Theatre Review
Production: The Music Man
By: Meredith Willson
Director: Susan H. Schulman
Where: Stratford Festival Of Canada
Run: April 26^th to November 1^st 2008
Theatre: Avon Theatre 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada) 

I must admit to being a complete enthusiast for The Music Man. The 1962 film version with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones was an inspiring film with more religious undertones then C.S. Lewis' The Lion, Witch And The Wardrobe. Theatrically speaking, The Music Man on stage is at its greatest advantage because of the band sensibilities. Of course hearing a band live always resonates stronger then on screen.

The Music Man is about Professor Harold Hill, a travelling salesman who descends upon a town and instigates a fear of something within the town (this town had the tragic situation of a pool table) that distracts the young boys from good Christian values. Professor Hill then sells the idea of a boy's band, with instruments and matching band uniforms. Of course, Hill is a con man who can't play a single note on any instrument. His revolutionary ‘think' system of learning music is a smoke screen that holds long enough for him to get the money and run without suspicion. Only this time, in this town, Professor Hill falls in love...  

The Stratford Festival Of Canada has chose The Music Man as one of its two Musical productions for this season (Cabaret being the other). The stage was set with Cape Cod style white shutter and white panel sets. Pastels are transferred through light on the white backdrops and what appears to be the shadows of trees also are cast onto the alabaster set. Possibly the greatest set for this imagery was the whitewash look in the library, where even the books lined up in rows on the shelves had the hue of eggshell. The library was a simply stunning production backdrop!

Initially an ingenious formation of a train was setup by pushing crates to the front of the stage and opening them up back to back, transformed into a seating arrangement on a train. The men pushing the crates into formation dropped their travelling salesmen briefcases at the front of the stage and started to motion back and forth is sequence as if in beat with the moving train. The created train was brilliantly put together and the men coordinating the motion of the train with their sways and bounces was meticulously created and showed the benchmark of Susan H. Schulman's directing touch. 

Easily, The Music Man is this years Oklahoma! (which was last years' Music Man of course), and all the light hearted gaiety was propelled forth with delicious numbers like ‘Seventy Six Trombones,' ‘Shipoopi,' and my favourite, the communal hysteria number ‘Ya Got Trouble.' The vocals were not very strong from either lead performer, Jonathon Goad (who played Professor Harold Hill) and Leah Oster (as Marian Paroo) are great actors, but not quite the vocalists for the parts. Oster would be a great template for the next Disney character as her whole persona seems exceptionally sweet and her vocals tweet alongside Cinderella's birds quite amiably. Goad was Iago in last year's Stratford production of Othello , and he was a vibrant and compelling Iago to say the least. I must admit it would have preferred to see Goad again this year, but better suited as Petruchio to the taming of Kate, the shrew, perhaps. Mind you, the lead actor's vocals were a small distraction, as the secondary actors really stole the stage.

Eddie Glen as Professor Hill's old friend Marcellus Washburn, was delightful as a ‘travelling salesman' who had turned straight-laced. Washburn was playful in performance and yet hit his mark every time with ease and perfection. Shelley Simester as Alma Hix was a refreshing addition of comedy, and stole the stage every time she entered it. Fiona Reid, who played the drunken sister in A Delicate Balance last year at Stratford, plays the mayor's wife; Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man. Reid is fabulous as the dithery, self-absorbed Mrs. Shinn. Her costumes were also a delight, and in particular a royal purple dress with black lace that made Mrs. Shinn akin to something out of Beetlejuice. Kudos to the Barbershop Quartet as well for their harmonious performance. Michelle Fisk as Mrs. Paroo had a dreadful Irish accent that was quite distracting.  

However, the star of the show was ‘littl'in' Winthrop Paroo, played by Christopher Van Hagen, with the characters signature lisp problem appropriately attached. Van Hagen was possibly one of the best child actors I've ever seen, with a stage presence that is both at ease and magnanimous. Van Hagen can belt out ‘Gary Indiana' and also sell shares in ‘adorable' at the same time it would appear! The Music Man is Christopher Van Hagen's debut.

Last years Oklahoma! was a much more impressive, better choreographed, and better sung Musical, but this years The Music Man has charm and a great many interesting aspects about it. Sadly, the surprise ending was a big let down.