Dinner with 'The Music Man'

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 7, 2000

Can't get to Broadway to see the revival of this popular show? There's a new production at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, closer to home.

Show Palace Dinner Theatre director Jimmy Ferraro knows that some people who come to see his version of Meredith Willson's classic The Music Man will also have seen the current Broadway revival that is the darling of all the critics.

But he's not worried about comparisons.

"I have such a great cast and some very innovative sets," Ferraro says. "And we're doing some things you have never seen before at the Palace with this show."

Besides, you won't have to drop $1,000 or more to go to New York or spring for $85 to get a ticket.

The Music Man is the endearing story of traveling salesman/con man Harold Hill's visit to a small town in Iowa in 1912, where he meets the prim but romantic Marian Paroo, keeper of the local library. Hill hopes to sell the townsfolk overpriced musical instruments and band uniforms for their musically challenged kids and to seduce the spinster librarian, then get out of town. But his encounters with Marian give him second thoughts.

Along the way, the audience meets a charming cast of scoundrels, simpletons and sweethearts, each with his or her own little scheme, and gets to hear all those hummable, lovable Willson tunes: 'Til There Was You; Goodnight, My Someone; Lida Rose; and, of course, Seventy-Six Trombones.

The original show debuted in 1957 and ran for 1,375 performances. Since then, it's become a favorite of touring companies, summer stock, community theaters and schools. It was made into a movie in 1962, with its Broadway star, Robert Preston, in the lead. The Broadway revival opened April 27.

Joe Lawrence, a regular at the Show Palace, plays “Professor” Harold Hill, the beguiling cad of the title role.

The Show Palace production promises to do justice to one of the most beloved shows of all time, with a cast topped by New York player Jodi Lynne Sylvester as Marian and resident lead male actor Joe Lawrence as the beguiling cad, "Professor" Harold Hill.

"Jodi Lynne is a triple threat: singing, dancing, acting," Ferraro said. "She has inspired the rest of the cast to do even better." Ferraro found her at the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions in Memphis, Tenn., in February.

He also recruited the show's choreographer, Colorado dancer Scott Wright, and actors Candler Budd and Susan Haldeman at those auditions. Budd plays Mayor Shinn, and Haldeman plays his pompous wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn.

Ferraro rounded out his 35-member cast with seasoned Palace performers. Dalton Benson (Melvin P. Thorpe in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) plays Hill's sidekick, Marcellus Washburn; Linda L. Lindsey (Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!) is Marian's mom, Mrs. Paroo; and Tommy Frain (Louis in The King and I) plays young Winthrop Paroo, the role done by Ronnie Howard in the 1962 movie version.

At a glance

The Music Man, at Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson, weekends today through Aug. 13. Shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 1:30 p.m. Saturday and July 15 and 22; 3 p.m Sunday. Doors open two hours before each show for cash bar and buffet. Dinner and show, $35.95 adults, $19.95 age 12 and younger; show only, $25.95 and $14.95, plus tax, tip and handling. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll-free (888) 655-7469 elsewhere.