The Music Man

I was fortunate enough, to be one of the people who were able to make it into the sold out opening performance of Meredith Willson's The Music Man! This timeless show was produced with the help of "The Little Theater Off Broadway" In Grove City, The fantastic Directing of Kate Charlesworth Miller, Kate has brought the town of River City Iowa to life, Kates choices of Minimal set design opens our audiences imaginations to build the town itself, with only a few issues, in this writers opinion, and they are few and far to be found, call it an instinctual pickiness. the only issues that arose for me in this opening night production were scene changes were a tad long, and the use of a painted town on a curtain makes the actors seem larger than life, and certain vocal arrangements were rough at the start but warmed up quickly. with this said you must keep in mind that the chorus themselves lend us to see the growth of the town, they are River City!   My congratulations to Kate on her wonderful casting, interpretation and for making a show many of us have seen a hundred different times new, exciting and memorable!

With strong direction, comes a strong cast. I would love to dote on every member of this stellar production but I must only pick a few. but let it be known that every member of this production put on there "character" and made me believe who they were.

We must start with the leading man our "Harold Hill" played by the strong Dave Hammond, Dave has appeared in many shows over the last few years, but this was his shining moment. The minute Dave took the stage I could see a young Robert Preston, but don't let this fool you Dave may start with a Preston style cadence but we learn quickly, there is much more than copy-cat acting to this strong actor. his subtle facial expressions and booming voice give you a whole new Harold, one you may not be prepared for and one you shall not soon forget. My only Criticism to this performance comes in volume, Daves singing is thunder to vocal lightning but can over-power members of the chorus and other leads at the same time.

But what is a leading man without his leading lady, Nancy Miller, she shows us the sweet side to River City Iowa. This is Nancy's first leading role in the Ltob scene, but I daresay it shall not be her last! When playing Marian "The Librarian" Paroo you can only go two ways, loud and bold or shy and meek. Most woman will pick the Loud and Bold and to there credit that is a fine choice, but it is the easier of the two. Nancy has chosen to take the difficult version of Marion and show us the shy sweet side along with a contained protection of her family, town and its citizens. but the highlight of her performance is her strong and resolute delivery of one of the hardest songs in Musical history "My White Night". this song has been re-arrange so many times in so many versions of this show no one has the chops or the guts to sing it as is, that is except for Nancy she sings the emotions of the song alongside the notes. It truly was a heartfelt moment not to be missed. The only singular thing I found misplaced in her performance was merely reactionary in points of the show. we never lost her characterization but we did loose her concern in her face when Winthrop runs off after being teased the first time.

Tanner Sells, plays the lisp ridden and lovable Winthrop, there is nothing but good to say about Tanner, he is a strong performer and singer and he is still in grade school. not only can he melt your heart, but he can also wow you. It is hard if not imposible to find a young actor like this in theater and say when he grows up, look out because he is everyones competition!

There is a song in every heart of this production, and it begins with the slow beating of a bass drum, then add the trumpets, and then the cymbals and don't forget those 76 trombones in the big parade! The Little Theater off Broadway brings the whole family, fun and entertainment this month shows are still running every Friday Saturday and Sunday through March 26th! Reserve your tickets at ltob.org and climb aboard the train to Grove City "Next Stop River City"!