Flower blooms with The Music Man

Are the youngest actors from St. Albert Children’s Theatre (SACT) being conned? You bet and they love it.

If anyone gets the credit, it’s Janice Flower, artistic director of SACT since 1995 and musical director for the Grant MacEwan University theatre arts program.

This year Flower was invited to guest direct her first main stage show at MacEwan campus, and she’s knee deep in rehearsals for The Music Man opening Friday, Jan. 21 for a nine-day run at the John L. Haar Theatre.

In an unprecedented move, Flower auditioned about a dozen SACT actors under the age of 12 to fill the roles of the boys’ band. “It’s been a tremendous opportunity and they’ve loved it,” says Flower.

From the crop of MacEwan students, St. Albert’s Arielle Ballance, Madi Knight and Steven Angove as well as Morinville actor Carrie Ann Hubbard perform in this escapist fare.

On the surface Meredith Wilson’s composition of The Music Man is a quaint turn-of-the-century story of con man Professor Harold Hill who dupes naive townsfolk into buying musical instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band while he plans to skip town with the money.

“It’s set in 1912 but the premise of unfulfilled promises is not different than anything today. We’re constantly being bamboozled by the Internet — how to win a free trip or how to make a $1,000 a week. In this case, Harold Hill comes to Iowa. He doesn’t know anything about music, but he makes promises to people that the children will play. That kind of promise-making is still happening today.”

When it first opened in 1957, it was an instant Broadway hit, winning five Tony Awards and a Grammy and far surpassed West Side Story, the predicted favourite. Robert Preston, the original Harold Hill on Broadway, went on to reprise the role in the 1962 film alongside Shirley Jones playing Marian Paroo, a love-interest librarian who discovers his swindle.

With a cast of 47, this is MacEwan’s biggest show of the season. However, with two Music Man productions under her belt — first as music director of the 1991 SACT stage show and in 1995 as pit musician for Citadel’s run, Flower is quite familiar with script demands.

“I love music. It’s my all-time favourite. It satirizes all aspects of our culture. The material is really strong and it gives us a lot to work with,” she says citing Seventy-six Trombones and (Ya Got) Trouble as two of the more memorable tunes.

To date, one of the biggest cast challenges has been adopting the behaviours of a society that aspired to refinement. “They had to learn to carry themselves differently, not slouch the way most teenagers today do. And they had to learn to walk properly and eat properly and talk in a period style.

“It’s an awesome show and I defy anyone to come and not tap their foot during the songs.”