'Music Man' role delights Lombard actress

Lombard resident Johanna McKenzie Miller has played many of the classic ingénue roles in musical theater, including Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” and Julie Jordan in “Carousel.” But it wasn't until she had a child of her own a few years ago that her perspective on life and the sweet, young women she tended to play changed.

Now, she says, she feels ready for meatier challenges like her current role as Marian Paroo in Marriott Theatre's production of “The Music Man.”

“Marian is a real leading lady,” Miller says. “The control she has, and the way she drives the scenes she appears in, she is a grown woman.”

Now, there are those who might quibble that Meredith Willson's classic 1957 musical is an old-fashioned show, with little room for three-dimensional characters.

Miller strongly disagrees. Listening to her discuss “The Music Man,” especially as it is being staged by director Gary Griffin and company at Marriott, one realizes how much has been packed into this rousing crowd-pleaser.

“It is one of my favorite musicals,” Miller says. “But it is one of those shows that gets done so often in high school productions and community theaters, that those versions get stuck in our memories. But there is more there if you look for it.”

As an example, Miller points to her character. Marian is a strong-willed librarian, and one of the few people in the musical to see that Harold Hill, the musical instrument salesman who comes to town, is a fraud.

“There is a trap to playing her as a coldhearted woman,” Miller says. “She is smart. She is maternal. She takes care of her younger brother.”

Growing up, Miller performed in high school productions and community theater. She even appeared in the dancing ensemble of a production of “The Music Man” when she was 14.

“It was very special to me because I got to play a teenager,” she says.

Miller, who grew up in California, came to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb to study voice, primarily classical and opera. When she graduated, she found more work doing Broadway-style musicals, so she left opera behind.

Since then, she has played in lots of contemporary and classic musicals, among them “Hairspray,” “Into the Woods” and “The Sound of Music.” But the role that captured her heart and imagination is that of Marian.

“She wants so much to bring what she has learned to her hometown,” Miller says. “But she finds the town very closed to it all and the library. And then Harold Hill comes to town and he immediately gets them excited about culture and connects them to the music. This is a puzzle for her. He is stirring everyone up. She is suspicious. From the get-go she knows Harold Hill is a snake in the grass. But he surprises her. And himself.”

Ÿ “The Music Man,” currently running in previews, officially opens Nov. 14 and runs through Jan. 9, 2011, at Marriott Theatre, Ten Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. For tickets, call (847) 634-0200 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.