Adam Pascal’s charismatic star turn as Harold Hill is the best of at least 76 reasons why 5-Star Theatricals’ The Music Man gives Broadway some pretty stiff competition.

When you think of The Music Man, the name most likely to pop into your head is that of Robert Preston (he did after all originate the role both on Broadway and on the silver screen), and when you think of Adam Pascal, the first name likely to pop into your head is that of Rent’s edgy rocker Roger Davis, a role Pascal originated on Broadway in 1996 and reprised on film nine years later.

Could two Broadway stars be any different? (Try to imagine Robert Preston strung out on drugs while banging out electric guitar chords and you’ll see what I mean.)

But it’s precisely Pascal’s rock-star charisma that makes him the perfect if unexpected choice to play Harold, whose own brand of 1912 rock-star charisma made it possible for him to seduce not just Marian The Librarian but the entire town of River City, Iowa.

It helps enormously that Willson’s self-described valentine to his home state (story by Willson and Franklin Lacey) turns out to be far from the saccharine musical some have accused it of being.

Refreshingly sophisticated, surprisingly deep, and at times more than a tad acidic, The Music Man’s innovative brilliance begins with “Rock Island,” arguably the first rap song ever heard on Broadway and entirely spoken to the rhythm of a train engine chug, chug, chugging its way to River City where traveling salesman/con artist extraordinaire “Professor” Harold Hill seems likely to spell trouble for its friendly/inhospitable citizenry given his plan to sell them pricey musical instruments and uniforms for an a non-existent-and-never-will-be boys’ band.

To do so, however, he must first convince the townspeople that River City’s first pool table ever means “Ya Got Trouble,” after which he must find a way to neutralize the town’s bad-reputation-plagued “old maid” librarian Marian Paroo (Katharine McDonough) and then turn a quartet of bickering school board members (and potential alarm-sounders) into inseparable chums.

Along the way we also meet Marian’s acerbic Irish mother Mrs. Paroo (Lisa Dyson) and the librarian’s 10-year-old brother Winthrop (Joshua Blond), rendered virtually mute by his father’s death and a pesky lisp; bombastic River City Mayor Shinn (joe Hart) and his thrice-named wife Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn (Christie Lynn Lawrence); their teenage daughter Zaneeta “Ye Gads!” Shin (Antonia Vivino), smitten with town bad boy Tommy Djilas (Adam Winer); and Harold’s local accomplice in crime, his old buddy Marcellus (Trent Mills).

Will “Professor” Hill once again succeed in bilking an All-American small town of its hard-earned cash? Will he once again seduce the prettiest local lass and leave her behind? Or will things be different this time round?

These questions and more, much more, have kept The Music Man a guaranteed theater-filler for the past sixty-two years and a showcase for Meredith Willson’s prodigious gifts as book writer (what rich characters he drew!), lyricist (what clever, funny, unexpected words he wrote!), and music (what irresistibly catchy tunes he created!).

Larry Raben’s directorial artistry reveals itself from the get-go in a “Rock Island” you could probably watch a dozen times and still see something new in, and the director is equaled every dance step of the way by choreographer Peggy Hickey, whose spectacular “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Marian The Librarian,” and “Shipoopi” stop the show again and again and again, and by his sensational star.

It’s not just Pascal’s rocker charisma that makes his Harold Hill a winner. He’s got acting/song/dance chops to match, and the romantic/sexual chemistry he ignites with McDonough’s simply sublime, intelligence-and-soprano-blessed Marian adds believable romance to the mix. (It’s important for us to believe that Marian sees in Harold a soul both capable of and worth redeeming, and with Pascal in the role, both are true.)

Broadway’s esteemed Hart harumphs his way into audience hearts to do the movie’s Mayor Shin Paul Ford proud while the divine Lawrence reinvents Eulalie as the weirdest and most wonderful bundle of quirks, and speaking of reinvention, Mills’ mountainous marvel of a Marcellus is as marvelous a somersaulting sidekick as any Music Man could wish for.

Ingenue couple Winer and Vivino sing and dance up a storm as forbidden sweethearts Tommy and Zaneeta, Dyson’s Mrs. Paroo is a salty Irish treat, and pint-sized charmer Blond makes the most engaging of stage debuts as Winthrop.

Squabbling best frenemies Chris Hunter (Oliver Hix), Jonathan Matthews (Ewart Dunlop), James Thomas Miller (Olin Britt), and L. Michael Wells (Jacey Squires) harmonize to glorious barbershop-quartet perfection; Brittany Anderson (Mrs. Britt), Dani Gonzalez (Ethel Toffelmier), Samantha Wynn Greenstone (Alma Hix), Anne Montavan (Maud Dunlop), and Dekonte Tucrkrille (Mrs. Squires) pick a little/talk a little with the best of small town biddies; and Rich Grosso makes the amusing most of his minutes as justice/revenge-seeking anvil salesman Charlie Cowell.

Triple-threat cameo players are every bit as fabulous, from Traveling Salesmen Lucas Blankenhorn, Chet Norment, Camal Pugh, and Spencer Ty to Train Conductor Calvin Brady to Savannah Fischer’s Amaryllis to Samara Gottlieb’s Gracie Shinn to Richard Storr’s Constable Locke to River City Residents Of All Ages Laura Aronoff, Nichole Beeks, Lucy Bollier, Tina Hidai, Scotty Jacobson, Rachel Josefina, Cleo Magill, Luke Pryor, Aria Surrec, Bayley Tanenbaum, Joshua Tanenbaum, Abigail Thompson, Zachary Thompson, and Weston Walker-Pardee.

The Music And Theatre Company’s sets are some of 5-Star/Cabrillo’s best rented sets ever and Tanya Apuya’s costumes (provided in part by Maine State Music Theatre) are every bit as stunning, and lit to vibrant perfection by Jared A. Sayeg, with additional design kudos shared by Jessica Mills (hair/wig design) and Alex Choate (properties design).

Last but not least, The Music Man wouldn’t sound nearly as terrific without musical director Brad Ellis wearing (quite literally) his conductor’s hat and Jonathan A. Burke in charge of sound design.

Danielle Jensen is assistant choreographer. Beeks and Brady are dance captains. Talia Krispel is production stage manager, Julian Olive is stage manager, and Pedro Armendariz and Rebecca Wade are assistant stage managers. Jack Allaway is technical director and Matt Gerlach is assistant technical director.

Of the half-dozen The Music Mans I’ve seen in the past ten years, 5-Star Theatricals’ Adam Pascal-starrer tops the list by a long shot. It more than merits a 76-trombone salute.

5-Star Theatricals, Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks.
www.5startheatricals.com

–Steven Stanley
October 18, 2019
Photos: Ed Krieger

Tags: 5-Star Theatricals, Meredith Willson, Ventura County Theater Review