More Than Just a Little Trouble in River City

Professor Harold Hill, a.k.a. “The Music Man,” arrives in River City, Iowa, to sell band equipment and uniforms to the local boys, with the promise that he’ll turn them into a band. Of course, it’s all a scam.

In Meredith Willson’s classic 1957 paean to turn-of-the-century American values, Hill is saved from being tarred-and-feathered and run out of town when the fully uniformed boys show up honking and squawking on their sparkling instruments. It’s a band--a very off-key band, but just good enough to please parents and townsfolk.

That’s sort of the effect of Musical Theatre Village’s production of the show in Lake Forest. It’s just good enough to please parents and townsfolk, even though a lot of it is off-key, not only vocally, but in director Denise Fenton’s staging.

The big problem is the group’s all-inclusive casting--the cast list looks like the entire Lake Forest phone book. Roles are double-cast, triple-cast and quadruple-cast, with multiples going even higher for chorus members.

Not enough attention can be given to one cast to make it hang together, and here everything often falls apart, particularly when a double-score of performers crowd the minuscule stage for the big numbers.

Otherwise Fenton keeps everything moving along, but lack of attention to performers individually shows through, especially in the adult roles.

At the performance reviewed, Gary Severen’s Harold Hill was cheerful enough but hadn’t been told that when you’re not a singer, it’s better to “speak on pitch,” as Rex Harrison did in “My Fair Lady” and Robert Preston did in the original production of this show.

Severen overacts a great deal, as do most of the adults. The exception is Bryce Daniels’ Marian the Librarian, whose restraint is admirable. Director Fenton, as Marian’s mother, is a bit overboard but less so than Mike Tatu’s Mayor Shinn, Mary Lee Lindquist’s weird caricature of Mrs. Shinn and Brian Uiga’s Marcellus, Hill’s panicky cohort.

As with the band in the plot, the youngsters stand out with much more stage presence and talent, particularly Bobby Zullo’s energetic Tommy Djilas, the local bad boy who helped Hill get things moving. Zullo is a good singer and dances as though he’s been at it for years.

Courtney Manning’s Zaneeta, the Mayor’s daughter who Tommy’s in love with, is also very good. The biggest hand went to Kyle Bendickson, as Marian’s lisping younger brother Winthrop, and he deserved it for his rousing “Gary, Indiana.”

These three, unfortunately, aren’t always playing those roles.

* “The Music Man,” Musical Theatre Village, 22722 Lambert St., Suite 1711, Lake Forest. 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. $8-$10. Ends Aug. 8. (949) 859-3688. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.

The Music Man

Gary Severen: Harold Hill

Bryce Daniels: Marian Paroo

Mike Tatu: Mayor Shinn

Mary Lee Lindquist: Eulalie; MacKecknie Shinn

Denise Fenton: Mrs. Paroo

Brian Uiga: Marcellus Washburn

Kyle Bendickson: Winthrop Paroo

Bobby Zullo: Tommy Djilas

Courtney Manning: Zaneeta Shinn

A Musical Theatre Village production of Meredith Willson’s musical. Directed by Denise Fenton. Musical direction: Liz Haut. Choreography: Bryce Daniels.