Seven Brides for seven Brothers

Theres nothing like a bit of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers to warm your cockles on a summer night and for me the first amateur production for a very long time. Centenary certainly love a challenge and as always they did a sterling job of this one.

Okay so it was opening night and there were one or two minor technical hitches, it’s a technical production and with a huge working set, I think the crew deserve a special mention of congratulations – it could not have been easy lugging all those log cabins around. The whole set I thought looked great and some of your scenes were beautifully lit making the whole thing look wonderful. (#bigsmileandgoosebumps)

Director Neil Townsend and the casting committee made some great choices with their line up of principals.

Dave Randall was an unexpected surprise as Adam, his first leading role in a musical. His vocals were good, his acting was great but for me he needed to be much more dominant in some of his scenes. He did have a great on stage relationship with brothers and indeed his counterpart Milly, played by Aimee Clare.

Aimee was delightful and every bit your musical theatre leading lady with such a lovely and unique tone to her voice which was crystal clear with a powerful belt that seemed to come with ease. Her relationship with the brothers was lovely with and came with tons of chemistry.

The brothers brought all the energy required individually and as a family. They worked so well together yet each had their own individual character which came to life. Their transformation as the show progressed under the influence of Milly was really well thought through. Matt Orrilard really stood out as the youngest brother Gideon giving a really warm and sincere performance.

The brides all brought grace and flare to their musical numbers and again some great character portrayal.

The Musical Direction by Malolm Fallows was flawless. The harmonies were tight the tempo was great and orchestra gave that really full sound you so look forward to.

The choreography by Sarah Boyle was good and worked well but wasn’t quite the extravaganza I hoped for with this production.  The brawl was really well sequenced bringing tons of energy and humour from the guys and the ensemble.

Overall, a charming production with noticeable attention to detail throughout.  I love the fact you took on a musical that is seldom done, probably due to the restraints of being able to cast, but with your hard work and determination you pulled it off. I think other societies should take a leaf out of your ‘show choosing book’ and run with the risk from time to time.

Thanks for a great evening as always 

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