Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (musical)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
London cast recording
Music	Gene de Paul Al Kasha Joel Hirschhorn
Lyrics	Johnny Mercer Al Kasha Joel Hirschhorn
Book	Lawrence Kasha David Landay
Basis	1954 film musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Productions	1982 Broadway 1985 West End 2003 Madrid 2005 Goodspeed Opera House 2006 West End revival 2007 U.S. regional 2008 UK Tour 2013/14 UK & Ireland Tour 2015 2nd U.S. National Tour 2015 West End revival

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical with a book by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay, music by Gene de Paul, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. It is based on the 1954 Stanley Donen film of the same name which is, itself, an adaption of the short story "The Sobbin' Women," by Stephen Vincent Benét, based on the Ancient Roman legend of The Rape of the Sabine Women.

After a U.S. tour, the musical opened on Broadway in 1982, but quickly flopped. A fractionally more successful London production followed, and revised versions have met with success in U.S. regional theatres and in amateur productions on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1850s Oregon, Adam goes into town seeking a wife to run the household that consists of just himself and his six brothers. There he meets Milly, a waitress at a local restaurant. Milly and Adam rush into marriage and immediately return to Adam's remote ranch in the mountains. As soon as they return home, Adam reverts to his true self: an ill-mannered and inconsiderate slob. Milly meets his six brothers, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank and Gideon, all of whom also share Adam's love for all things disorderly. Milly decides to reform the brothers and help them change their ways. She teaches them to dance and then takes them to a barn-raising. There, the six brothers meet six girls they like and start courting them. Conflicts arise when each of the six girls turns out to have her own jealous suitor. Upon returning home Adam reads his brothers the story of The Rape of the Sabine Women, inciting them to kidnap the girls and bring them back home with them.