(WNY News Now) – JAMESTOWN, N.Y. – Jamestown High School will present Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” on Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 16 at 2 and 7 p.m. in the Merton P. Corwin Auditorium of JHS, at 350 E. 2nd Street. The musical, with book, music, and lyrics by Willson is under the direction of Lauren Scharf, with vocal direction by Melissa Beichner, choreography created by Jennie Caruso, and pit orchestra direction by Gina Wakefield.
A six-time, Tony Award-winning musical comedy, “The Music Man” follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys & band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen.
“The Music Man is considered a classic piece of musical theater” said Scharf, who has served as musical director since 2017. “Each year, when I choose a show, I try to go back and forth between something contemporary and modern and then choose something more classical the following year, just so there’s a nice variety for students to experience both worlds of musical theater.”
The production was first performed at Jamestown High School in 1990 and exposes students to a unique style of music.
“It’s one of those shows that hopefully everybody has seen or at least heard of and so we’re excited to bring it back to the community after 30-plus years,” she added. “It was also the first musical that utilized a traditional barbershop quartet setting in the music, which is really unique. It’s a style of singing that has existed in our country’s history forever so to be able to expose our students to that very specific style has been exciting.”
Jamestown High School also will have the chance at receiving regional recognition for the production. As rehearsals were beginning, Scharf was notified that the production had been selected as a semi- finalist for the Shea’s High School Musical Theatre Awards, formerly known as The Kennys. The program is designed to “celebrate and support the arts in high schools, foster excellence in musical theatre, and provide valuable educational opportunities.”
“This gives us an opportunity to compete against other schools across Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties to potentially win some money for our department,” Scharf said. “We will have an adjudicator come to our show who will be looking at our production, and hopefully we’ll receive a nomination for most outstanding production, but there are other categories like set design, lighting design, costume design, ensemble, and featured actors that we could be nominated for as well.”
Jamestown Public Schools • 197 Martin Road • Jamestown, NY 14701
If nominated, the students would have the chance to perform selections from the show on stage at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo.
The production includes nearly 100 students in the cast, pit orchestra, and production crew, led by student stage managers Annie Conroe and assistant stage managers Zoe Haskins and Lilly Johnson.
General admission is $10 and can be purchased at the door or at our.show/jhsmusicman for an additional service fee.
The production is presented through an arrangement with Music Theatre International.
Leave a Reply