Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Ever wish you lived in simpler times? Sure it would mean giving up shopping on the inter-net, losing the vacuous expression you gained from Botox treatments and not having the convenience of using a cell phone in crowded theater, but think of the respite you’d gain from escalating bridge tolls, sulfites in your wine and the hassle of re-programming your digital appliances every time lightning hits a utility pole.

Now through April 23, you can escape reality, complexity and modernity and journey back to the frontier days of the Pacific Northwest: back to when clearing the land of trees was an accomplishment to be proud of, and right and wrong were neither blurred nor blunted by the vagaries of political correctness. As an antidote to our contemporary socio-political milieu, Broadway by the Bay launches into its 2006 season with its raucous, rousing and rustic SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS.

The show is set in the 1850s Oregon territory and sticks to the three basics of romance: courting, sparking and abduction. Although impolitic by contemporary standards, the abduction element is not as serious as it sounds: it is redemptively rooted in Roman mythology.

The core of the musical hearkens back to the days Romulus (founder of Rome), the Acron (King of the Sabines) and of course the Sabine Women (of Caenina) who because of Stockholm syndrome or the exotic and erotic tug of exogamy, fell in love with their burly Roman captors.

The music was written by the legendary, Johnny Mercer. Thus far it has not been expropriated to the domain of easy listening, on-hold nor elevators.

What truly distinguishes this musical is its choreography. A cast of 40 accomplished hoofers performs some very strenuous dance numbers with a highly contagious enthusiasm. What is interesting is that the dancers exude a certain adolescent innocence, ebullience, exuberance and freshness that is consistent with the characters they portray. To the credit of choreographer Berle Davis, the dance numbers are not performed with the satiny, high-gloss, mechanical, metronomic, on the numbers, clipped exactitude that you would expect from the Radio City Rockettes or the cast of A CHORUS LINE. While the dancing captures the rustic excitement and energy of young optimistic pioneers, it is the costuming by Autumn Sampson and Ying Chew that makes this show a visual feast.

For tickets to an uplifting, forget your troubles and tax return kind of show, call the San Mateo Performing Arts Center at 650 579-5565.