Arts & Entertainment
Heralding Harold
Arena succeeds in winning ‘Music Man’ production
‘The Music Man’
By Meredith Willson
Runs through July 22
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth Street, SW
Washington
Ticket prices vary
The cast of ‘The Music Man’ at Arena Stage. It runs through July 22. (Photo by Joan Marcus; courtesy Arena Stage)
The wonderful thing about a classic is that when you scrape away the sugary coating of memory and the dust of benign neglect, you can find a work of great emotional depth and artistic vigor. That’s certainly the case with the delightful production of the classic musical “The Music Man” now on stage at Arena Stage under the visionary direction of Artistic Director Molly Smith.
Everyone thinks they know “The Music Man,” the quirky musical by Meredith Willson, with favorite songs like “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Till There Was You” and standard characters like the smooth-talking con-man, the prim librarian and eccentric townspeople. But Willson weaves a much richer tale than we remember.
First, there’s the remarkable score. Songs rise naturally not just out of everyday speech, but out of everyday sounds like the clanking of a train, a piano lesson, the shelving of library books, the clucking of small-minded matrons and the unexpected harmonies of the quarreling school board. The lyrics are delightful, yet also rise naturally out of the situation and the character. With new orchestrations by Musical Director Lawrence Goldberg, the score sounds better than ever. He’s subtly rounded out the original sounds with broader echoes of the American musical tapestry to great effect
Second, there’s the story itself. The characters and plot are more well-rounded than we remember. The musically untrained Harold Hill (Burke Moses) sells a boys’ band (complete with instruments, uniforms and music lessons) to the unsuspecting citizens of River City, Iowa. His main obstacle is Marion Paroo (Kate Baldwin), the unmarried town librarian and music teacher. The townspeople quickly fall under Hill’s spell, but the surprisingly worldly Marion stays aloof. When she does finally fall for Hill, she knows full well that he’s a snake oil salesman, but she’s grateful for the transformation he has wrought in the town and in her.
Then there’s this remarkable production. While Willson is a patriotic American and proud optimist, he is not naïve about the dark side of the American character. The citizens are easily gulled by Hill, yet just as easily turned into a mob against him. They are also casually racist and sexist, and very stubborn and narrow-minded. Yet, through the potent combination of love and art, Harold and Marian change the town into its better self. Smith depicts this transformation with incredible finesse. The stage is always a lively-yet-focused swirl of movement and Smith creates clear character arcs for the entire company.
Burke Moses is captivating as the con man who finally gets caught in his own trap. He is fleet-footed, silver-tongued and golden-voiced. He is well matched by Kate Baldwin as Marion. She has a shimmering voice with a thrilling lower register and silvery high notes, moves with incredible grace and doesn’t file away the character’s rough edges. It’s easy to see this con man and this librarian settling down for a long, interesting life together (maybe even a career in politics).
They are given able support by a strong ensemble, all of whom create rich and detailed characters that leap into comic life yet never sink into caricature. They also sail through the soaring choreography by Parker Esse with ease, confidence and style.
Finally, Molly Smith’s color-blind casting broadens the impact of the story. Her choices are not quite as bold as in her groundbreaking “Oklahoma” (the more realistic “Music Man” may have less room for such play), but the production still holds up a mirror to a diverse country that can still be transformed by believing in its dreams.
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
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