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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK Showman Harold Hill is in town and he’s got 76 trombones in tow. The fast-talking traveling salesman will try to win over the stern upright, uptight town librarian Marian with his powerful allure as “The Music Man Jr.” takes the stage today and Friday at Sun Valley Community Theater. And he’ll con the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for his boys’ band, even though he himself doesn’t know a trombone from a trumpet.
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The Mayor of River City comes unhinged when the town’s “juvenile delinquent throws a firecracker at his wife, and he doesn’t appreciate him taking up with his daughter, either.
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Kids from Company B day camp will perform the classic musical at 2 p.m. today--Thursday, Aug. 14--and at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15. The kids, ages 4 through 13, have been readying the show for two weeks, learning how to build set and props, learn intricate dance steps and spout the fast-talking, fast-singing lyrics. And they get the costumes mostly right, despite the constable’s helmet that keeps slipping over one young girl’s eyes. Be sure to stay for the bows—the kids worked hard on those. Tickets start at $5 and are available at https://www.stthomasplayhouse.org/.
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“The Music Man Jr.” kicks off with a good old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration.
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The musical, adapted from Meredith Wilson’s Tony Award-winning Broadway classic, features an old-fashioned, American-as-apple pie romance. And it’s chock full of memorable songs, including “Seventy-Six Trombones,” the lovely “Til There Was You” and “Good Night, My Someone” and the lickety-split “Rock Island” and “Pick-A Little.” And don’t forget “Ya Got Trouble.” That’s “Trouble with a capital T.” The musical debuted in 1957, winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical. The album won the first Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and spent 245 weeks on the Billboard charts. Company B’s production is directed by Ida Belle Gorby and Eva Hatzenbuehler.
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The town’s busy bodies sound like a bunch of cackling hens as they sing “Pick-a-Little.”
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“It’s been fun to introduce a new generation to such a fun musical,” said Sara Gorby, the director of St. Thomas Playhouse. “Some of the kids already knew the music—they just didn’t know the words. And they’ve really embraced that old school music.”
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Professor Harold Hill tries to convince a mother to let her son play the cornet in the band he’s forming.
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