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MTW Brings SPLENDED "The Music Man"..An American Lovable Family Musical Show-- It Won 5 Top TONY's ...

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The Music
Man
-- An American Lovable
Family Musical Show
-- It Won 5
Top TONY's-- all Vs. the
Legendary West Side Story



Reviewed By: Joseph Sirota                                                                              

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The
Music Man
has been an audience
pleaser since its 1957 Broadway with... 5-Tony-Wins. The story
centers on an inner-tug-of-war for Mr. Harold Hill, the cleverest,
"sly-con-artist" and charmer among traveling salesmen. Half
call him a winner, but others hate him as a crook who gives em' all a bad name,
& hurts "our" Fair Sales "we" work hard
for. Hill, deems his rivals just jealous, &
sets out to prove he'll easily charm, sell & earn a "bundle" at River
City
, a small town with a tough, suspicious Mayor, & even more nosy
& gossiping town's women sniffing about $$ scams & any unmarried
romances. And, there's Marian the Librarian/Piano teacher who's a
beauty, but smart, sharp & ever-shielded from rogues. Regardless of these
watchdogs, Hill, who cons as "Music Professor H. Hill",
(an un-earned title Marion
see- through, before Hill gets a word in! "Hill's d
etermined
to use his phony Music Sale, "Con-Charm-the-Women & Befriend-the-town's-hopeful-kids.
Near winning, we see he can grab mucho town cash(down-payments for Kids
Instruments to play..& fancy uniforms for
them to wear(charming parade promises
for all year). Marian has fallen for him & his tale to uplift town spirit
via Music & parades
!! Parents & Kids paid cash, in now in Hill's
hands, & he's about to catch the next train out, before the town gets Nothing!
Guess the End of Hill's tug-of-war! Does he choose$$...or his true
Love? Hmm?



The Music Man may seem
sweet & rather small town in societal characters & social events, but
many call it All-America. Meredith
Willson
, its creator of Book, Music and Lyrics grew up in
Middle-America and worked years bringing each song and character to full life.
He passionately knew by reality what would be funny & get smiles, and what
would reach out for playful love, vs. finding lifelong LOVE when you find it. He
kept polishing, and kept only the very best pieces that captured the hearts,
lips & funny-bones of even Big
City sophisticates. Don't
forget, this was written and hit Broadway in the 1950's -- when TV comedies
like Lucy & Dizzy, Sid Caesar, Our Miss Brooks, and Farther Knows Best and
The Beaver plus Westerns were what American families sat around living rooms
laughing & rooting for the Good-Guys together(or harmonizing). It was when
families had been through WWII and the Korean War (& pre the worst of the
Vietnam War. America
was in the mood for clever, but clean cut fun joy! (Before the Mid 1960's
brought in (Free-Love & wide leg pants or later silky beaded Disco tops).
Looking back, that's why The Music Man won Five(5) TOP Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Lead
Actor...etc --&  They WON All Of Their
"GOLD TONY's in the same year that West Side Story
was nominated for these same awards. Think of that... West
Side Story's team: Leonard
Bernstein, S.Sondheim,
Jerome Robbins &
Harold Prince
are deemed high
among America's
Musical Stage Greatest Creators! 2-Wows in one Yr!

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Another Successful Step
was from Live Broadway Musical to All-American Musical-Film(for families
far away from or unaffordable of the Big Apple's live gems. The Music Man turned out to be the perfect success to bring
Broadway to reachable family local Big-Screens too. Its wide range of
energizing  musical numbers again touched
different feelings for different family members. The funny numbers
include: Ya Got
Trouble(
Hill scares em of pool
halls to sell music paraphernalia)
Pickalittle Talk-a-Little(High-speed laughs about
busybodies)
, and  Shipoopi(Raucously
Dancing to win Town kids & adults over to music
, & last but never least, is the Bigger-than-Life, march,
76 Trombones, the shows "signature" that simply makes
every soul wanna' strut, play, sing and just plane feel you're
"special". Now lets not forget theshow's ROMANCE; Good Night My
Someone
; It's You; Will I Ever Tell You?; Till There Was You; The Sadder-But- Wiser Girl;
and My
White Knight
-- that Harold
Hill
may not be a true Professor of Teaching Music, but he sure can teach
falling-in-love(to even hard-students). Yes, all these show-stoppers are great
on Movie Screens-- But just wait till you see em Men/Women/ & super-lively
KIDS zoom across stage!





>Outstanding
Casting!
Makes MTW 61+ Season Production Too Giantic in Talent, Number & Energy
an Army to Write all they Merit:.a few:



Leads: Hill(Davis
Gaines-MTW King!
) & Marian(Gail
Bennett A+
) Flow with talent, Fit Well, Likable, Energetic, Sing
Well--& 100% in Duets.  Marian's Mother (Cathy Newman) &
Marian's
young Brother(Kevin
Ciardelli
) & Amaryllis(Maggie Balleweg)
Light up
Marian-Unwed Days



Ornery Delight-- Mayor Shinn(Joey D'Auria)
& Mayor's Undefeated-leader/Wife(Rebecca Spencer) & Sultry Daughter(Ashley Anderson)  



Hill's former con-man pal, Marcellus now lives "clean" in River City(Matt Walker) on-the-nose verve/timing...tries
to help old pal...sans Jail!



Mayor's Wife's 4 Gossipy
Friends
: Oh-My! Wanna' know any secrets? ask
em
: (Caralee Hill, Jenny Moon Shaw, Paige Brinskele, Donna Louden)



School Board / also town's fine
Barbershop Quartet(Jacey Squires,
Ewart Dunlop, Oliver Hix, Olin Britt
) Good Singers, and lots of fun.



Tommy Djilas--smart, handsome young guy from
wrong-side-of-town...(Christian
Villanueva
.. wins heart of Mayor's daughter & Helps Hill





As far as the Creative
team, there's far more than even the talent army on stage. Off the stage of
this Busy Show are very capable folks who are equally worthy of applause and
boys. Jeff Maynard(Director),
John Todd(Choreographer) & Corey Hirsch(Musical Director) are
great thinkers, solvers, and creators that together with each other, put
together countless decisions to bring us a WINNING show -- we see unfolding based
on Meredith Willson & Franklin Lacey Broadway's beloved Classic. From the
audience's extremely positive throughout the show, and the long, loud standing
ovation at the final curtain, the above three's guidance of the big terrific cast,
excellent live orchestra, & production wise folk, the show was as good as
the "SOLD-OUT" tickets hoped for. Let's not forget Kelley Marie Pate,(stage
mgr), Mary Ritenhour(Production
Mgr), Kevin Clowes (Technical
Dir), Jean-Yves Tessier(Lighting),
Brian S. Hsieh(Sound),
The Theatre Company(Costumes)
each had nary a slip!



____________________________________________________



THE MUSIC MAN : @ The Musical
Theatre West at Carpenter Performing Arts Ctr, 6200 E. Atherton Street, Long Beach
CA. Showtimes: Thurs & Fri @ 8:pm,
Sat @ 2 pm & 8:pm
, Sun @ 2:pm
Matinees
. Run Ends: Mar 2. Tkts From $20-up. (Group rates
available) Buy online @ www.musical.org
or by phone @ 562-856-1999 Ext-4.
Tkts also @ MTW Box Office- 4350
E. 7th St. Long Beach,
CA 90804

(noon-6:pm M-F)



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