The Music Man at HCTO

I had so much fun at HCTO last night because I saw their wonderful production of The Music Man (it is a sentimental favorite of mine).  I think I had a huge smile on my face from beginning to end!  This show tells the well-known story of a traveling salesman who comes to swindle the residents of River City by selling band instruments but falls in love with a librarian instead.  It features an amazing cast led by Bronson Dameron, who is incredibly charming and charismatic as Harold Hill, and Brittany Sanders, who has a beautiful voice as the uptight yet vulnerable Marion Paroo.  Dameron's renditions of "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," and "Gary, Indiana" are so much fun and I had to try really hard not to sing along (I mostly succeeded) while Sanders had me swooning during "Goodnight My Someone," "My White Night," and "Till There Was You."  Other standouts from the cast are Shawn Lynn as the befuddled Mayor Shinn ("Not one poop out of you madame"), Bonnie Wilson Whitlock as my favorite character Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn (I could not stop laughing during her hilarious performance as a Grecian Urn), and Thomas Wood, Jason Baldwin, Ryan Withers, and Davis Underwood as the feuding members of the school board who form a barber shop quartet ("Sincere," "Goodnight Ladies," "It's You," and "Lida Rose" are highlights of the show).  Ella Bleu Bradford as Zaneeta Shinn, Mayor Shinn's oldest girl, and Evan Naef as Tommy Djilas, a boy with reform school written all over him, are amazing dancers who lead a terrific ensemble in the big production numbers, particularly in "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Marion the Librarian," "The Wells Fargo Wagon," and "Shipoopi."  I am always so impressed with how HCTO is able to stage these big numbers with energetic choreography in such a small space!  I wondered if "Marian the Librarian," my favorite number in the show, would be as dynamic as it has been in other productions I've seen but I loved the clever way the choreography incorporates a desk, a card catalog (so fun), a book cart, benches, and books.  I also loved the staging of "Rock Island" with all of the suitcases.  The set, which features the lattice porch of the Paroo house, a wisteria draped gazebo, and a wooden footbridge, is beautiful and the period costumes, especially Marian's dress for the social, are some of the best I've seen at HCTO (and the bar was already set pretty high with this theatre).  This is a delightful production that everyone is sure to love as much as I did and I highly recommend it!  It runs at HCTO through November 18 and tickets may be purchased here.

Note:  Just wait until you see the finale!  It is pretty spectacular!