THE MUSIC MAN Comes To The Fine Arts Theater 5/8-5/31

The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company presents The Music Man, the award-winning, critically-acclaimed Broadway classic, which opens at the SaG?Ji Theatre on May 8 and runs through May 31.

The story follows the fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize - this despite the fact that he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef.

The original production ran for 1,375 performances on Broadway and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and is unquestionably one of the most beloved shows of all time.

"In theatre the one ingredient that draws a line in the sand as to whether a piece is a classic, or not, is relevance," said FAC Performing Arts Director Alan Osburn. "The Music Man is a story about average people coping to keep their children out of trouble ... when you couple that with a great score, several big production numbers, and a love story with a happy ending, you have a musical that will be here long after this production has come and gone."

The Broadway cast album, featuring such classics as "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Till There Was You," was named the ‘Best Original Cast Album' at the first Grammy Awards ceremony in 1958; in 1998, the cast album was honored as a Grammy Hall of Fame award winner.

Denver-born Broadway veteran Michael E. Gold plays the title character, Harold Hill. Gold played four roles in the 1997 Broadway revival of Annie and has performed on national tours for Annie and Oklahoma! Local audiences may remember him from his performance as the emcee in Arvada Center's 2007 production of La Cage aux Folles, which earned him a Henry Award for "Outstanding Actor in a Musical" and a Denver Post Ovation Award for "Best Actor, Musical." In 2002, he received the "Best Supporting Actor, Musical" Ovation Award for his role in the Denver Center Attractions' production of the Irving Berlin revue, I Love a Piano.

Sally Lewis Hybl returns to the FAC Theatre Company as Marian Paroo, the librarian. Hybl earned a 2007 Pikes Peak Arts Council Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Denver Post Ovation Award for her portrayal of Cinderella in the FAC Theatre Company's production of Into the Woods.

New York and Denver actor Jimmy Ferraro, who made his Broadway debut in Fiddler on the Roof, makes his FAC Theatre Company debut as Marcellus Washburn.

In the original film, the critically-acclaimed barbershop quartet, the Buffalo Bills, played the town council that becomes a barbershop quartet during the show. In the FAC production, the Saturday Evening Post quartet will play the town council. Allen Gasper, Bobby Gray Jr., Tom Wilkie - all residents of Colorado Springs - and Scott McCarthy, from Ontario, Canada, have performed in Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, China, and throughout the United States.

The full cast list and bios can be found online at csfineartscenter.org.

The Fine Arts Center is offering discounted family matinees on Saturday afternoons for The Music Man.

Reservations for pre-theatre dining at Café 36 are available at 719.477.4377.