The musical is directed by Kim Dobbs, a JSU graduate. The production pays tribute to the Anniston High’s class of 1973 and the late Sam Thompson, who directed the show at AHS. Then, it featured former Mayor Chip Howell and Anniston City Attorney Cleo Thomas. The two played Professor Harold Hill and Hill’s sidekick Marcellus Washburn, respectively.
Denise Davis from Jacksonville, often seen in this community theater’s productions, portrays Mrs. Paroo, the mother of Marian, the spinster librarian (Jennie Wall). Mrs. Paroo, warm hearted and with an Irish accent, reminds her prim daughter that she’d better return Harold Hill’s (Jon Garlick) flirtations; after all, she’s not getting any younger and is still unmarried.
Linda Lee returns to the CAST stage to represent one of the Pick-A-Little Ladies. They are the innocuous friends of Eulalie Shinn, the mayor’s wife (Debby Mathews). Showy, gossipy, and prissy, they sing, and have a ballet number in the town’s Independence Day celebration in the town gym.
Lee was in this show before when she was teaching high school English in Yuba City, California, and treasures the experience of playing Mrs. Paroo there. Her sons, Phil and Clay, were also in it, and she saw their self-confidence and love for theater grow. She looks forward to sharing the joy that this musical brings with those who see it.
Trey Peters portrays Tommy Djilas, the Mayor’s daughter’s boyfriend, who is from the wrong side of town, in Zaneeta’s parents’ eyes. But Zaneeta doesn’t care.
Others in the line-up from here include Lydia Pass, who is a dancer and a Wa Tan Ye girl, P.T. Charnock, Jamie Davis, Natalie Owens, Laurellei Veasey. Anthony Dickson, Michael Parsons, Howard Johnson, who plays a salesmen, and George Whitesel round out the cast. On the production team are Dawn Hurst, David Montgomery, and Chris Colvard. Johnson is taking leadership in building the set.
In the Broadway production and in the movie, Robert Preston played the lead. In the movie he played opposite Shirley Jones of Oklahoma as Marian. The film grossed approximately eight million dollars and both play and film won a handful of awards, affording Preston the new start of a brilliant career.
But, back to home interests, it’s no wonder that this title interested actors to make the commitment. After it opened on Broadway in 1957, Variety Magazine called it “Superior entertainment…. a building, punching, and ultimately endearing musical” And today, its theme of good winning out is more important than ever.
Garlick is Harold Hill, the charming swindler, who persuades the good folks in River City that they desperately need a band to keep the young people busy and out of trouble – even though he doesn’t know one note from another. The parents put up money and wait anxiously for the Wells Fargo Wagon’s arrival with the band instruments and uniforms. Marian sees through Hill’s scheme, however. But she also sees the new life he has injected into the town.
“Deep down, he’s not a complete rascal,” Garlick explains. “He’s good in heart. But it takes a town like River City to bring out his genuine characteristics.”
There’s a lesson in the hit musical, too.
“Sometimes you find what you need the most without looking for it,” said Garlick, turning to Hill’s lines to Marian towards the end of the script. “The musical is fun, and when hearing the songs it will seem like you’ve known them forever.” It’s a sweet story, according to Garlick. “It’s like picking up a valentine card,” he adds.
To add to the actor’s statement, Mereidith Willson actually wrote the musical as an ode to his hometown in Iowa, (Mason City) using personalities he knew.
Linked with a star—almost
Before Preston was offered the role of Harold Hill, he played in westerns. When Garlick was eight years old, he went to open auditions for a western that Preston was in. He was asked to be an extra in this movie to be shot in Ohio but had to turn it down because his family was going on vacation.
To Joan McKinney, coordinator of development for CAST, the attraction of the musical lies in its singability, from the barbershop quartet’s harmonies to the romantic Goodnight, My Someone. And it will not be unusual at all to hear 76 Trombones being hummed after the show by patrons on their way to the parking lot. “It’s good for all of us to be reminded of this great classic,” McKinney said.
CAST is working hard to deliver the show with the zest and exuberance it needs, knowing that it must live up to one review recorded in texts: “ The Music Man: A jubilant piece of Americana!”
Anyone who has photos and other memorabilia of the 1973 production is asked to call Hervey Folsom at 236-9874.
Reservations are already coming in. The musical is presented Wednesday, April 28, Thursday, April 29, Saturday May 1, matinee and evening, and Sunday, May 2, for the matinee. The next weekend’s dates are Thursday through Sunday ,May 6, 7, 8, and 9 with matinees and evening performances on Saturday and Sunday. All night performances are at 8 p.m. All matinees are at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets for adults are $20 and for students, $10. Group rates are available. For reservations, call 820 -CAST (2278).
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