'Music Man' Still in Tune after 50 Years

Book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson; director, Philip Wm. McKinley; musical director, Edward Cumming; musical supervisor, Eugene Gwozdz; choreographer, Peggy Hickey; scenic design, Ray Klausen; costume design, Pamela Scofield; lighting design, Kirk Bookman; sound design, Sound Associates

Cast in order of appearance:

Charlie Cowell, Bob Freschi; Conductor, Edward Cumming; Harold Hill, Patrick Cassidy; Mayor Shinn, David Coffee; Jacey Squires, Ric Ryder; Ewart Dunlop, Kilty Reidy; Olin Britt, Joseph Torello; Oliver Hix, Buddy Crutchfield; Marcellus Washburn, Jason Graae; Tommy Djilas, Tim Hausmann; Marian Paroo, Lisa Vroman; Mrs. Paroo, Shirley Jones; Amaryllis, Abigail McMillan; Winthrop Paroo, Andrew Shipman; Eulalie Mackeknie Shinn, Mary Stout; Zaneeta Shinn, Bradley Benjamin; Gracie Shinn, Laura Spineti; Alma Hix, Mary Jo McConnell; Maud Dunlop, Florence Sturgeon; Ethel Toffelmier, Tracy Funke; Mrs. Squires, Kym Chambers; Constable Locke, Christopher Ryan

Performances: Now through April 27, Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT
Box Office: 860-987-5900 or www.bushnell.org

The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts' 50^th Anniversary Tribute production of The Music Man is as much an event as it is a concert. Not only is it the first show ever to be produced by the Bushnell in its 78-year history, but it also stars the legendary Shirley Jones (Marian Paroo in the 1962 movie version) now as Mrs. Paroo and her son Patrick Cassidy (with whom she was pregnant during the shooting of the film) as Professor Harold Hill. To borrow a sentiment from the show's most romantic ballad, "There was love all around."

From the spirited execution of Philip Wm. McKinley's joyful direction to the lush sound of the 25-piece Hartford Symphony orchestra to the exuberant ensemble dancing of Peggy Hickey's fresh and lively choreography to the period 1912 costumes by Pamela Scofield, this Music Man is a bona fide winner. With less than one full week of rehearsals to bring this fully staged concert version together, the cast, creative team and crew have assembled a polished, fast-paced, high-energy romp that delivers the laughter and the sighs in all the right places.

Handsome Broadway leading man Patrick Cassidy acquits himself very well in the role made famous by Robert Preston - that of the fast-talking, "spellbinding" con man bent on swindling the good people of River City, Iowa out of the money they have given him to purchase band instruments and uniforms. Trouble is he's not quite fast enough to escape the charms of Marian the librarian (Lisa Vroman). Before he can take the money and run, he's lost his heart and gained a soul.

Cassidy blends the hustler with the hero very well, making Hill's opportunistic and cynical veneer just thin enough to let Marian, and the audience, see the tenderness and unfulfilled romantic dreams he hides beneath. His vulnerable good-guy-waiting-for-a-purpose makes Marian's attraction to him - and his own climactic morally positive change of heart - all the more believable. His sparkling rendition of "Ya Got Trouble" is full of evangelical charisma, and his sexy "Marian the Librarian" is a steamy seduction made even hotter by some very clever choreography and staging.

Vroman fares equally well as the reluctant love interest who motivates Hill to find his conscience. She wavers between a socially awkward schoolgirl and a no-nonsense, practical woman whose resolve to resist Hill weakens with every passionate advance. When she sings "Goodnight My Someone" and "My White Knight," her rich and resonant soprano reveals the longing that Marian cautiously keeps locked inside her prim and proper buttoned up blouse. When she melts into "Till There Was You" with Cassidy on the footbridge, she relaxes completely in his embrace.

Jones, even under a powdered granny wig that makes her look much too old to be the mother of the 10-year-old lisping Winthrop (played by a very strong-voiced and endearing Andrew Shipman), is incandescent as the Widow Paroo. Smartly given additional playing time by director McKinley, she lends an air of wistful nostalgia when singing "Goodnight My Someone" with Marian and Amaryllis (the lovely Abigail McMillan) and brings great camaraderie to her blossoming relationship with Professor Hill by joining Cassidy at the end of his winning "Gary, Indiana." She also shines as her son's jubilant dance partner in the high-energy production number "Shipoopi," a raucous square dance led by triple threat Jason Graae as fellow-con-man-turned-upright-citizen Marcellus Washburn. As the indomitable and straight-talking Irish matriarch, Jones is pure delight.

Performance gems mark this production of The Music Man from top to bottom. At rise the traveling salesmen set the show in motion with their rap-like a capella syncopation of the train song "Rock Island" (ya gotta know the territory). David Coffee is a very funny syntax-mangling and blustery Mayor Shinn, while Mary Stout as his wife Eulalie Mackeknie Shinn wrings laugh after laugh out of her women's dance troupe artiste. Tim Hausmann as the pool playing hoodlum turned band recruiter Tommy Djilas and Bradley Benjamin as his giddy forbidden paramour Zaneeta Shinn are perfectly love struck innocents from opposite sides of the track. The featured ladies of the ensemble who travel in a gossiping, quivering quartet are hilarious during their interpretive dance numbers, and their male counterparts - their warring husbands who comprise the barbershop quartet - not only sing, but also move, in perfect harmony once Professor Hill casts his musical spell on them.

It seems that the presence of Shirley Jones has imbued this production of The Music Man with an added emotional dimension that elevates it to historical status. Whenever Vroman sings, Jones' face expresses a combination of admiration and reverie. Whenever Jones sings, Vroman's face shows enchantment and unbridled awe. Whenever Cassidy and Jones share a song, a dance or a scene together, their mouths grin and their eyes sparkle with uncontained joy. Their obvious affection is contagious, and the entire cast has been infected.

 

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