Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (musical): History and Key Facts

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.

The show's 1978–79 premiere tour was canceled without reaching Broadway: after touring for eighteen months from 1981 a subsequent production opened on Broadway in July 1982, to close three days and five performances after its official opening. In 1985, a West End production had a six-week limited engagement run, with a further five and a half week West End run at The Prince of Wales Theatre. Revised versions of the musical have met with success in U.S. regional theatres and in amateur productions on both sides of the Atlantic.

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