accents and barnstorming antics were hugely fun to watch, with the starring brother Gideon (Jay Webb) bringing the house down with his superlative dancing, singing and acting.
The ending was brilliant – what seemed like an impromptu dance number and proper eye-watering Disney chorus made me want to add my own Whoo ha!
Barbara Windsor, who turned up with Eastenders pal June Brown (who plays Dot Cotton), agreed. “I loved it. I was brought up on musicals like that,” she said.

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