PHOTO BY PAUL LYDEN
Siri Howard (Marian Paroo) and Matt Loehr (Harold Hill) perform in “The Music Man.”
By BILL BROTHERTON
BEVERLY — “The Music Man” is one of America’s greatest musicals, and its story of a con man who finds love and redemption in a small Iowa town has been delighting audiences since 1957, when it won five Tony Awards, including best musical.
It’s the perfect show to kick off Bill Hanney’s eighth season as owner/producer of North Shore Music Theatre. This production, directed with flair by Bob Richard, deserves a 76-trombone salute. It’s terrific.
The year is 1912 (you can tell it’s the olden days; the traveling salesmen aboard a train are reading newspapers!) and “Professor” Harold Hill (Matt Loehr) lands in River City, Iowa, (population 2012) prepared to scam the residents out of their hard-earned cash. His con: he will keep the kids out of trouble, with a capital T, by forming a band and selling instruments and uniforms. His plan is to collect the money and skip town before townies realize their children can’t play a single note and they’ve been swindled.
Marian Paroo (Siri Howard), the librarian/piano teacher, is the only trained musician in town. She thinks Hill’s full of baloney and sets out to prove he’s a fraud. But when her 10-year-old brother Winthrop (Ben Choi-Harris) is handed a cornet, he gains confidence and loses a lisp that has held him back. She rethinks her feelings about Hill and his Think System of musical education, and she falls for the hustling ne’er-do-well who has already charmed nearly everyone else in town.
Loehr is a sharknado of energy as Hill. His singing and dancing skills are strong. He conducts a rousing “Seventy-six Trombones,” which is just one of many spectacular dancing numbers in this production, and carries the lively “Trouble.” His interactions with the School Committee, four bickering townies he turns into a stellar barbershop quartet, and the mayor’s wife and her gossipy lady friends are funny and delightful. His version of the classic “Till There Was You” is a standout.
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Howard is excellent as Marian the Librarian; her transformation from the prim and proper “old maid” to devil-may-care giddy lovestruck gal is remarkable. She also shows off a gorgeous, expressive soprano, which turns “Goodnight, My Someone.” “My White Knight” and “Will I Ever Tell You” into showstopping numbers. Loehr and Howard, who played Cosette in NSMT’s 2014 “Les Miserables,” share great chemistry.
The cast is solid. Brad Bellamy draws laughs as the malaprop-spouting mayor; Cheryl McMahon is priceless as his veddy proper/daffy wife. McMahon, who channels Imogene Coca, and her fellow ladies of River City are priceless, whether dancing, singing (“Pickalittle”) or gossiping about the “dirty books” (Chaucer, Rabelais and Balzac) Marian encourages people to read.
The opening scene of the salesmen on a train is brilliant; the actors spit out the words as if they were rapping hip-hop lyrics. Kudos, too, to the barbershop quartet of Philip Bryan, Matthew Chappell, J.D. Daw and Osborn Focht.
Young Choi-Harris is a crowd-pleaser, earning loud applause for his “Gary Indiana.” Christopher DeAngelis is fine as agitator/anvil salesman Charlie Cowell and Brian Padgett is a hoot as Hill’s “turned legit” pal Marcellus Washburn. Ellen Peterson is fine as Marian’s mom. As Amaryllis, Paige Martino, a 10-year-old from Lynnfield, shines in her scene and song with Howard. Ashley Talluto, a North Reading native, sparkles along with her ensemble mates.
Praise for Milton Granger and his 11-member Music Theatre orchestra. Diane Laurenson’s choreography is great, as are Paula Peasley-Ninestein’s costumes and Kyle Dixon’s scenic design.
“The Music Man” is at the Music Theatre through June 18.