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See it before the last show on Saturday at 2:00 PM
In case you were on the fence about seeing the LSB Players’ production of The Music Man, don’t hesitate: get your tickets before the last two shows (Friday, November 21 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, November 22 at 2:00 PM) sell out. In all my years watching their shows, I can’t ever recall seeing a standing ovation before anyone has taken a bow.
Made famous by the 1962 movie starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill, the con man traveling salesman who finds redemption through Shirley Jones’s spinster librarian and piano teacher Marian Paroo, it features a cornucopia of classic songs, including “76 Trombones,” “Till There Was You” (later covered by The Beatles), and ”Goodnight My Someone.” The show is funny and romantic, perfect for the whole family to see and for high school students to perform.
Carly Evans, the show’s director and choreographer (and an LSRHS grad herself), writes in the program, “It’s important for [the students] to understand that the contemporary shows they love stand on the shoulders of the old classics.” As talented as Lin Manuel Miranda is, his music can be directly traced to shows such as The Music Man.
Every so often, Evans hits one so far out of the park that you forget you’re watching a high school production. This show was one of them (Les Miserables in 2013 and Chicago in 2014 also come to mind).
It helped that she had so much talent to work with this year. The cast is one of the biggest and most gifted I’ve ever seen in an LSRHS production, with many more male actors than previous shows (at least it seemed that way), and boy could they both sing and dance.
Take the show’s opening number, “Rock Island,” where traveling salesmen discuss their occupation and Harold Hill while on board a train. Named for the Rock Island train line, it has been identified as the very first rap song. The traveling salesmen in this production seemed just as accomplished as the ones in the movie. After all, it’s not easy to recite lyrics while simultaneously bobbing up and down as if you were sitting on a train.
The rest of this review must be kept short to meet Sudbury Weekly’s deadline.
If you thought no one could fill Shirley Jones’s shoes, guess again. Kenly Murray, only a junior, seemed like Shirley Jones’s reincarnation, with her strong, bell-like soprano and mature acting skills. I happened to run into her after the show and asked if she was planning a career on Broadway. Surprisingly, she said no, but I think that given time, she has all the makings of the next Shirley Jones—or Kelli O’Hara!
Theo Bowne held his own as the oily con man redeemed by love. His acrobatic rendition of “Marian the Librarian,” during which he managed to sing while jumping on and writhing around the library desk, stole the show. The barbershop quartet’s—Adam Morrissey, Liam Rosenbaum, Josh Sajan, and Olive Troiano—harmonizing a cappella on such favorites as “Lida Rose” and “Goodnight Ladies” sounded as though they have been working together for years (they ought to form a group of their own). T. Ray Curley as the continually flustered Mayor Shinn, Naomi Mostoslavsky as his bohemian wife Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn, Srishti Sundet as their daughter Zaneeta Shinn (famous for her frequent egad exclamations), and Lux Corley (the kid can dance) as her boyfriend Tommy Djilas also deserve special mention. And the members of the ensemble, many of whom had lines or singing solos, acquitted themselves beautifully with their singing and dancing.
Finally, it should be noted that this year the sets upped their game too, employing three different backdrops and part of a house, a bridge, and a fountain. For a couple of hours it almost felt like we were in 1912 River City, Iowa too.
[Feature Image/Licensing: The Music Man is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials supplied by MTI www.mtishows.com]