THEATER REVIEW : STARLIGHT’S ‘MUSIC MAN’ LACKS GUSTO

“The Music Man” is such a hummably popular musical that staging a production of it, as the San Diego Civic Light Opera (Starlight) has done for its season opener, risks disappointing the thousands of eager patrons who regularly fill the Starlight Bowl on cool San Diego nights.

Under a nearly full moon suspended just over center stage, with a sharp-looking Marine Corps band starting things off with a snappy, patriotic “Stars and Stripes Forever,” the four thousand, blanket-toting Starlight fans who crowded into the Balboa Park theater were ready to be entertained by Meredith Willson’s slick salesman, Harold Hill, and all the residents of his fictional River City, Iowa--including, of course, Marian the Librarian.

The disappointment was that much tougher to bear.

There is much in this production to admire. Staged and choreographed by co-artistic directors Don and Bonnie Ward, with Milton Greene returning to Starlight as musical director and conductor, it looks wonderful, dances nicely and takes a graceful turn or two around Willson’s story. The only thing missing here is the Music Man himself.

As the sweet-talking, 1912 incarnation of a snake oil salesman (this time it’s trombones), Dan Ferrone simply doesn’t have the massive amount of charismatic talent required to obliterate from memory the wonderful Harold Hill originated and immortalized on film by actor Robert Preston.

If an actor doesn’t grab his audience with the first test of fire--a dazzling double-talking rendition of “Ya Got Trouble”--forget it. Ferrone was lost from that moment.

He’s probably a fairly good actor. Notes on his career indicate that to be the case. But Ferrone was unable to bring anything of himself to the role, nothing to sparkle freshly all the way to the back of the huge Starlight Bowl. His own personality failed to reach even the front rows, in fact, so tiredly did his voice, his mannerisms, his frozenly grinning face and his laugh echo Preston’s style.

Too bad no one encouraged him to be daring--to discover perhaps a whole new Harold Hill singing his way into the pocketbooks of the River Citizeans, as their tongue-fumbled Mayor Shinn (James E. Brodhead) is fond of saying. He might have revealed something of a genuine emotion in his greedy, and ultimately sincere, courtship of Marian.

The closest Ferrone came to capturing his audience was when he was on stage with 8-year-old Nathan Wing Bush, whose lithping Winthrop truly stole the hearts of thousands. Watching the young actor sputter out his “Gary, Indiana” song was almost enough to make the whole evening delightful.

Elizabeth Hansen, as the cool, collected “old maid” librarian, has the charm and stage savvy Ferrone lacked. She’s as genuine as Hill’s promises to form a boy’s band are phony, gliding through her performance with the kind of inner glow that differentiates stars from imposters. Her solo “Goodnight My Someone,” and harmonizing of “Lida Rose” and “Will I Ever Tell You” with the 1890-Four barbershop quartet are musical high points.

E.E. Bell had some fun with the comic role of Hill’s undercover sidekick, Marcellus Washburn, as did Elmarie Wendel, adding a hilarious slapstick veneer to her role as the mayor’s wife.

Susie Dods and Tom Vannucci outdanced the out-of-step chorus as the young lovers, except in the library scene, when the Wards’ clever choreography eased the pain of Ferrone’s off-pitch “Marian the Librarian.”

Credit must be given for the opening “Rock Island” number--a triumph of patter-talking body rhythm executed with a proper sense of fun by the traveling salesmen.

The steady stream of show-stopping aircraft provided the usual distractions, but the beautiful perspective paintings designed by Peter Wolf Concepts for the multiple sets are an enjoyable compensation.

Costumes designed by Tara are appropriately ruffled, feathered and pantalooned, if not quite color-coordinated. The sound emerging from side speakers is a little disconcerting at first, moving around as actors turn their heads toward different microphones. But the ear adjusts, and Greene’s orchestra smoothly alleviates the concern.

This production of “The Music Man” needs audiences who love the story and songs so much they will overlook the weak center to find the pleasure in hearing it all again. Starlight audiences will probably make this adjustment.

“THE MUSIC MAN” Book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson. Story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey. Directed and choreographed by Don and Bonnie Ward. Musical director/conductor, Milton Greene. Assistant choreographer, Reina Bolles. Lighting designer, Bill Gorgenson. Costume designer, Tara. Production stage manager, Jimmy Ray Hutton. Sound designer, Bill Lewis. Choral director, Fred Rigby. Featuring Dan Ferrone, Elizabeth Hansen, James E. Brodhead, Elmarie Wendel, E.E. Bell and the 1890-Four. Performances at 8:30 p.m. through June 29, except Monday, at Starlight Bowl, Balboa Park. Produced by the San Diego Civic Light Opera Assn.