On Saturday night we went and saw the musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” at the outdoor theatre at Sundance.  It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing; a work friend of N’s had some extra tickets a vendor had given him so the play and the pre-play barbecue were both free which of course made the evening that much better 🙂

We had never seen a play at Sundance so it was a real treat.  Before the show started the announcer told a funny story about how thirty years ago they had wanted perform “Seven Brides” and had tried to buy the play rights, but the company who owned them refused to sell them.  Robert Redford thought it might help if he called them up himself and when he got shot down too he got mad and suggested that the theatre put the play on anyway and just call it “Five Brides for Five Brothers”–and they did! 

Speaking of Robert Redford, it was his birthday so the announcer had the audience sing “Happy Birthday” to him and put the video online so Redford could see it.  Bonus points if you can stop N and me! (We’re in the 4th row in the center.  N’s wearing a red shirt with a black jacket over it.)
  
I’ve seen the movie version of “Seven Brides” but this was the first time I had seen it live.  I was really impressed with the cast.  Both the girls and the guys did a great job of acting, singing, and dancing.  But on top of all that the guys did  some fancy tumbling runs across the stage which were pretty impressive.

The only problem with the production was that the microphone of the female lead (Millie) kept cutting out and then finally broke.  Poor Millie popped off stage for a second and came back with a  handheld microphone which she used through the new few songs (including a dance number) until they could hold intermission and fix her headset mic.  The actress who played Millie showed great poise was totally unfazed and did a fantastic job.  It was awesome to watch.

After the show an announcer came on and told the audience that if we didn’t want to wait in line for the shuttle to take us back to the parking lot that we could hike up and then back down the mountain behind us to our cars, but she warned that it was a “steep and strenuous” hike.  We didn’t want to wait so we followed the crowd up the mountain.  The announcer had not exaggerated!  It felt surreal to be plodding up a mountain in the dark in such a large crowd. If you see a play there, remember to wear comfy shoes!