What’s it like?
You can use your imagination for this one. Think towns versus mountains, boys versus girls and a whole load of dresses like the ones worn by those dolls your gran used to sit over the spare loo rolls in the bathroom – ie – big, floaty and highly impractical for dancing. Of course, there’s dancing. Ain’t no clothing gettin’ in the way of a good ol’ knees up.
What’s it about?
You’ve seen the film, right? Or did you switch it off half way through because you couldn’t stand the sexist attitude of the bloke in the lead role – a mountain man so handsome, so rugged, so perfect for our female heroine that he’s bound to be flawed? And he is, obviously. He’s a sexist pig who wears far too many checked flannelled shirts to be taken seriously, but hey, without these minor setbacks, there would be no story, there would be no music and there sure as hell would be no reason to sit in this here theatre.
Basically it’s set in Oregon in 1850 and is the story of how our masculine lead comes around and realises the woman he strolled into town and married just so she’d cook and clean for himself and his six disgusting brothers, is not about to settle for a life in his shadow. She wants equality, dammit. And quite possibly, a man for all her girl friends too, so she’s still got some people in the hills to paint her nails with.
Who’s in it?
Dave Willetts - direct from his West End starring role in Cats, plays Adam Pontipee. He’s also been in other West End shows including Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera. So yes, he can sing. He’s really believable as the gruff beloved, actually. (Oh for a mountain man of my very own – ed)
Shona Lindsay – she’s also been in Phantom of the Opera and Grease. You can just see her as Sandy or another lead, especially with her curly locks. She plays sweet yet feisty Milly to perfection.
Apart from that,… six guys who start off as scruffy Neanderthals and are eventually resurrected as handsome, worthy partners for Millie’s six (rather desperate, unfortunately) friends.
What should I look for?
Well, we’d hope that they’ve fixed the DVD player now… it didn’t work for about ten minutes at the start so we were forced to listen to the orchestra playing the opening tune on loop until they fixed it, but the projected scenes are really cool. Look out for the avalanche which falls behind the brothers after they’ve kidnapped their would-be brides. You’ll also recognise some of the songs you didn’t think you would, how about 'Wonderful Wonderful Day' 'Goin' Courtin' and 'We Gotta Make It Through the Winter'?
Note also, the way every single song seems to end with the obligatory jazz hands, bent knee crouch positions, or fists high in the air to a resounding “YEAH!” Amazing.
Verdict
Fabulous costumes, dazzling dance routines and a barn you can actually imagine snuggling up with a loved one in, during a snow storm. Plus some musical numbers that make your toes tap of their own accord and fit men doing back-flips across the stage. Altogether, this one’s for the family, your visiting grandparents and anyone who fancies a trip back in time to see how far women have come in the face of the sexist males who dominated households (and barns, and mountains) for far, far too long.
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