Seven Brides for Seven brothers - (3)

My suggestions for presents for this show tend to be centred round the themes of “love” and “weddings” . As mentioned before; garters, bouquets, lucky horseshoes, all kinds of wedding favours can be used as gifts, and as the final scene is of a “shotgun” wedding, rifles and toy guns can also be added.

But there is also a birth ; so baby themed gifts for Millie. (Our poor little Hannah doll had a last night prank Moustache to match that of Adam!)

Lots of snow : so snowmen and snowballs (sweets, chocolate or cakes) or a snowman keyring (here).

Spring too, with all kinds of baby animals to choose from, lambs, chicks, soft toys if you feel so inclined.

And then there are the pies; apple pies, cherry pies, anything you might have taken to a social dance such as Millie would have cooked. Or a pie plate, there are lots of fancy plates to be had at the moment, whether from a department store or a junk/antique shop.

I stock these when I can find them, but they tend to be one-off buys and unrepeatable.

I hope I have given you some fun ideas and inspirations for presents for those involved in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, there are some more to be found in this category on my website, together with a list of characters and musical numbers to remind you of names and relevances.

Writing of these has reminded me of the fun I had finding gifts for my friends, and I hope to share that enjoyment.

Seven Brides for Seven brothers - (2)

It has taken me a while to find the photos I wanted to include in this week's blog. They are of the dresses which we had for our “Spring dance” which were completely made of patchwork and created by a lady of our wardrobe committee (we were lucky to have three or four ladies who took responsibility for hiring and making costumes, so that our directors could let their imaginations run wild, or at least to have some creative input into the costumes!) Their houses were like Aladdin's cave for seamstresses, full of bits of material, sequins and feathers for creating just the look that was required.

These were our patchwork dresses :

the seven brothers had shirts to match.

Our wedding dresses were hired in, each of us having a different colour, again matching the brothers shirts.

Lovely as these were they were much more difficult to dance in, and so heavy that in the final dance when our choreographer had the brides doing pose turns in a diagonal line across the stage, instead of single turns, the weight of the dresses carried us on to doubles and triples, and made it very difficult to stop!

The fact that we were colour co-ordinated made it quite easy to get presents that were the same for everyone, just in different colourways, so little bouquets and ribbon garters for the brides were favourites.

Those of a more crafty nature made patchwork pin cushions or full size cushions, and our choreographer had had made a full set of knitted dolls representing each of the couples. (I still haven't found the pictures of these, but will add them when I find them)

This Month's Show - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Another “Dancers'” show, this one requires at least 14 men who can at least move, if not cope with learning dances. My group was extremely lucky to find not only seven "brothers" who could dance, but also seven suitors who were also prepared to have a go at learning quite difficult and complicated dances. And for me, as one of the brides, an opportunity to play a part rather than be one of the dancing chorus. There was some resistance from the company as to whether we could do the show; did we have enough people who could both sing and dance? In many amateur shows the singers and dancers are separate teams, with only a few who could cross between the two disciplines, “Sevens” requires people who can do both, although it is possible for Adam Pontipee to avoid the main dance numbers, Millie has to be able to dance and sing, and to lead the brothers and the brides in the most famous numbers; “ Goin' Courtin'” and the Social Dances. (in the film this is the barn raising sequence, on stage it becomes a challenge circle dance).

Our committee had been applying to the film makers for permission to perform this on stage since it first appeared in cinemas, and for many years the rights holders resisted any attempt to bring out a stage version of any kind. However eventually in 1979 there was a version written for the stage, it was finally opened for amateur performance and in 1990 we took to the stage with our exuberant version, transferring in 1991 to a local “proper” theatre for a one week run. How excited we were to get the chance to reprise a show where we had such great fun.

It is fast-moving and full of life, needing quick changes in the wings to be able to go from one scene to the next. The brothers changing from their winter clothes to nothing but blankets, when Millie steals their underwear for washing, is a very quick change requiring almost to be choreographed in the wings so that each is ready in time for his cue. We worked it so that each “bride” was the dresser for her “brother”, dealing with discarded clothes and making sure that the blankets provided decent coverage of the modern underwear underneath. That was followed by a quick change in the second act for the brides from winter into spring, which was managed by the expedient of wearing winter clothes over the top of the spring dresses.  The final quick change into wedding garb for the shotgun weddings of the finale we actually did on stage behind a front cloth, while Adam and Millie have some dialogue going into the scene. This time it was the brothers who had to help the brides, doing up zips and holding head-dresses and bouquets while we frantically changed from our patchwork spring dresses into various pastel shaded wedding dresses. You can imagine the opportunities for things to go wrong ! But, actually I don't think any of them did, and no-one missed an entrance or got the wrong costume.

To be continued.