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~H/e r7*'f /^'2' Boone?╟╓s enthusiastic performance highlights rousing ?╟ Seven Brides?╟╓ By Barry Koltnow Register staff writer Shhhh . . . keep this to yourself. I wouldn't want it to get out but I liked ?╟úSeven Brides For Seven Brothers.?╟Ñ What's worse is that I really liked Debby Boone in her stage debut. What's this world coming to? Actually, it's not where the world?╟╓s coming to that's important in this instance. It?╟╓s where the world has been. ?╟úSeven Brides For Seven Brothers,?╟Ñ based on a 1954 movie of the same name which in turn was based on a 1928 short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, is a throwback to another era, when musicals were big and flashy and the audience could be sure of a happy ending. No deep messages or political humor here. No complex dialogue that invites confusion and controversy. No issues to cloud the enjoyment. Just plain, old-fashioned fun. If you can suspend your politics, rhetoric and conscience for a night (you?╟╓ll have to put them in suspended animation if sexist dialogue disturbs you), this one is a real barn burner. Boone plays Millie, a waitress in the Pacific Northwest (circa 1850) who is discovered, courted and married by the eldest brother of a seven-brother clan of mountain men. Once the whirlwind courtship and wedding is over-whirlwind is an understatement - Millie realizes that she has been selected as the clan?╟╓s housekeeper, cook and laundry woman rather than someone?╟╓s life partner, Embittered at first, she reaches somewhat of a truce with her husband and immediately sets out to free herself completely by domesticating her six brothers-M-law. She figures if she can marry them off to her six girlfriends in town, they?╟╓ll move out and start families of their own. Although Millie works hard at teaching the boys manners, her husband has a quicker, less subtle method of ingratiating the prospective brides to his brothers. I won?╟╓t spoil it for you. Boone, who is known primarily as the singer who recorded the phenomenally successful ?╟úYou Light Up My Life?╟Ñ in 1977 and then disappeared into obscurity, is an incredibly appealing performer. Too many stage performers, no matter how competent, give the appearance that they are performing a job. The smile is painted on, the enthusiasm is manufactured and the performance lifeless. But Boone is full of unbridled energy on stage and the enthusiasm seems genuine. She looks like she?╟╓s having the time of her life and that kind of feeling can t help but to be transmitted to the audience. ?╟úSeven Brides,?╟Ñ as a movie, was full of songs, and four new songs by A1 Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn have been added for the stage adaptation. The new songs are mostly STAGE REVIEW ?╟úSeven Brides For Seven Brothers.?╟Ñ Written by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay. Lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music b) Gene DePaul. Choreography and musical staging by Jerr\ Jackson. Directed by Lawrence Kasha. Performed by the Lot Angeles Civic Light Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 13f N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, through June 19. Call (213) 460 4411. ballads and one even has strong religious overtones tha might have been written especially for the Boone family image. The production could have survived nicely with out it. In fact, if the show suffers at all, it is from an overh long first half. A perfect ending would have been th< rousing dance number at the social, which would hav< plastered audience members to their seats, anxiously awaiting the second half. Instead, the first half dragge< on another couple of numbers and the audience go restless. The show?╟╓s other musical numbers are not necessarily .memorable but some of the dance numbers certainly are. The production number that accompanies the brothers t( their first town social might well become one of the mos remarkable and thrilling dance numbers in the history o : the musical stage. . In fact, Jerry Jackson's choreography throughout the show is outstanding. The dancers move with such grace and precision that it is difficult to find any fault. Come t( U think of it, the dancers were faultless. Robert Fletcher ^ costumes are colorful and, at times, stunning. Boone?╟╓s co-stars are strong, personable performer4 i who can do all that is asked of them. Their dancir,( singing and acting are first-rate. While they presenter i ensemble image that masks individual talents, a few dc j manage to stand out above the crowd. David-Jamet I Carroll, as Millie?╟╓s husband, and Craig Peralta, as the brother Gideon, are exciting performers who show promise of a bright future on the boards. But it is doing a disservice to the production as a whole to single out individual efforts. Director Lawrence Kashe has rriounted an exquisite piece of stage work that shoulc turn in to one of the season?╟╓s big hits. It has all the ingredients of a successful musical and should enjoy t healthy run on Broadway, where it is headed after its Lot Angeles engagement. If you loved those stage musicals of the past and have \ waited patiently and longingly for those kind of musicals to come back in style, your wait is over. ?╟úSeven Bridet For Seven Brothers?╟Ñ is as good as it used to get