SEQUIM — “Ya Got Trouble,” right here in River City, and fortunately, you also have on hand “Marian the Librarian.”
Yes, “The Music Man,” that romantic musical about Harold Hill the con artist, is coming back to Sequim High School starting tonight and running straight on through the Irrigation Festival and out the other side, to close
May 19.
The 117th Sequim Irrigation Festival also will offer crafts fairs Saturday and Sunday and a Kids and Family Day on Saturday.
The main events will be next weekend starting Friday, May 11, highlighted by a grand parade through Sequim.
The performance tonight is the high school’s spring operetta, a tradition since 1967, and it has a cast of 53, an orchestra of 10, a stage, a lighting and technical crew of 12 “plus about another 20 parents helping behind the scenes,” said Jim Stoffer, the show’s publicist and a stage crew member.
“The Music Man” stars a pair of 17-year-olds: Brice Taylor as Hill and Kathryn Lorentzen as Marian (the librarian) Paroo.
Beside them are Patrick Carpenter as Marcellus Washburn, Ben Heintz as Mayor Shinn and Christie Honore as the mayor’s wife, Eulalie.
Then there’s 6-year-old Henry Hughes as Winthrop, “a big hit,” added Stoffer.
Together, these students make Meredith Willson’s classic young again.
It’s 1912 in River City, Iowa, and we have the con-man Professor Hill in town, “a traveling salesman, a smooth talker, trying to make a buck,” as Stoffer put it.
Everything soon changes, of course, because Hill falls hard for Marian, the librarian.
“He starts developing a conscience: ‘Wow, I’m trying to swindle these people . . . yet I’m in love with this woman,’” Stoffer said.
“The Music Man” is a story of redemption with jubilant and sweet songs along the way: “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Goodnight, My Someone,” “Till There Was You,” to name a few.
Stoffer has been watching rehearsals since March, and he’s plainly inspired.
“This production represents our students, some of the very best of our students. We’ve got actors, singers and artists involved,” he said.
“They are very talented.”
Curtain times for “The Music Man” are 6 p.m. Thursdays and 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays tonight through May 19 in the performing arts center at Sequim High, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
Tickets are $12 for premium seats, $10 for adults and students without Associated Student Body cards, $8 for seniors 55 and older and students with ASB cards, or $25 for family passes, which encompass up to eight people in the same household.
Outlets include Frick’s Rexall Drug Store at 609 W. Washington St., Pacific Mist Books at 121 W. Washington St. and the Sequim High School office.
Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
Details about the show are at www.SHSoperetta.org, while 360-460-1432 is the ticket information phone number.
For more information about the Sequim Irrigation Festival, visit www.irrigationfestival.com.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
