Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

athtrasna

Always loved the film but hadn't seen the show, still so close to Wicked and Christmas, the show was off my booking radar for financial reasons. Luckily my best friend knows me well and got me a ticket for my birthday.

The show is a dance lover's dream, the choreography is awesome, breathtaking at times. Alas this "celebrity vehicle" bites them in the ass with Adam, played by Sam Attwater is one of the weakest, most tuneless singers I have heard in a leading role..almost worse than Jason Donovan! Diction when speaking was poor also.

Did I mention the dancing was amazing? Helena Blackman was a really strong Milly in every sense but seriously let down by her leading man.

tomboylady

Got my mother tickets for Christmas so we're off to see it on Friday. Saw it years ago (maybe 10 years? yikes!) and loved it. It has always been one of my favourite movies. Really looking forward to seeing it again! That's a pity about the lead. He's doing Dancing on Ice this year so I guess maybe performing and touring as well as training for that is taking its toll.

tomboylady

Well, I am still reeling from how amazing the show was on Friday night. Much better and creative than I remember (I guess I was a little young to fully understand it the last time!).

Was anxious about the lead after reading the various reviews so was delighted when they announced it would be the understudy, Alex Hammond. He was brilliant in every sense, and made a great Adam. He and Helena Blackman worked really well together on stage and were very convincing. The whole thing was phenomenal from start to finish, but the big dance sequences were out of this world. I was exhausted just watching them and from clapping so hard, goodness knows how they feel after every show! The voices were wonderful, especially the male harmonies.

While I was personally delighted to have a good voice/actor on stage over a celebrity name, there were a lot of disappointed people around me in the theatre. It seems strange to me that you would go see a show just for one specific person in it, but obviously it happens. There were two ladies beside us and I genuinely expected a full-blown tantrum from them when it was announced, they were practically screeching. They barely clapped at all and had disgusted looks on their faces from start to finish.

athtrasna

The difference between musical fans and "celebrity" fans I am insanely jealous that you didn't have Sam Attwater

Posy

tomboylady wrote: »

While I was personally delighted to have a good voice/actor on stage over a celebrity name, there were a lot of disappointed people around me in the theatre. It seems strange to me that you would go see a show just for one specific person in it, but obviously it happens.

I would much rather see a musical with a great cast rather than one token celebrity lead trying to get bums on seats.
I don't mind if the celebrity lead is actually talented, in which case I could understand some disappointed audience members, but Sam Attwater? As Adam? Oh, no!
Howard Keel he most certainly ain't!

rhapsody

I attended on Saturday for the matinee and have to agree that Alex Hammond was great. My mother had wondered how Sam Attwater would manage to do the show & get over to do Dancing on Ice! She also thought he was too young for the part, so we were all glad to have the understudy announced! His voice was beautiful & as mentioned above, the male harmonies in general were gorgeous.
The dancing was fantastic indeed (& I don't think you could have older performers, given the amount of dancing involved!), and I thought it was interesting that they included more to make up for lack of barn raising- it worked well. I could quote the movie word for word I'd say, so it was interesting having some new songs. I thought some of the suggestive moves/ toplessness was a bit much for the young audience that was present but I suppose some of it would go over their heads & presumable it's up to parents to check out this kind of thing before bringing them.
My only quarrel was an ever so slight drop of the accent every now & then from American frontier land to English, but it wasn't very noticeable/ distracting really. I've been singing Bless Her Beautiful Hide since Saturday, must go to another show soon, it's been too long!