Trouble in River City?

Josiah Garber

Professor Harold Hill (Michael Dezort) desperately tries to get the attention of librarian Marian Paroo (Bethany Blouse).

Knowing how EMU's theater department likes to set its plays into a Mennonite peace and justice context, often parting from theatrical tradition to do so, I wondered what Director L.B. Hamilton would do with The Music Man.

What would a family-oriented, feel-good musical about a self-centered small town and a con-artist have to say in a global context of natural disasters and a war on terror? Indeed, while the program acknowledged this global/local discrepancy by juxtaposing headlines from 1912 such as "U.S. Marines Land in Cuba," "RMS Titanic Sinks!" and "U.S. Invades Honduras!" with "River City's Mrs. Foster Fosters Needy Children" and "Wan Tan Ye Girl's Club Founded by Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn," the musical hadn't changed much from what I remembered seeing as a child.

The starring role of Professor Harold Hill (Michael Dezort), traveling salesman/con-artist, demands high energy. Though an excellent actor and singer, Dezort's performance on Friday night lacked a little luster. It was hard at times to see Hill as a charismatic con-man when even minor setbacks could break through his veneer of confidence.

EMU students like "Scared Single Senior" from the Jan. 27 "Ask Amanda" column may find the character of Marian Paroo (Bethany Blouse) easy to identify with in the first act. Feeling societal pressure to find a guy but refusing to let go of her high standards, the librarian waits wistfully for that "special someone" to come along. Professor Hill is a creepy guy following her around and pestering her at work. Not the sort of knight in shining armor any girl would go for. However, her attitude suddenly changes when she sees the positive effect Professor Hill's mission has on her younger brother.

The real highlights of the show were its excellent supporting cast, including a high-energy Tommy Djilas (Jason Garber), a wonderfully Irish Widow Paroo (Rachel Schrock), a tongue-tied Mayor Shinn (Pete Nelson) and his somewhat eccentric wife (Shannon Terranova). With a 39-member cast, 21-piece orchestra and many more working behind the scenes, a large portion of the EMU community have devoted their time and energy to make this month's production of The Music Man possible.

The one noticeable change came in Scene 2 (and later in Scene 4) where Professor Harold Hill began to stir up trouble to create a need for a 'River City youth band." While it's nice to know that an EMU version of Professor Hill tries to be more gender inclusive, "youth band" lacks some of the alliterate punch of the original "boy's band." Nor does his sensitivity in this case prevent Hill from later making the mistake of trying to recruit Mayor Shinn's non-existent son for the band or Mayor Shinn from failing to consider that a daughter of his might be just as well equipped to play the flugelhorn as a son. Nor did the effort toward equality spread to the attitude of River City Iowans regarding a woman's status relative to her relationship with a man, as expressed in the sentiments of Widow Paroo: "When a woman's got a husband and you've got none, why should she take advice from you?"

However, watching the performance Friday night, I realized that the musical is really about a JPCS kind of transformation: the transforming power of music. Music transforms a tranquil chip-on-the-shoulder Iowan town into a vibrant, exciting, and open place.

Music transforms four of the town's leading businessmen, who have been bickering for years, into a harmonious barbershop quartet. Music transforms a little boy, angry about his father's death and ashamed of his lisp, into an active, talkative kid. And music transforms an aloof spinster piano teacher into a talented and respected young woman.

The town had music before Professor Hill entered their lives, but it lacked the vision to spread that music into every home and every heart. While Hill's vision was born of the necessity to sell the entire town on his scheme, its success stems from a genuine core. "I always think there's a band, kid," he tells Winthrop after admitting that the whole thing was a sham. In the end, the transforming power of that vision reaches back and transforms Hill himself.

The Music Man may not address the important global issues our world faces today, but it certainly has something to say about confronting the dangerous unknowns in our lives, letting them transform us, and seeing others for the good they bring rather than their selfish intentions.