Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

I had a lovely evening as a guest of Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society watching their youth section perform the rarely seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In great company we took our seats in an incredibly hot auditorium and immediately felt sorry for the cast who had to perform on such a hot and humid evening. However, this did not seem to affect the cast in any way.

A short overture with the surprise element of having Harry Jobson, playing Adam, walking through the audience singing, with the most beautiful voice, opened the show. It certainly was a wow moment and how brave of this young man to open the show in such a way. His confidence throughout never waivered and he had a lovely relationship with Ella Sutton, playing Milly, who matched him vocally with an equally beautiful voice and a confidence seldom seen in someone so young. The very talented cast was huge, and the number of young men was staggering and what’s more they could all sing and dance.

All credit to the musical director for the phrasing and delivery of all the songs; it was evident that this is an expectation of WODYS which was delivered throughout the evening by everyone, although Harry and Ella were outstanding. The harmonies from them and the whole ensemble were beautiful. The ages of the chorus, dancers and principals range between 8 and 18 but the professionalism of everyone made you completely forget that this was a youth group.

The casting was a master stroke as the brothers matched their prospective wives perfectly, which was just as well as the young men threw the young ladies over their shoulders on more than one occasion. The funniest moment was when Molly Phillips, playing Alice, carried Ben Sears, playing Gideon, across the stage. This was one of the best choreographed chase scenes I have ever seen, with everyone coming on and off through different entrances in a seamless and fast paced fashion. The fight scenes and dances in general were fabulously choreographed and the attention to detail from everyone was amazing.

I was very impressed by the number of stage crew who unobtrusively changed the sets for each of the many scenes. They swarmed on and off silently and efficiently not allowing the pace to drop for one second. The combination of scenery and cloths was ingenious; the use of just two cloths to make the inside of the barn was another ‘wow’ moment.

The costumes were brilliant and so fitting for the production. The yellow outfits in the finale were perfect and brought a huge smile to my face; they were gorgeous.

It is so hard, when there are so many characters in a production to mention individuals, as there were so many fabulous performances. The brothers and their ‘brides’ were all incredible but so were the family members, so my final words must go to Alex Gough and Alfie Rudd who, with only a few week’s notice changed their characters, due to unforeseen circumstances. Well done Alex and Alfie.

Thank you WODYS for a truly exceptional production.

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