“The Music Man”
Last weekend, theatergoers in Bethlehem were able to see a performance of the country’s hottest new musical, before it is revived on Broadway and television. Eric McCormack, the star of TV’s “Will and Grace”, is playing the lead role on Broadway, and next month Matthew Broderick will star in an ABC made-for-TV movie.
The musical is Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man”, first presented on Broadway in 1957. Although it is a paean to small town life (River City is a fictional representation of Willson’s boyhood home of Mason City, Iowa), this show deserves the big production that Lehigh University gave it at the Zoellner Arts Center.
Baker Hall’s large stage held elaborate sets and backgrounds, like the town square composed of a number of individual storefronts. Scenes were instantly transformed by moving the front of a house or city hall onstage.
The cast of more than fifty, mostly Lehigh students, had wonderfully colorful Victorian costumes, whether they were dressed for everyday life, for an ice cream “sociable”, or in band uniforms. And topping the grandeur was the thirty-five piece orchestra led by Paul Hsun-Ling Chou, which gave a rich sound with less than seventy six trombones.
There was enough room for the elaborate dance numbers, too. And even if the dancing was not always Broadway quality, it was much better than what you could expect from a small town like River City.
The familiar story has traveling salesman/con artist “Professor” Harold Hill (Tyler Tate) arriving to sell instruments and uniforms before he skips town, leaving behind an empty promise to start a band. However, he unexpectedly becomes emotionally involved with the town librarian (Carolyn Shemwell). He is forced to choose between her and escaping the townpeople’s wrath.
Tate filled his role with the right touch of swagger, making Hill likeable despite his dishonesty. Shemwell had both a beautiful voice and an appealing aura of naivete. It did not hurt that both of them resembled younger versions of Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, who were the leads in the 1962 film (Preston also originated the role of Harold Hill on Broadway).
There are too many well done performances to list, but four standouts were the barbershop quartet: Brett Philpotts, Chris O’Dwyer, Terry McLaughlin, and Jonathan Havel. These undergraduates’ smoothly blended sound seemed as if they had been singing together for years.
The only flaw was the ending, where Hill is forced to conduct his “band” after being captured by the townspeople. It sounds terrible, but the twist is that the citizens think it is wonderful, since their children are members. The production did not make this clear, and the climax was too abrupt for the nearly three-hour show.
The appeal of the “good old days” of small town America, when the biggest trouble in town was the arrival of a pool table, offers a nostalgic escape from our anxious times. Director Dennis Razze has proved that an old fashioned love story can still be enthralling.
--Dave Howell, 1/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
The musical is Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man”, first presented on Broadway in 1957. Although it is a paean to small town life (River City is a fictional representation of Willson’s boyhood home of Mason City, Iowa), this show deserves the big production that Lehigh University gave it at the Zoellner Arts Center.
Baker Hall’s large stage held elaborate sets and backgrounds, like the town square composed of a number of individual storefronts. Scenes were instantly transformed by moving the front of a house or city hall onstage.
The cast of more than fifty, mostly Lehigh students, had wonderfully colorful Victorian costumes, whether they were dressed for everyday life, for an ice cream “sociable”, or in band uniforms. And topping the grandeur was the thirty-five piece orchestra led by Paul Hsun-Ling Chou, which gave a rich sound with less than seventy six trombones.
There was enough room for the elaborate dance numbers, too. And even if the dancing was not always Broadway quality, it was much better than what you could expect from a small town like River City.
The familiar story has traveling salesman/con artist “Professor” Harold Hill (Tyler Tate) arriving to sell instruments and uniforms before he skips town, leaving behind an empty promise to start a band. However, he unexpectedly becomes emotionally involved with the town librarian (Carolyn Shemwell). He is forced to choose between her and escaping the townpeople’s wrath.
Tate filled his role with the right touch of swagger, making Hill likeable despite his dishonesty. Shemwell had both a beautiful voice and an appealing aura of naivete. It did not hurt that both of them resembled younger versions of Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, who were the leads in the 1962 film (Preston also originated the role of Harold Hill on Broadway).
There are too many well done performances to list, but four standouts were the barbershop quartet: Brett Philpotts, Chris O’Dwyer, Terry McLaughlin, and Jonathan Havel. These undergraduates’ smoothly blended sound seemed as if they had been singing together for years.
The only flaw was the ending, where Hill is forced to conduct his “band” after being captured by the townspeople. It sounds terrible, but the twist is that the citizens think it is wonderful, since their children are members. The production did not make this clear, and the climax was too abrupt for the nearly three-hour show.
The appeal of the “good old days” of small town America, when the biggest trouble in town was the arrival of a pool table, offers a nostalgic escape from our anxious times. Director Dennis Razze has proved that an old fashioned love story can still be enthralling.
--Dave Howell, 1/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)