STAGE REVIEW : Harold Hill Is Up to His Old Tricks in Buena Park’s ‘Music Man’

It’s no secret that a beguiling Harold Hill can lift any production of “The Music Man” to respectability.

That’s pretty much the case at the Buena Park Civic Theatre, where Philip Oakley gives an enthusiastic performance that does much to overcome a pokey handling of Meredith Willson’s popular score by the small band under Richard Schraier’s direction.

“The Music Man,” first produced on Broadway in 1957, is, of course, all about Harold Hill and his scheme to hoodwink backwater River City into buying a bunch of band instruments and uniforms. Our attentions have to be on Hill throughout, and Oakley is unflagging in his efforts to keep them there. He embodies the spirited essence of Hill, the huckstering con man with a good heart buried deep under all that glib patter.

The thin, animated Oakley’s dancing may not be sensational, but his energy and strong, personality-rich baritone help to make up for any lapses. His treatment of the signature “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Trouble” are satisfyingly rousing.

As his love interest, Marian, Melissa Swift is a plucky counterpuncher, first suspicious of Hill and his slick ways but later softened by the good stuff that starts to peek out. There’s an amiable chemistry between these two that’s fun to watch.

Like Oakley, she also has an inviting voice, although her reaches into the high register were thin at last Friday’s opening night. Swift shows a reservoir of feeling in the sentimental “Goodnight My Someone,” that paves the way for the romance to come.

There can be great opportunities in “The Music Man” for supporting roles, a mix of wildly drawn characters acting up. Bob May inflates Mayor Shin to the right blowhard proportions, Jo Marie Escobar gives Marian’s mother Irish charm, and tiny Christopher Lee Parker is an attractive Winthrop, who belts it out, lisp and all, on “Wells Fargo Wagon.”

Schraier, who is also the artistic director, could have made the pacing more consistently bright (there are a few stodgy patches where the action seems processional), but he scores points by tapping into the feel-good nature of “The Music Man.”

This open-air production is well served by the bright sets (a collaborative effort by Chris Affre, Doug Dawson, Dan Dobrick and Josh Cottrell), and Ruth Walp and Carol Young’s Popsicle-colored costumes.

‘THE MUSIC MAN’

A Buena Park Civic Theatre production of Meredith Willson’s musical. Directed by Richard Schraier. With Larry Sewell, Philip Oakley, Bob May, Leroy Denton, Bob Altmman, Eric Emmons, Bill Alexander, Mark Anthony, Sean Flanigan, Melissa Swift, Jo Marie Escobar, Dahlia Mia, Christopher Lee Parker, Kathleen Travers, Daniella Benson, Erin Herzfeldt, Jane Surowiec, Ariella DeCastro, Sioux Stoeckle, Ann Marie Chenhalls and Jeff Nikodym. Choreography by Kris Carlson. Sets by Chris Affre, Doug Dawson, Dan Dobrick and Josh Cottrell. Costumes by Ruth Walp and Carol Young. Lighting by Dan Miller. Musical direction by Richard Schraier. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. through Sept. 1 at 8150 Knott Ave., Buena Park. Tickets: $5 to $8. (714) 821-1394.