The Music Man

Classic Americana, lively dance numbers, and small-town hilarity are a few themes that inspired me when I stared dreaming up my production of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man.

I had a couple goals when working on Music Man. One was to create a stronger, more believable love story between Harold and Marian, and the other was to add more dance into the already rousing show.

While many people love this classic musical, one shortcoming is the romance between Marian and Harold seems too abrupt and can feel a bit forced. I strived to better develop it by sprinkling in their love story earlier in the musical. By hinting at the romance earlier, the audience begins to want it to happen, and there’s a bigger payoff when Marian and Harold, two stubborn characters who seem like polar opposites, fall for each the other.

My first approach was to have Harold fall in love with the town. Almost like he wanted to be accepted by the Iowans, while still trying to swindle them. One of my favorite moments was during Marian’s “My White Knight.” In the third verse, while Marian is singing in her home, I had Harold come out of his hotel, sit on a bench upstage, and read. While he was there, towns people walked by and greeted him, and he greeted back. Then something flows over him, as if he somehow hears Marian’s song. As the song ends, they both look out into the audience with wonder.

With this idea in mind, I needed to further develop Marian’s arch, which can be overlooked since she isn’t the titular character. Nevertheless, she is no less important in this story. I used the moments where Marian can see the good in Harold and the influence he has, not only on her, but also the town: being a positive figure for her little brother, standing up for Tommy, inspiring the kids with the magic of the think system, and bringing an overall positive change to the town. This idea shinned in the number “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You.” With the quartet singing and lightly dancing upstage I had Marian carrying roses and adding them to her Library and to her house, showing that something or someone is brightening up Marian’s life.

When you have a group of actors who come alive when given the opportunity of hard choreography, the proper response is to add more, and that’s just what I did here. I sought to add more complicated sequences into songs that typically don’t have much choreography like “Trouble”, “76 Trombones”, and “Wells Fargo”.  In “Trouble” I wanted to portray a parent’s nightmare. The children of River City showcase how terrible they have become. Large broken leaps, snarled faces, and charlestons flanked the stage during this number, while the gullible parents falling for Harold’s story come together in a frightened amoeba and move with Harold as if he was their puppet master.

In “76 Trombones”, I drew inspiration from marching band routines. I worked with a local high school band director and learned the proper hand placements for the instruments, from trombone, to trumpet, and even euphonium. This was not only fun to learn but was a blast to teach the cast.

Before the Wells Fargo wagon was revealed, I wanted to see if I could challenge this high school cast to do something we hadn’t seen before, and that was to make a wagon out of people. With my background in cheer and inspiration from Skimbleshanks, the railway cat, the human wagon was born! It was very fun to see every show, and the cast was proud of it!

Henryetta High School
2024

You can view the entire album of this production’s photos by clicking here.