Singing until their hearts content, dancing with joy to every song and acting their parts with confidence would be a good way to describe the cast of this lighthearted musical. 7 Brides for 7 Brothers is starring the  main characters Milly who is played by Junior Heather Wirkus, and Adam, who is played by Junior Travis Nemec.

      The story is about seven brothers who are looking for love in the state of Oregon during the 1850’s. Adam looks for a bride and Milly is ecstatic when she meets him. One day when Milly goes to Adam’s house she meets his brothers and notices that they are like pigs. She realizes that she needs to teach them how to be well mannered country men in order for them to find a bride and to get a girl to fall in love with them. The brothers kidnap the brides and the brides stay with the brothers for a winter. At first the brides don’t like the brothers and they want to go back home. Eventually they learn to fall madly in love with them. In the end they all live happily ever after.

      Travis Nemec says “ It’s interesting being the main guy because I have way more lines than I have ever had before and I’ve been in 19 shows. It’s a challenge but I like challenges.”

      There are about 42 cast members and 75 auditioned. This is the biggest cast ALHS has had for a musical in years. There are 18 songs total and the show is about two hours long.

      “It’s amazing to see the change in character from the people that I know outside of class in the performance,”said Travis.

      Ross Pirsig, a director of the musical is also enjoying seeing students having fun performing. He acted in many  musicals at Albert Lea High School and in the community such as South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Pirates of Penzance and Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dreamcoat. He graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2008. He studied for theatre at Viterbo University of Lacrosse, Wisconsin for a year. He was born and  raised in Albert Lea and he taught in spain for three years. 7 Brides for 7 Brothers is the first musical he has directed.

      “It’s really educational and rewarding to see the characters come to life and it’s really interesting to be on the other side of the stage as being director,” said Pirsig.

One of the brides in the show is Sophomore, Cali Mowers. Although this is Cali’s first musical she is in choir and show choir so she has experience with singing and music.

      “I think it’s really fun and you get to know the people in it better,” said Mowers. Cali only has a few lines but she is on the stage a lot of the time.

      Another bride is Senior, Kendra Manges. This is Kendra’s first school musical although she has acted in White Christmas.  Kendra is in love with this musical and could tell you everything there is to know about it.

       “I grew up watching it, it’s so corny it’s funny,you have to love it,” said Manges.