From the imaginary town in Iowa, River City, now to the Mount Vernon performing arts center, it’s The Music Man presented by the Mount Vernon High School Theatre. Director Tom Stephens and the almost 50 actors are reaching back to their roots to perform a musical about musicians in Iowa.
“This is an Iowa classic,” said Stephens, “It’s a great one to expose the kids to.”
The performances on April 26-27 and May 2-3 will give the audience the chance to watch the hit musical songs “76 Trombones” and, an actor favorite and high energy dance number, “Shipoopi.” Tickets can be purchased at MVHSTheatre.ludus.com.
“Once we get the dance down, Shipoopi is going to be a really fun scene,” said Emmet Jordan, playing Harold Hill, the lead actor.
As a senior it is Jordan’s fourth and f inal musical with the group. With all the experience he finally earned himself a leading role.
“I’ve seen people in the lead roles before me, and as an ensemble member kind of watched from the outside,” said Jordan, “Now, getting to experience it, is very much different than I thought it would be, but it is a lot of fun.”
Claire Jensen will be in the role of the lead actress, playing Marian Paroo. Jensen is partaking in her first spring musical but has experience in the fall musical and participating in local theatre acts. Jensen had never heard of the show before but after the first watch she loved it. Now she gets to play a leading role in the show. “
With the show being originated in Iowa, my grandparents know it really well,” said Jensen, “I don’t think it’s very common for them to know my shows before watching it, so I think that will be fun.”
While the students are taught and guided by Stephens and other mentors, the show itself will be mainly student run on show night. There are two student directors, including Meg Dye, who will be up in the booth calling the shots during showtime.
Dye’s parents were also Mustangs and performed The Music Man when they were at Mount Vernon. As a senior, it makes the moment much more special, especially because she will share the stage with her brother and sister. Growing up, they watched the musical many times and The Music Man became a family favorite.
“We would sing those songs all the time, especially Shipoopi,” said Dye, “We’d dance around our living room, but now it will be exciting to perform it on the stage.”
Dye’s role will be to cue set moves, lighting, audio, and more. But her main focus will be making any adjustments on the fly.
“It’s a little fun when things don’t go as planned because I like fixing it,” said Dye with a laugh, “Solving any problems that arise is something that I’m really excited for.”
One of the challenges of putting a show together of this complexity is not the talent or effort from the actors, but their availability. Many of the actors are also involved in sports and other activities, including track and field, soccer, science Olympiad.
“The reality of being in a smaller school is that we are stretched kind of thin,” said Stephens, “But we make it work by working around their schedules and we support them in their other activities.”
In between the two weekends of performances will be a sensory friendly performance. This performance is on May 1. Anybody interested in attending should contact Kate Stanton, the Washington Elementary Principal, for more information.
“[The Music Man] is just one of those classic titles that has been around forever and is a great story with great music,” said Stephens, “A lot of older folks know it well, but younger people don’t, so they should come by and give it a shot. It will be great family entertainment.”