Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Wimberley Players, September 24 - October 17

The charming musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers now playing on weekends at the Wimberley Players' stage makes me think of the waggish definition of a "theatre classic": something that's really good but that no one does any more.

Director Lee Colée Atnip has been working since February with members of this cast of 37, and that preparation pays off. Both the players and the members of the preview audience last week were having a tremendous time with this frontier tale.

The cast performs the show to recorded musical accompaniment, which provides players less discretion than with a live orchestra and musical director. But with that many performers packed in the wings, the Players would've had nowhere to put live musicians. The choreography is vigorously entertaining, especially for the town social that winds up in a comic brawl.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers has an MGM brightness to it, which should not surprise, because that's where it came from.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Wimberley Players, September 24 - October 17

The charming musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers now playing on weekends at the Wimberley Players' stage makes me think of the waggish definition of a "theatre classic": something that's really good but that no one does any more.

Director Lee Colée Atnip has been working since February with members of this cast of 37, and that preparation pays off. Both the players and the members of the preview audience last week were having a tremendous time with this frontier tale.

The cast performs the show to recorded musical accompaniment, which provides players less discretion than with a live orchestra and musical director. But with that many performers packed in the wings, the Players would've had nowhere to put live musicians. The choreography is vigorously entertaining, especially for the town social that winds up in a comic brawl.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers has an MGM brightness to it, which should not surprise, because that's where it came from.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, December 4 - 19

Ebenezer Scrooge is everywhere around Austin this Christmastide.

At his fictional debut in London in 1843 the fictional old curmudgeon endured a long, long Christmas Eve but came through transformed and redeemed, much to the reading public early in Victoria's reign. Dickens intended the novella as an uplifting scold and a humanitarian lesson --and a money-maker. He didn't make much from it, particularly once unscrupulous publishers started churning out unauthorized editions. Within a year there were eight theatrical versions of the Christmas Carol in London, only one of them authorized, with another two in New York.

Dickens did establish an enduring set of characters and he was influential in shaping Anglo-Saxon celebration of the holiday. Some assert that the greeting "Merry Christmas" stems from the mouth of Scrooge's nephew Fred and others maintain that our celebratory, family-oriented rituals of the holiday are urbanized versions of 18th-century manorial customs admired by Dickens and emulated in this story.

Scrooge lives again for us this year in Austin and nearby, with -- count 'em -- seven straightforward versions (two conventional theatre pieces, two one-actor presentations, a version for children and a version by children, and a musical) and five spoofs (including Inspecting Carol, now underway both in Wimberley and in San Antonio). Pretty good for a 166-year-old.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .