The story of Brides is superficially a bright “love conquers all” fairy tale, but has dark roots in an ancient Roman tale, The Rape (meaning abduction) of the Sabine Women. In fact, a hard look at the Brides script reveals a misogynist’s dream of women in servitude, in danger of abuse, subjugated to the desires of men. Heavy stuff in such a light package.
In the hands of Alpha and directors Sharon Cotner and Janet Maneikis, I found the production to be generally pleasing, but definitely a mix of some highs, and some not so highs.
Fortunately, one of the highs was the dancing (choreographers Amanda Boyer, Anne McGowan, Colleen Hart McGowan), considering that dance features so prominently throughout. The choreography was ambitious and the cast enthusiastic and basically up to the demands made on them (I believe I saw some sequences that came directly from the film, which was nice). The audience loudly demonstrated their approval of gymnastic moves and dancing with hatchets. A high also came with some nice set work (Sharon Cotner), which included a two-level main set, some large, painted backgrounds and intricate set pieces for outboard scenes, and rustic touches for the proscenium. There were also some pleasing voices that were consistently strong throughout, which included Amanda Boyer as Millie, and Sean Andrews as Gideon. Costumes (Barbara Langa) were also literally a bright spot in the production. Even if such colors may not have been technically possible or available in the time and place the musical is set, here they kept the eyes popping. Lighting (Stephanie Draper) was colorful and appropriate for the various settings.
Among those aspects of the production that I felt didn’t quite measure up the night I was there were the fact that pacing seemed generally slow, and some in the cast seemed stiff and one-dimensional (physically and emotionally), including some standing around and staring in group scenes. Also, and unfortunately, there were problems with the sound: the orchestra was overpowering at times, and the microphones didn’t appear to be working well or at all for about half the cast that had them, so both dialog and lyrics were lost. It’s sad that amplification is kind of expected in theatre these days, and many actors just never learn to project.
All that said, however, the audience made it clear they were highly appreciative of the production and the efforts of the cast. As I overheard one patron say, "Pretty good entertainment [the money]."
