Richard Hollingum at the Oxford Apollo

SEVEN Brides for Seven Brothers bounced on to the stage of the Oxford Apollo last night.

The Bible-named, alphabetically ordered Seven Brothers had all the social airs and graces of a herd of bison - not to mention the silliest stage hair and beards. The Seven Brides had the job of training them.

This taming of the crew started when Adam (Sam Kane) charmed Milly (Shona Lindsay) into marriage after a prolonged courtship of five minutes.

Things were tough in those days - a man had to do what a man had to do, and so on.

The singing and dancing were very good. Sam Kane, erstwhile hairdresser Peter Phelan from Brookside, has a good voice and his on-stage personality is very likeable. Expecting this to be a one-horse town, I was pleased to see, and hear, Shona Lindsay, who gave as good as she got.

Even if you don't know the story, you will certainly recall some of the wonderful songs: Bless Your Beautiful Hide, Goin' Courtin', and the lamentably short Spring, Spring, Spring. There is also Sobbin' Women, a take on the plight of the Sabine women of Roman times. But the show did have to settle in. The opening scene was taken at a pace that seemed to be designed to recapture the lost minutes of the late start.

The other distractions were technical ones: variable microphone quality, flickering lights, missed lighting cues and some slow curtain changes.

It was, however, a very enjoyable romp, typical of its genre: plenty of tunes, lots of good dancing, and just the right amount of humour. As long as it doesn't start a wave of Country and Western musicals, go and see it (until Saturday, November 3). Yeeeee-hah!!