The Wells Fargo wagon’s coming down the track for Lisbon High School as they present “The Music Man” March 25 and 26 at Lisbon Auditorium. Curtains rise each night at 7 p.m., with tickets $10 and available at the door.
The musical features one of the largest casts of young and old actors on the Lisbon stage in several years, with elementary and middle school students helping to fill out some of the roles of younger crowd members.
It’s also going to be director Julie Schultz’s final show at Lisbon as director.
“This musical was one of the first shows I directed years ago,” Schultz said. “It’s one of my favorite musicals, and it’s the show I wanted to go out with and generate some excitement at all ages for this program.”
She also commended the help of choir director Julie Stulken and band director Joseph Arch for their help in this musical in providing music for the show with piano and pit band playing.
Schultz said the greatest challenge for this show has to be the absolute large size of the cast, as that’s been a lot off juggling schedules to get everyone where they need to be.
Mya Whittenbaugh plays Marian Paroo in this production.
“It’s one of the times I play a leading role and the role is a soprano, which is in my vocal range,” Whittenbaugh said.
For Whittenbaugh, the biggest challenge is memorizing lines, especially since her character is on stage for the majority of the musical.
Junior Gavin Reinken plays the role of Harold Hill.
“Honestly, I’m excited to have a lead role in my junior year of high school,” Reinken said. “It’s also been a lot of fun playing a salesman like Hill.”
Like Whittenbaugh, memorization of lines for Reinken has been one of the biggest challenges, but also learning so many of the songs in the musical.
“For me, there are so many songs from this musical I knew from somewhere else and didn’t know they were in this musical,” Reinken said. “Everyone knows Seventy Six Trombones, but Ya Got Trouble has been one that’s stuck in my head and didn’t know was from this musical.”
Senior Rachel Masters plays Mrs. Paroo.
“I love being a mother figure on stage, especially to my friend Mya Whittenbaugh,” Masters said. “I love acting with her and all of the kids we have in this show.”
Masters said her challenge has been balancing her learning lines with other elements of being a senior – applying for scholarships and determining where she is going to college next year.
“Some of the songs in this musical are also hard,” Masters said. “I’d not heard a lot of these songs before this year.”
“This show is a lot of fun and includes a lot of kids,” Whittenbaugh said. “It’s also a musical based in Iowa, so if you’ve not seen it before, you should definitely do so.”
“It’s Julie’s last production,” said Nathan Ricke, one of the actors in the production. “It’s also a nice family musical that people of all ages can enjoy.”
Mya Whittenbaugh and Gavin Reinken as Marian Paroo and Harold Hill practice a scene from “The Music Man”