'Seven Brides' endures as energetic love story

By Rick Rogers

Published: July 20, 2008

When an 1850s-era Oregon couple decided to start a family, they figured they'd work their way through the alphabet and name each child after someone in the Bible. That's how Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank and Gideon got their names. Don't recall anyone named Frank? It's short for Frankincense, chosen because he smelled so sweet.

Tradition also stated that none of the sons could marry until the eldest had taken a wife. That's how a young cook named Milly became a surrogate mother to Adam's six brothers, a responsibility she hadn't anticipated when she agreed to marry him. That's the premise behind "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” a stage version of the 1954 MGM classic film.

The third of four musicals in Lyric Theatre's 2008 summer season, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” will open Tuesday at the Civic Center Music Hall. DJ Salisbury makes his Lyric debut as director and choreographer with "Seven Brides,” a production headed by Jim Sorensen and Elisa Van Duyne as Adam and Milly.

"Seven Brides” explores how seven backwoods brothers persuade seven prairie women to become their wives. In a place where there are a dozen men for every eligible woman, the Pontipee brothers decide the only way to happiness is to kidnap the women.

"The girls want to be captured and be swept off their feet by the boys,” Salisbury said. "They have a certain familiarity with the suitor boys but when the brothers come to town, it actually gives them a choice. It becomes an empowering moment for the girls so when they're kidnapped, they're actually willing participants in this game.”

A challenge facing Salisbury is that plot points, such as the brothers' views about women, were not unusual when the film was released in 1954; but a half-century later, such viewpoints are politically incorrect.

"The Adam character is clearly chauvinistic and that's still part of this version,” Salisbury said. "But now he has a new song in which he explains to Milly that she doesn't understand all they've gone through: his ma died and his brother nearly drowned. When he decides to take off, you better understand his motivation. And when he reappears, you get that he has come to understand her point of view and that he plans to return the girls to their families.”

Salisbury said another issue with "Seven Brides” is having to deal with 14 principals. And while Adam and Milly are the show's two main characters, it's important to create a sense of individuality for the others.

"I've told the boys to paint in broad strokes,” Salisbury said. "They only have a few lines but it's important that the audience can tell them apart. A lot of that happens through interaction with each other rather than what they're saying to each other.

"There is a lot of joy in this piece and I think that joy smoothes over any rough edges. You do believe that Adam and Milly are in love and that the boys are taken with these girls and vice versa. There's not that much psychological depth to ‘Seven Brides' so the sparkle of young love seems to make everything OK.”

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