Music Man ready to rock Panida stage

SANDPOINT — It’s a Tuesday evening and the large and entirely local cast of “The Music Man” is running through its first combined rehearsal with the pit orchestra. The group number “Shipoopi” comes to a rousing end as Steve Neuder, playing Marcellus Washburn, and Audra Mearns, as Ethel Toffelmaier, thrust their hands into the air and shout out the song’s title, joined by more than 50 other singers who do the same.

Director Debora McShane stands by the pair of actors, all smiles and encouragement. Music director Sarah Caruso whips the gathered residents of River City into a final burst of energy as orchestra director Paul Gunter (Full disclosure: He is the son of this writer and his dad is enormously proud of that fact) brings the musicians to a tight stop behind the vocalists.

The choreography is strong, the actors are off-book and the orchestra is playing with crisp precision. All of which is good news for everyone involved, since the show opens in about two weeks’ time.

Meredith Wilson’s 1957 musical cut a broad swath through the entertainment industry, sweeping the Tony Awards and snagging a Grammy for a cast album that stayed on top of the Billboard charts for 245 weeks. To say that “The Music Man” is a “big” show is to understate reality.

The overture is a sweeping flyover of musical things to come. When the curtain rises, the cast begins to flood the stage with kaleidoscopic crowd scenes and high-speed repartee that requires the skill of an acrobat to pull off. Challenge enough for a professional cast, an even tougher undertaking for an amateur production.

Fortunately, this isn’t just any old group of amateurs. Most of the principal characters have spent ample time on-stage. The 15-piece orchestra is salted heavily with seasoned pros. When it comes to vocals, the 54-member cast — from lead roles to the last townsperson on the street — carry the day.

“What’s really beautiful about this production is that we have so many phenomenal singers,” said director McShane, who is supported in this production by assistant director Lark Bolan. “And it’s a homegrown show.”

She points to Caruso, Gunter and choreographer Taryn Quayle as examples, having watched the crop of young Sandpointians grow up here and in several cases, perform in plays and musicals she directed when they were still kids.

Bringing this popular warhorse of American musical theatre to the stage required what McShane described as a “crazy quilt rehearsal schedule” in order to pull together the acting, singing, dancing and scene-blocking that moves the show along.

“The schedule is several pages long — rather intense,” Gunter said. “We had to hit the ground running.”

Early rehearsals were built around the impending departure of choreographer Quayle, whose tenure coincided with the news that she had just been named the technical coordinator for the American Dance Festival. From there, the group jumped headlong into a rehearsal calendar that was almost as fast-paced as the show itself.

On the day of the first run-through with the orchestra, musical director Caruso was pleased with how the puzzle pieces were beginning to fit together. She echoed McShane’s sentiments that hard economic times call for a bit of escapist entertainment, adding that “The Music Man” is the right musical for the job.

“It’s a fun show,” she said. “It’s not depressing. It’s not boring. It’s just fun. And everybody is familiar with the music.”

That’s notably true for Benjamin Thompson, who plays the lead as traveling con man Harold Hill opposite female lead Kate Fox as librarian and love interest Marian Paroo. Right after high school and again for a production at Stanford University, Thompson played trumpet on Wilson’s score as others took the stage.

“I’ve been in the show before, but from a different perspective,” Thompson said. “I was in the orchestra pit for ‘The Music Man’ — twice. It’s been a favorite of mine over the years.”

Thompson said he first tackled Hill’s speed-rapping number — “(Ya Got) Trouble” — before branching out to learn the other tunes the traveling salesman sings. To a one, the songs demand full attention to detail from the cast. The same can be said for the way the character’s lines intertwine and play off of one another.

“So many things are rhythmic in this show,” said Thompson. “Even the speaking parts are in rhythm.”

The music is just as complex, according to the orchestra director, who listed jazz, barbershop, balladry and marches among the stylistic panoply written into the score.

“There’s a little bit of everything, as far as style goes,” Gunter said. “And you get to do it in every available key.”

“In every song,” Caruso quipped.

There is more of River City in Sandpoint — or vice versa — than anyone realized at first. Just as with the apocryphal townsfolk of the 1912 Iowa setting, families are what make both places tick. Scan the cast and crew list for the upcoming run of “The Music Man” and you see multiple examples of the same last names. The Marks, Heneise and Thompson families show up twice each, Hunter, DeCecchis and Neuder all have four from their clans and the names Mearns and Shreve are all over the place.

“We have three generations of Mearnses and Shreves,” said McShane, who has used the family dynamics to great effect on-stage.

“I’ve got characters organized into family groups,” the director explained, “so it’s not just a bunch of individuals milling around the stage in huge crowd scenes.”

Such scenes fill this musical — a good thing, since the community turned out in force for the tryouts.

“When we announced we’d be doing this show, people were knocking down our doors to audition,” said Teresa Pesce, who is producing the musical for the local group Sandpoint Onstage. “Even people who didn’t know the music knew about and loved the show.”

“We had 75 kids who auditioned,” Caruso said. “It was hard to narrow it down.”

The big cast is backed by a big orchestra, featuring two trumpets, two trombones, a pair of both flutes and clarinets, as well as two each of violins and cellos, plus percussion, bass and keyboard accompaniment. Talent also packs the barbershop quartet, made up of Sandpoint High School students who were finalists or winners in this year’s Solo & Ensemble vocal competition.

Other principal roles are covered by Sam Richardson as Jacey Squires, Ryan Wolff as Ewart Dunlop, Spencer Marks and Shea McCormick as Oliver Hix and Olin Britt, respectively, and Kate McAlister and Spencer Thompson playing Mrs. Paroo and Winthrop Paroo. Also cast in major roles are Eleanore Mearns as Amaryllis, Morgan Douglas as Charlie Cowell, Lucas Richardson as Tommy Djilas, Betty Shreve as Eulalie M. Shinn, Ron Ragone as Mayor Shinn and Gabrielle Earle and Joellie Heneise playing Zaneeta and Gracie Shinn.

Backstage also swells with a full crew, led by stage manager Susan Chivers, with costumers and stagehands dressing up a set designed by Robert Moore and lit by Hunter Price using a lighting scheme designed by Dave Nygren.

The Sandpoint Onstage production of “The Music Man” will have a three-week run at the Panida Theater on June 29-30, July 6-7 (with a additional matinee on the 7th) and July 13-14.

For online tickets, show times and more information, visit: www.sandpointonstage.com