“The Music Man” is coming to The Villages and as jive-talkin’ Professor Harold Hill might say “that means ya got people.” The show numbers 109 persons and seems large enough to be called The Village of River City.
“This is the biggest cast ever to play the Savannah Center,” says Director Sandie Hawthorne. On a recent weeknight, about 100 cast members – led by Jill Marrese as Marian the Librarian and John Rogerson as Harold Hill — gathered in the Judy Garland Room of the Paradise Recreation Center. The assembled multitude includes kids, older folks, young adults and grandparents.
This night is another rehearsal for The Villages Musical Theater production that runs March 24-27 in Savannah Center. Curtain time is 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Villages Box Office locations.
At rehearsal, the crowded cast senses opening night is getting closer and the tension level is rising.
“Why did this thing come off now,” Marrese says while struggling to tape a face microphone to her left ear. She puts in on – it falls off. She tries again, pressing harder, but it falls off. She’s due to rehearse a scene in a few minutes and the face mike falls to the floor. “I’ll get it on this time,” she says, gently slapping the side of her face and it finally sticks.
John Rogerson is also facing a challenge.
“My hat,” he says, juggling the red and white hat with the baseball-sized pearl emblem on his head. Rogerson leans to one side. “Does it look straight,” he says. Then he gazes at his reflection in a glass-framed picture. “It’s straight,” he says.
Director Hawthorne is the person who makes it all come together. “Working with a cast this size is a constant challenge because I’ve never done it before. At times, it seems overwhelming.”
During rehearsal, Hawthorne seems to be everywhere, trying to master the controlled chaos while buzzing around on a motorized scooter. “OK, listen, we have to be quiet,” she tells the cast when the personal chatter level interferes with rehearsal. “We have a lot of people here, and the only way we’re going to get through this is if we are quiet and listen.” A respectful hush comes over the room.
Hawthorne is part general, part parent, part coach, part friend and part babysitter. It’s all in the job description for a director. “Johnathan,” she calls in a soft voice to Johnathan Ballou, who plays a young boy named Winthrop. “That’s it, do it right,” Hawthorne adds, and then claps and smiles when he finishes singing. There are nine children in the cast, ranging from 7-11. All attend The Villages Charter Middle School. “They have been wonderful,” Hawthorne says. “Sometimes they act like kids; they run around or get loud, but that’s OK.”
You can see a clip from “The Music Man” rehearsal at the Villages-News.com Facebook page at the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagesNews?ref=hl
Hawthorne praises her production team, which includes Musical Director Jean Butler and a 17-piece orchestra. Helene Yelverton is the choreographer and Marrese, in addition to playing the female lead, is also choral director.
“I couldn’t do this without them,” Hawthorne says. “They bring fresh ideas, enthusiasm and creativity.”
But Hawthorne also knows the buck stops with the director.
“I always tell the cast, ‘If the play is wonderful and people love it, you will get all the credit. If not, then it’s my fault.’”
Robert Preston played the lead in “The Music Man” on Broadway and in the 1962 movie. Preston stamped an iconic mark on the role of Harold Hill.
Hawthorne doesn’t want her cast to copy him or the film. “A movie is a picture; live theater is about language,” she says. “We can’t play small, like you can on a huge movie screen. We have to play big, so the people in the last row can feel and hear what really matters.”
Chemistry between the Music Man and Marian the Librarian is the essential ingredient. “The chemistry between John and Jill has been wonderful. They’ve worked together before and are so good together.”
Rogerson enjoys playing the whimsical hustler known as Harold Hill. He tries to con the small-town folks into buying musical instruments and band uniforms.
“He’s trying to bamboozle them,” Rogerson says. “What I’m trying to do is capture his enthusiasm and wonderful manner. He’s very smart and very slick.”
Hill is one of those theatrical rascals, audiences love. “He’s such a character that people root for him,” says Rogerson, who has often performed on stage with Marrese.
“Jill and I are comfortable together,” adds Rogerson, a retired Air Force Colonel and college professor. “We know how to play off each other, just by looking at each other.”
This isn’t Maresse’s first encounter with “The Music Man.” The former music teacher in Michigan once directed a version of the musical about two decades ago and her son, Jeff, was in the cast. “I’ve always loved ‘Music Man,’” she says. “It’s my favorite musical of all time.”
Harold Hill may be a smooth con man, but he meets his match in Marian. Ultimately the two fall for each other.
“I’m trying to portray Marian as an equal to him,” Marrese says. “She’s not fooled by his shenanigans. She wants to uncover his deceitful ways but in the process, she falls in love with him.”
Meredith Wilson wrote “The Music Man,” nearly 60 years ago but it still holds up. “I think the writing is what really makes this work,” Marrese said. “It truly is a work of art.”
Such songs as “Ya Got Trouble,” “Seventy-six Trombones,” “Wells Fargo Wagon” and “Till There Was You” – later covered by the Beatles – also made the show a hit. “I love ‘Ya Got Trouble,’” Rogerson says. “It’s like a Broadway version of a rap song.”
Another reason the play works is the setting of River City, a typical Mid-western town. Wilson grew up in Mason City, Iowa, and captured the spirit of the people in a paean to folksy, small-town life of a bygone era.
“It’s great fun,” says cast member Ed Slivken. “It’s upbeat, it’s happy and has simplicity. I grew up in a town on the Mississippi River and that’s way I remember it.”
Now, the huge cast is ready to make “The Music Man” work after months of rehearsing.
“Everybody gets along,” says Wayne O’Banion, who plays the constable. “”We’ve had a few different opinions expressed, but that happens when you throw 100 people together. But, overall, it’s been a lot of work and a lot of fun.”