BY TOM FONTANA
Correspondent
Susquehanna Jr. Sr. High School Drama Club will present “The Music Man” on Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14, at 7 p.m. both nights in the high school auditorium. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens. The cast includes: at left, Alyssa Rockwell as Marian Paroo and Clay Hansen as Harold Hill leading members of the boys’ band, and at right, Matt Kane as Tommy Djilas. (Photo by Tom Fontana)
“Seventy-Six Trombones” will march across the Susquehanna High School stage this weekend when the drama club presents “The Music Man.”
The classic American musical set in River City, Iowa, around 1901, will feature a cast of about 40 student actors and actresses, which includes elementary school students and a 16-piece professional orchestra accompanying the singers.
When traveling salesman Harold Hill arrives in town, he claims to be a band director and proposes to start a boys’ band. His scheme is to collect money for musical instruments and then skedaddle with the loot before anyone realizes that no instruments are going to appear. But when junior Alyssa Rockwell as Marian Paroo, a suspicious music teacher and librarian, plays with Harold’s heartstrings, he changes his tune.
One of the most difficult songs in the musical is “Trouble,” a fast-talking sales pitch by Harold, but senior Clayton Hansen says he nailed it with constant practice.
“I had to kind of become a rapper,” Clay explains. “I especially had trouble with the word fritterin’, but I finally got.”
Nine-grader Kayla Marino, daughter of drama club director Teresa Marino, plays the part of Zaneeta Shinn, daughter of the River City mayor.
“I’ve been in every play here since the second grade,” stage veteran Kayla says. “My first show was ‘Little Shop of Horrors.'”
Nine elementary students will be featured in Harold Hill’s boys’ band, and a special appearance is planned by high school social studies teacher Robert Goodrich as the town constable.
Director Marino will guide the students on stage while also conducting an orchestra pit of musicians from the area. She is especially proud of the students in the turn-of-the-century barbershop quartet.
“I actually have boys who can sing four-part harmony,” she states. “That’s often rare on the high school level, but they’ve been working very hard on the parts, and sounding great.”
The show will be presented on Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14, in the high school auditorium at 7 p.m. both nights. Tickets are $7 for adults, and $5 for students and senior citizens.
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