STAGE REVIEW
'Music Man' better heard than seen
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic
It's been 10 years since Army Community Theatre staged Meredith Wilson's feel-good "Music Man," about a salesman who hoodwinks a town into paying for a bogus brass band but is shaken into accountability by love.
It's not too soon to trot the piece back into the footlights, since the nearly 50-year-old musical has been restaged for Broadway and television.
'The Music Man'
But the "trot" is missing from this production, where the story gets wheeled out by the numbers and not given any oxygen. Some individual performances are good, but Jim Hutchison's direction is static enough to turn it nearly into a concert.
To paraphrase one of the show's popular lyrics, it may be that the trouble in River City comes from too many people on stage, moving in lockstep or not at all. Much of the choreography is built around marching in place, and even the big dance number, "Shipoopi," chokes the stage rather than animates it.
What we hear works better than what we see. Musical director Daren Kimura has pulled together a large, substantial orchestra. The principals and chorus sing well. The men pull off the opening number, in which traveling salesmen create the illusion of a steam locomotive and the women make a spirited flock with "Pickalittle."
The show's barbershop quartet is a big hit with the audience, squeezing wonderful harmony from "Sincere," "Goodnight Ladies" and "Lida Rose." Ralph Brandt, Jim Gammon, George McQuat and Don Raymond sing together outside this production, and add a solid musical boost within it.
Dennis Proulx recreates the lead role of Professor Harold Hill, but he seems to be trying too hard to punch the show out of its doldrums. Proulx displays wonderful energy, but adds a comic edge that takes him uncomfortably close to vaudeville buffoon.
Nicole Sullivan sings well enough as Marian the Librarian, but her performance lacks interest until she reveals that she's been aware of Hill's deception. While their big number, "Till There Was You," is a romantic set piece, their relationship lacks spark.
Steve Wagenseller's singing voice is neglected in the role of Mayor Shinn, but he compensates with such a strong Sylves-ter the Cat imitation that we expect "sufferin' succotash" to become part of the dialogue. Tracy Yamamoto is appropriately imperious as his wife.
Makena Miller and Michael Yasunaga do well as Amaryllis and Winthrop. But except for Mark Tucker as leader of the boy's band, the town seems curiously devoid of anyone between the ages of 7 and adulthood, seriously undermining the need for musical discipline to curb delinquency.
Even the rousing "Seventy-Six Trombones" is unable to rouse this River City out of its lethargy.
Correction: The part of Mayor Shinn is played by Steve Wagenseller. His name was misspelled in a previous version of this review.
