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by Meredith Willson, directed by Susan H. Schulman

Stratford Festival, Avon Theatre, Stratford

May 28-November 1, 2008

"You Ought To Give Iowa a Try"

From the Stratford Festival’s plans for this year, one would think that there were only a small number of musicals worth performing since both musicals on offer have been presented here before.  The first to open is Meredith Willson’s ever-popular “The Music Man”, last seen at the Festival Theatre in 1996 in a production directed by Brian Macdonald.  The 1957 musical provides a nostalgic view of supposedly innocent small town America circa 1912 whose escapism may provide balm or gall to viewers depending on their political point of view.  The musical does show that no matter what the period, the older generation always thinks the younger is going to hell in a hand-basket whether by playing pool or video games.  The current production directed by Susan H. Schulman is highly enjoyable but lacks the sense of unbridled imagination that made “South Pacific” and “My One and Only” so exciting at the Avon in 2006 and 2007.

For the director of last year’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Schulman surprisingly shows no interest in exploring any of the characters of River City, Iowa, except that of town librarian Marian Paroo (Leah Oster).  It is only her character’s transformation from enmity to love and defence of con-man Harold Hill that holds our attention.  Otherwise, Schulman is content to present all the other characters as one-sided.  This is major disadvantage for actor Jonathan Goad in his first musical role.  Luckily, he can sing, if not with absolute security, and dance, as long as the steps are simple.  But it is distinctly odd, however, to see him play a role without a hint of subtext.  Ideally, Marian’s change in attitude toward Hill should be paralleled in Hill with a growing love for Marian mixed with a fear of having to give up his way of life and settle down.  This tension between the two drives the dramatic interest of the show.  Yet, until he is in handcuffs at the end, Goad’s Hill flashes an unvarying con-man smile throughout whether he is selling instruments and uniforms to the gullible local populace, confiding in Marcellus (Eddie Glen), who knows his real identity, or speaking with Marian.  Schulman also does not encourage Goad to show Hill improvising as he goes along.  This Hill always has a ready answer without a second’s thought.  What we lose thereby is the sense of peril that is so palpable in the famous 1962 film version.

In contrast, Schulman makes Marian a more interesting character than is usual.  It’s clear that she, too, is an outsider determined to face down a society that has expelled her because of the rumours surrounding her and the mysterious benefactor that left her all the books in the town library.  Schulman makes it clear that Hill’s success in drawing out her painfully shy 10-year-old brother from his shell is what motivates her change in attitude towards Hill.  To cap off a warm performance, Oster has a lovely operetta-quality soprano voice that makes each of her songs--”Goodnight, My Someone”, My White Knight” and “Till There Was You”--a delight.

Lee MacDougall and Fiona Reid as Mayor Shinn and his wife Eulalie do not efface memories of Eric Donkin and Karen K. Edissi from the 1996 production.  With the latter pair there was much more a sense of a relation strained by Eulalie’s new-found interest in aesthetic dance.  Donkin, of course, was a consummate comic actor who could make even the simplest line funny.  MacDougall’s attempts at bluster and malapropisms seem like acting; Donkin made them fully part of the character.  Reid’s talents are wasted in this role though she does do a fine impersonation of Hermione Gingold in the film exclaiming, “Balzac!”      

The Paroo household is well-populated with Michelle Fisk radiating wisdom and humour as Marian’s mother and the talented Christopher Van Hagen as Winthrop, Marian lisping brother, who belts out his big song “Gary, Indiana” with joyful aplomb.  Aveleigh Keller as Amaryllis, Marian’s piano student and Winthrop’s would-be girlfriend, has lots of perky presence.  The barbershop quartet of Laird Mackintosh, Shawn Wright, Jonathan Munro and Marcus Nance have fine-tuned their harmony and are a constant pleasure.  Among the gossipy wives, Shelley Simester stands out for perfect comic timing.  Sara Topham stands out, too, but for being too young and pretty, despite the glasses, to be grouped with the old biddies.  If she’s supposed to be one of them, why does she dance in forefront of the “Shipoopi” number?  Oddly, the relation between Zanetta, the Mayor’s daughter played by Rachel Crowther, and Tommy, the town bad boy played by Eric S. Robertson, does not come off as clearly as it should, probably because their dances together tend to get lost in the general flurry of Michael Lichtefeld’s choreography.  In other roles Eddie Glen is dependable as ever as Marcellus and W. Joseph Matheson not quite menacing enough as Hill arch-enemy Charlie Cowell.  It doesn’t help that Schulman gets no humour out of his being an anvil salesman since she lets him swing his anvil-shaped case about as if it were empty.

Lichtefeld, whose choreography was so astonishingly inventive in “My One and Only” last year, seems to be running on autopilot this year.  Even the elderly ladies’ faux-Isadora Duncan “Grecian Urns” are not as humorous as they should be.  The one major exception is the mini-ballet he invents to the music for “Marian the Librarian” in Act 1.  Here his imagination bubbles over beginning with the game of the library patrons breaking into dance whenever Marian’s eyes are off them even for a moment and culminating in a hugely funny pantomime of “Romeo and Juliet”.

Patrick Clark’s sets and costumes are quite attractive.  The town of River City is made up of separate man-sized buildings that can be moved about to form different streetscapes.  This lends an air of whimsy to the piece and proves especially effective in the chase through town for Hill near the end.  The River Citizens may be ornery but Clark gives exceeding good taste, decking them all in pastels, beiges and off-whites for the summer that serve to make the first appearance red-and-gold band uniforms at the end even more of a visual surprise. 

Schulman chooses to end the piece quietly with a kiss between Marian and Hill in front of the curtain, but this can’t match the thrill of the finale in 1996 when Macdonald had a real marching band play “Seventy-Six Trombones” as it defiled across the stage as if in the minds of the parents their children had metamorphosed into the real thing.  All in all, though, the show is an energetic if harmless pleasure and so far is definitely the one show Stratford that the whole family will enjoy.   

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: Jonathan Goad and Leah Oster. ©David Hou.