Poway High’s ‘Music Man’ opens Feb. 6
Meridith Willson’s popular musical “Music Man,” with extravagant sets, catchy tunes and upbeat story, is coming to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, opening at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6.
“Music Man” will be performed by Poway High School students at 7 p.m. on the following dates: Feb. 6, 8, 14, 15 and 16. There will also be a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 16 and all shows can be seen at PCPA, 15498 Espola Road.
Tickets will be $10 for adults and reserved seating, $8 for all others. Matinee tickets are $8. For tickets, call Libby Holman at 858-748-0517, or e-mail Holman at libbyh@sbcglobal.net.
Lush backdrops add to the ambiance and help transport the audience back to a small hometown — River City, Iowa — where despite the turn-of-the-century look and attitudes, today’s audiences will be charmed by the simplicity of the bygone era, said musical director Nancy Gray.
Watch for the dramatic opening — a train that comes out on the stage and opens into the passenger compartment.
“It’s quite spectacular,” Gray said. “We’ve literally pulled out the bells and whistles for this show.”
Gary recruited plenty of local school-aged kids from Poway Unified to serve as townspeople, including siblings of cast members, plus some teachers’ children, she said.
The musical’s main characters, Harold Hill, a smooth-talking, self-proclaimed musical instructor and the reserved librarian, Marian, are played by Poway High singers Chase Kassel and Marguel Gerson, respectively.
The duo, both seniors, best friends and members of the school’s Die Lieder’s choral group, has been performing in musicals for all four years at Poway High School, Kassel said.
Kassel said that while his character appears devious from the start, Hill manages to transform the entire town by pulling them together to forget any petty differences, plus he helps the local kids learn to play their instruments, ultimately believing in their abilities.
“Ive been on stage since I was a 5-year-old,” Kassel said. “I walked across that first stage as a little lamb in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat — and got hooked.”
Kassel said that he can relate to Harold Hill, because he is a personable person, just like Hill.
If anything, “Hill is the kind of guy who instills confidence,” Kassel added. “I hope in that way, I’m much like him.”
Being best friends with Gerson makes it a challenge to appear in the show as if the two are romantically linked, which in real life is far from reality, he said.
“I’d rather that the role of Marian be a complete stranger because I have to convince an audience I love Marian,” Kassel said.
But, in many ways he can’t think of a better “Marian,” than Gerson, who also has an incredible voice and is well-suited to her role as the meek and mild librarian, who ultimately comes out of her shell, he said.
Kassel said his favorite show tune is “Trouble,” which exemplifies all the things such as pool-playing and words such as “swell” creeping into youngster’s vocabulary that could lead to troublesome ways “right here in River City,” as the song goes.
Meanwhile, Gerson said that she is a reflection of the librarian without being quite as withdrawn, but she describes herself as being “closed up, until I get to know people.”
Her favorite music is “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You,” a nostalgic, sentimental piece that is fun to sing and has great harmony, she said.
Other popular tunes from the show include the rousing “76 Trombones,” the sentimental “Goodnight My Someone,” and the “Wells Fargo Wagon,” as well as the giddy “Pick a Little, Talk a Lot.”
If “Music Man” has a message, it would be “don’t judge people until you get to know them, because sometimes they are better than they seem at first,” Gerson said.
Cast members include: J.T. Landon, Nikhil Homes, Thomas Lokensgard Taylor Oyer, Erik Ramirez, Mark Korte, Jake Rollins, Sunil Homes, Zach Jensen, Karina Gillette, Katie DeSimone, Robert Frisch, Lauren Turner, Janessa Gillette, Lainey Lipson, Odeliah Dorko, Abbey Howe, Rachel Davis, Chanell Tyce and David Baita.
The traveling salesmen include: Eric Davis, Sean Gellenbeck, Jeremiah Gloria, Joe Hout, Josh Jensen, Ben Pollack, Stephen Roy and David Schreiner.