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A classic comes to McIntyre
Skagit Valley Herald
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Craig Parrish
One of the most timeless, best-loved musicals ever produced is coming to town.
Camano Island's Lyric Light Opera is staging "The Music Man" for five performances starting Saturday, Nov. 5, at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon. Additional shows are scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 6, and Friday through Sunday, Nov. 11-13.
The play tells the story of con man Harold Hill (played by Greg Stone), who comes to tiny River City, Iowa, at the start of the 20th century. His plot includes posing as an organizer of a boys' band; he plans to sell instruments and uniforms to the townspeople and flee with their money.
What Hill doesn't anticipate is that he's not fooling Marian Paroo (Megan Chenovick), a local librarian and piano teacher — she's on to his ruse. But after their initial animosity, each starts to see the kindness in the other.
"The Music Man" was a huge Broadway hit in 1957, winning multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical. It's been performed thousands of times by hundreds of theater groups around the world.
Lyric Light Opera is one of those organizations. It initially staged the play for four weekends in September and October at the Kirkland Performance Center.
"It's great to be able to run (shows) twice," said director Brenda Mueller, who founded Lyric Light Opera. "We always work out of two halls. It works great for us. By the time we get to the second run, the show has already done its maturing process.
"It's just a matter of the more times you run a show, the better it gets."
Mueller spoke this week during a brief break in the play's production schedule. Crews set lights on Tuesday at McIntyre, followed by an "audio day" Wednesday, and dress rehearsals today and Friday.
The result will be respectful of the show's tradition, Mueller said, but with a showy flair for which the company is known.
"We are doing it in the traditional way, but in grand fashion," Mueller said. "I'm very visually oriented, so we spend a lot of time on that. Plus, I'm a storyteller and this is a great story."
Mueller said she couldn't say enough about the cast, which participates in the company's mentor program, in which seasoned professionals like Stone and Chenovick share their experiences and talent with those who haven't treaded the boards quite as long.
The result is an uncommon camaraderie, Mueller said.
"Right off the bat we tend to have a tight-knit cast," said Mueller, whose enthusiasm is apparent.
"I love what I do. This highlights the two things I love to do more than anything: storytelling and music. So to do both in one little bundle is just the ultimate."
The Bellingham Herald
Lyric Light Opera presents "The Music Man"
Saturday, November 5, 2011
 
Lyric Light Opera's professional productions of classic American musicals send Broadway actors and top-flight local performers singing and dancing over the stages of beautiful venues around Seattle. Meredith Willson's Tony Award-winning musical The Music Man follows dapper con man Harold Hill's attempt to sell band instruments to a gaggle of school children, leave town with the cash, and purchase a lifetime supply of soda pop and pomade. Romance gets in the way, and soon Harold must choose between the charms of a local piano teacher and his hard-swindled money. Broadway actor Greg Stone and Seattle starlet Megan Chenovick lead the production's lively cast, supported by a full orchestra, dazzling costumes, and musical notes scraped straight from the yellowed pages of the score and dripped through pipettes into patrons' ears.
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