'Music man' to honor Buffalo Grove's 50th anniversary

A year of throwbacks to 1958 to celebrate Buffalo Grove's 50th anniversary will continue with a production of "The Music Man."

The musical won the Tony Award that year, and the park district is using that as its contribution to the anniversary.

"It's a classic," said Debra Goldman, director of the show. "It's a great story, good music, and there are lots of opportunities for good parts."

The musical is set in River City, Iowa, in 1912. Harold Hill, a con man, comes to town to sell musical instruments. He eventually falls in love with the local librarian and is forgiven by the town when they find out his schemes because of the way he's brought them together through music.

"He saves the town unknowingly, and they in turn save him," Goldman said.

Gerald Nevin, who plays Hill, said the role was his dream since he was 12 years old.

"Music Man is one of those classic musicals where Robert Preston is Harold Hill," Nevin said, referring to the actor who played the role in the 1962 movie. "If you get too far away from Robert Preston, people are going to be disappointed."

Nevin has had years of experience in acting but retired from the profession in 1994. He has done a few plays in the past four years at Theater D in Deerfield, where he first met Goldman.

She put together the 75-person show after having shown her skills with "Beauty and the Beast" and "Kiss Me, Kate" previously for the park district.

"I think we're getting more and more talent every year," she said. "I think the program has a good reputation."

She said the cast is a mixture of professionals, like Nevin, and amateurs who are just getting into musicals.

For example, the actors who sing in the quartet that the four-member city council forms in the play have never sung together before.

"Our musical director Danny Singer has done a Herculean task," Goldman said. "These four men - it's just shocking how good they are. They rehearse constantly together."

She said the cast seems happy to be working together, as well.

"They're all coming out of the love of doing this," she said. "As a director, I am honored to be working with them and have them trust me."

Goldman said the music, of course, is also one of the big attractions of the show.

"I dare you to come to this show and leave not humming '76 Trombones,'" she said. "This will be the best Music Man anyone has ever seen, and since people have seen it a lot, that's a big statement. That's my goal."

If you go ...

What: "The Music Man" by the Buffalo Grove Park District Performing Arts Commission

When: 7:30 p.m. July 18, 19, 25 and 26; 3 p.m. July 20 and 27

Where: Stevenson High School Performing Arts Center, 1 Stevenson Drive, Lincolnshire

Cost: $15 in advance and $18 at the door; tickets available at the Alcott Center, 530 Bernard Drive, Buffalo Grove

Call: Lindsay Grandt (847) 850-2132

E-mail: lgrandt@bgpkr.org