NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR...
They say it takes a village to raise a child. This is very much the case with Musical Theatre, as well. There are so many details that need to be attendend to, such as contracts, paying the bills, set design, set construction, costumes design/construction, sound, lights, sound effects, props, advertising, programs, tickets, ushers, kid wranglers, parents helping with the kids, and friends coming in at the last minute and assisting with whatever needs to be done. This is all happening while the cast is doing their homework learning lines, music, staging, and choreography. While most only notice those on the front lines (director, stage manager, vocal director, choreographer), there many others that put just as much work, if not more, into making a production a success. Without this "Village," there would be no production. So, here's to my "Village"! Thank you all for your time, patience, and hard work just for the love of theatre!
Congratulations on such a wonderful show! Break a Leg!
~Julie Aguilar
ABOUT THE AUTHOR...
Meredith Willson
"In 1949, many people, including the songwriter Frank Loesser, suggested that Willson write a musical about his early life in Iowa. So using his memories of Mason City, Willson created The Music Man. Each character in The Music Man's River City is based on someone he knew from Mason City. Marian Paroo, the famous librarian from the song "Marian the Librarian" and the show's female lead, is based on Willson's mother, complete with her music lessons and love of knowledge and culture. Marian's mother in the show is based on a German woman who would come to clean the Willson's house every Saturday, and the boy Winthrop who solves his lisp problems with the song "Gary, Indiana" is Willson himself as a ten year old. And the lovable con man, "Professor" Harold Hill? Before the opening of The Music Man in 1957, Willson wrote in The New York Herald, "Harold Hill...is so many people that I remember different ones every time I see the show."
But beyond the characters, Willson uses The Music Man to poke affectionate fun at the unyielding Iowa bull-headedness that melts when Harold Hill comes to town. Like a reverse Pied Piper, Hill gives the adults of River City back their childhood by introducing them to music and dance: bickering men become the best of friends when formed into a barbershop quartet; a boy too shy to speak breaks out of his shell when Hill teaches him a song. Willson's breathless and full-of-life music creates a joyous parade of everyday life."
By Peter Royston
(Center Stage Magazine, Winter/Spring 2002)
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