Robert Pres News

Meredith Willson's The Music Man will play the Frederick City venue beginning September 7th.

The 2012 Music Circus season continues with The Music Man, theatre's musical tribute to the optimism, warmth, stubbornness and innocence of small town America, at Wells Fargo Pavilion from tonight, July 31 through August 5. There's trouble in River City when traveling salesman Harold Hill comes to town promising to form a children's marching band to chase away the city's imagined ills. His plan hits home, but his motives are questioned by the spunky librarian Marian.

The 2012 Music Circus season continues with The Music Man, theatre's musical tribute to the optimism, warmth, stubbornness and innocence of small town America, at Wells Fargo Pavilion from July 31 through August 5. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the photos below.

The 2012 Music Circus season continues with The Music Man, theatre's musical tribute to the optimism, warmth, stubbornness and innocence of small town America, at Wells Fargo Pavilion from July 31 through August 5. There's trouble in River City when traveling salesman Harold Hill comes to town promising to form a children's marching band to chase away the city's imagined ills. His plan hits home, but his motives are questioned by the spunky librarian Marian.

But The Music Man? Come on, the classic Meredith Willson musical chestnut is as corny and all-American as you can possibly get (let's face it, Willson is the master of that particular genre of musical theater occupied by The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown-plus he wrote the Oscar-nominated score for William Wyler's The Little Foxes, which is one of my all-time favorite movies: "The grits didn't hold they heat"), it's pure hokum and there is absolutely nothing at all cynical about it. So why the heck does it make me respond with some emotional fervor?

When fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill comes marching into town, you know there's going to be trouble right here in River City. His goal is to con the good townspeople out of their money, but Marian the Librarian has other plans. This wonderful slice of Americana will leave your entire family humming such familiar tunes as "Seventy-Six Trombones, "Gary, Indiana," and "'Till There Was You."

Segerstrom Center for the Arts' free Movie Mondays are a perennially popular tradition in Orange County.

When fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill comes marching into town, you know there's going to be trouble right here in River City. His goal is to con the good townspeople out of their money, but Marian the Librarian has other plans. This wonderful slice of Americana will leave your entire family humming such familiar tunes as "Seventy-Six Trombones, "Gary, Indiana," and "'Till There Was You."

John Davidson, the celebrated television, theater and film actor who starred as Matt in the 1964 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of THE FANTASTICKS and recently performed for a limited engagement in the Off-Broadway production as Henry, The Old Actor, will return to the cast on July 30 in that same role.

When fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill comes marching into town, you know there's going to be trouble right here in River City. His goal is to con the good townspeople out of their money, but Marian the Librarian has other plans.

When fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill comes marching into town, you know there's going to be trouble right here in River City. His goal is to con the good townspeople out of their money, but Marian the Librarian has other plans.

On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.

Harvey Schmidt, the celebrated composer of The Fantasticks, visited the show for the first time in more than twenty years on Saturday, June 16, 2012. After the performance, Schmidt met with the cast including television veteran John Davidson and triple platinum recording artist Aaron Carter. Check out photos of Schmidt with the cast below!

Segerstrom Center for the Arts' free Movie Mondays are a perennially popular tradition in Orange County.

This is a Music Man not to be missed. It's filled with great music, superb acting, lovely voices, and superb dancing.

Looking for a quick roundup of this week's events in the theatre world? Look no further - here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

Happy Birthday, Robert Preston! best remembered for his performance as 'Professor' Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1962). He had already won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production, in 1957. In 1965 he was the male part of a duo-lead musical, I Do! I Do! with Mary Martin, for which he won his second Tony Award. He played the title role in the musical Ben Franklin in Paris and originated the role of Henry II in the original production of The Lion in Winter. In 1974 he starred alongside Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical Mack & Mabel as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director. That same year (1974) the film version of Mame, another famed Jerry Herman musical, was released with Preston starring, alongside Lucille Ball, in the role of Beauregard Burnside.

On Thursday, May 3, 2012 Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's romantic musical comedy The Fantasticks will celebrate its 52nd anniversary. The Fantasticks currently stars triple platinum recording artist Aaron Carter as Matt. Television and stage star John Davidson will join the cast as Henry on June 1.

This Tony Award-winning, critically acclaimed Broadway classic is an all-American institution, thanks to its quirky characters, charming dramatic situations, and one-of-a-kind, nostalgic score of rousing marches, barbershop quartets and sentimental ballads which have become popular standards.

There's trouble in River City, and it's never been more fun than in The Music Man at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. This six-time Tony Award winner by Meredith Willson has marched onto the Beef & Boards stage with performances continuing through May 25.