The Music Man, Meredith Willson’s valentine to America, small-town Midwest division, circa 1912, has captivated audiences since the 1956-57 Broadway season when it dominated the Tony Awards and beat out West Side Story.
Known for Willson’s syncopated rhythms and trip-hammer lyrics, the show has never been considered a strong dance show. But, says choreographer Shea Sullivan who is collaborating again with director Mark Martino (Crazy For You) at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, “It is now. It makes perfect sense to me that the music man moves this town through music and dance and movement.”
Martino and Sullivan leapt at the chance to work together again on The Music Man, mainly because the production stars Matt Loehr (Carbonell Award for Crazy For You, last season’s Hello, Dolly!), who Sullivan considers her muse. “He inspires me and that is exciting for me as a choreographer,” she says.
Loehr considers the role of Harold Hill, the con man who travels from town to town selling band instruments and uniforms to doting, gullible parents of would-be kid musicians, a good fit for him. “Because this is a guy who has to come in with a lot of pizzazz, and I daresay I have a lot of pizzazz. I think that salesman quality I can bring very well to this, but I like a character who takes a journey into becoming a more grounded individual. That’s what happens to Harold. ‘Till There Was You’ is finally a moment where he gets to stand still and get shell-shocked.”
Before that point, Loehr will be a perpetual motion machine. “He’s on the go. He’s a smooth talker, smooth mover, quick-witted. He’s ethically questionable of course, a scalliwag,” says Loehr. “He’s bad and we love him anyway.”
The idea of telling the story through dance begins with the rhythmic opening number, Rock Island.
“We needed a set change after ‘Rock Island’ to get into Iowa, so we thought maybe we see Harold getting off the train and he does a little dance,” explains Loehr. “And that sets up that we’re telling a lot of our story through dance. He does a few steps, he spins around, the curtain rises and we’re set to go into Iowa.
“In ‘Trouble’ and ‘76 Trombones,’ I’ll be dancing a lot more than Robert Preston ever did. Robert Preston is Harold Hill and will always be, but he wasn’t a dancer.
“Then there’s the library number, ‘Marian the Librarian,’ where he’s going to create pandemonium through physical dancing and interaction,” says Loehr. “Now Harold is the initiator, the ringleader, which is fitting. It does make for a more tiring role, but it’s exciting.”
Fortunately, Loehr, 34, has youth on his side. “Yes, I’m younger than a lot of Harold Hills, but in terms of the show it actually makes sense,” he says.
Harold’s age is not specified in the script, but his love interest Marian is 26, what passes for the edge of being an old maid in River City, Iowa, a hundred years ago. “He’s not so old where the traveling is going to wear him down. This is a guy who loves his life, he doesn’t realize he’s lonely.”
Director Martino, who has also helmed such shows as The Boy Friend, La Cage aux Folles and last season’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Maltz, considers The Music Man a good fit for his strengths.
“It plays into my wheelhouse, which is to take a classic musical, look at it again to make sure we find the heart and soul of it. It’s about a triple-threat, a multitalented, iconic central character that I find very exciting to direct. Also the thing about this show that calls to me is that this is a show where every character onstage changes. It’s a show with flash and with pizzazz, but it’s also so grounded.
“I don’t have enough ego to say I have a take on ‘The Music Man’ that’s brand-new,” concedes Martino. “What I have is a cast that’s new to it and a way to bring new excitement to the show with a leading man who’s not out of the Robert Preston mold.”
Like the Maltz’s previous production, Amadeus, the cast size for The Music Man will be reduced, allowing more individual characters to emerge.
“Traditionally you have townspeople of 30+, a crowd,” says Loehr. You’re going to see individual people in this town, which is always nice. We’re not out to reinvent the wheel, not setting the show in a different time period. Still, Loehr is certain that theatergoers “are going to see a ‘Music Man’ they’ve never seen before.”
THE MUSIC MAN, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. From Tuesday, Nov. 27 through Sunday, Dec. 16. Tickets: From $46. Call: (561) 575-2223.