Con man Harold Hill was nowhere to be found - perhaps he'd skipped town. But some of the other residents of River City, Iowa, came down to the Canberra Railway Museum on Wednesday to launch the forthcoming Queanbeyan Players production of The Music Man. It will be the directorial debut of longtime Canberra actor Joseph McGrail-Bateup.
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Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical - for which he wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book with Franklin Lacey - tells the story of Hill (played by Gordon Nicholson), an early 20th-century scamster who travels to towns, identifies a potential source of juvenile delinquency, and claims it can be solved by forming a boys' band that he will teach using his "think" system. But he has no musical ability at all: after selling instruments, books and uniforms he simply leaves town and moves on to the next location.
The show includes the songs Seventy-Six Trombones and Till There Was You - the latter became a hit for The Beatles.
McGrail-Bateup said, "Meredith Willson made more money out of The Beatles' recording of that song than he did out of the musical itself."
Deanna Gibbs plays Marian Paroo, the River City town librarian, who realises early on what Hill is up to when everyone else is fooled. But she's something of an outcast in River City.
"She's smart and interested in bigger things than the town," Gibbs said.
Marian is also the sole support for her mother and her younger brother Winthrop (Callum Doherty), a young boy with a lisp who's been shy and depressed since his father died two years ago.
Gibbs said Harold Hill was a character who was "genuine in spite of himself" - he fell in love with Marion when she realised she knew who he was but found herself falling in love with him anyway, not least because he was helping to bring Winthrop out of his shell.
McGrail-Bateup said he had been a fan of The Music Man since he first saw the film starring Robert Preston on television as a child.
He said the biggest challenge in directing the show was obeying Willson's instruction to keep the characters true and not sending up the period since the people in 1912, when it's set, didn't think they were being funny.
Directing The Music Man was, he said, "the best experience I've ever had" in theatre despite the responsibility of knowing "you've got 50 people to be looking after and not just yourself". He said working with collaborators like musical director Zach Raffan and choreographer Kathryn Jones as well as the cast had been an enjoyable experience.
"The dancers are amazing. There are 15-year-old dancers doing things I'd never imagined anyone could do."
The Music Man is on at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre from June 10 to 25. theq.net.au or 6285 6290.
