THE MUSIC MAN. To 30 August.
Chichester.
THE MUSIC MAN
by Meredith Willson.
Chichester Festival Theatre In rep to 30 August 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 15, 16, 20, 27, 30 Aug 2pm.
Audio-described 30 Aug 2pm.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
TICKETS: 01243 781312.
www.cft.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 August.
A dream of a musical confection.
This may not be the greatest show on earth, but it’s the happiest I’ve seen for a long time. The one that knocked West Side Story off the Best Musical perch in the 1958 Tony awards, it’s the opposite of that work. Set in a folksy, semi-historic backwater, the imaginary River City, Iowa in 1912, it’s a softly-optimistic story about the life of a salesman, Harold Hill (an ever-cheerful, always likeable Brian Conley).
He sells dreams of musical achievement, claiming to train boy marching-bands. Instruments and costumes arrive, but when show-day comes, no-one’s learned anything and Hill’s decamped from town. But Hill enlivens River City, disturbing a mare’s-nest – or mayor’s nest - of complacency.
His nemesis should be Marian, the small-town’s musical librarian. She is; not by bringing him down, but through a mutual love that stops him in his tracks. And what tracks they are in Rachel Kavanaugh’s production, which opens with a posse of salesmen bumping around the stage on a train-journey, tossing rhythmic speech fragments around.
Hill, admirably, loves a challenge, only stopping at River City when someone says the obstinate Iowans won’t respond to his imperfect pitch. And if the story, including the major feelgood element of his giving inarticulate, lisping young Winthrop confidence to speak and play, has no sense of logic – well, this is all about conmen.
Steven Mear’s choreography, Robert Jones' tidy set and Howard Harrison’s lighting help Kavanaugh cast Willson’s spell, including a starry night-scene at the local lovers’ bridge for the second act’s love-song. But a bold confidence-man also needs a boldly confident tune, provided here in the opening act’s statistically exaggerated ’76 Trombones’.
There’s plenty of fun around, and this production indulges all the possibilities. The mayor’s plump wife takes to arty dance and comes out from her husband’s shadow. Hill repeatedly deters a quarter of mayoral spies by forming them into a barber-shop quartet and setting them off with new tunes. Local women take to dancing like chickens. Don’t ask, just enjoy, right up to the finale’s colourful explosion.
Note: Sherrie Pennington was standing-in as female lead Marian when I saw the show. In a fine performance, there was no sense of a substitute, or any limitation in the performance – acting, singing or dancing. If this show goes elsewhere, and the role becomes vacant, sign her at once. And, musicals directors, look out for this performer.
Harold Hill: Brian Conley.
Marian Paroo: Scarlett Strallen.
Mrs Paroo: Katie Secombe.
Winthrop Paroo: Eddie Maning/Declan Murphy-Saunders.
Amaryllis: Beatrice Holland/Phoebe Saun ders.
Marcellus Washburn: Andy Hockley.
Mayor Shinn: Rolf Saxon.
Eulalie Shinn: Jenny Galloway.
Zaneeta Shinn: Zizi Strallen.
Gracie Shinn: Kassy Bull/Frances Roberts.
Jaycee Squires: Kenneth Avery-Clark.
Mrs Squires: Amanda Minihan.
Ewart Dunlop: Matthew Gould.
Maud Dunlop: Sherrie Pennington.
Oliver Hix: Giles Taylor.
Alma Hix: Sophie Louise Dann.
Olin Britt: Steve Fortune.
Ethel Toffelmier: Nicola Blackman.
Tommy Djilas: Barnaby Thompson.
Charlie Cowell: Gary Milner.
Constable Locke: Carl Sanderson.
Conductor/Townsperson: Eddie Elliott.
Townspeople: Kristopher Mitchell, Marc Antolin, Alice Mogg, Clare Halse.
Children of River City: Lucy Anderson, Alwyn Davies-Ebsworth, Charlie Ellison, Katie Hartland, Thomas Hutchin, Cameron McLeish, Ewan McLeish, Joseph Marchant, Aidab O’Connor, Joseph Porter, Elliot Robinson, Sam Robinson, Isaac Salt, Sam Slinger, Harry Sumner, Ben Thair, Bradley Trevethan, Liam Wright.
Director: Rachel Kavanaugh.
Designer: Robert Jones.
Lighting: Howard Harrison.
Sound: Matt McKenzie.
Orchestrator/Musical Supervisor: Steven Edis.
Musical Director: Stephen Ridley.
Choreographer: Stephen Mear.
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare.
Assistant director: Adam Lenson.
Assistant designer: Bec Chippendale.
Assistant musical director: Wyn Hyland.
Assistant choreographer: Jo Morris.
2008-08-11 13:33:45