General Review of the "Music Man" Musical
General Review of the "Music Man" Musical
Upon viewing Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” I made a pact with myself, never to go see another musical again, or at least not pay for one. I don’t want to discredit the Department of Theatre or anyone else involved, for I believe they worked hard and put on a great performance. This being the most professional play that I’ve seen, besides a couple in grade school, I find it hard to believe one would attend a musical, unless they were expected to write a paper about it. “The Music Man” left me lost a few times and I had a hard time following the play thru musical performance. Besides the theatrical performance I didn’t find the plot too appealing. An older traveling salesman falling in love with a younger girl just doesn’t do it for me. However, there were many aspects of the play that deserve credit. A lot of hard work and money obviously went into this production; at least that’s my opinion.
The cast put on a great show, with the exception of a few characters. It felt like some characters were over acting their parts. Granted it’s not realism, but I think it’s kind of “cheesy” and hard to take seriously. Their costumes were well done and depicted the characters perfectly. I was able to get an idea of what the characters were like even before they sang. This was one aspect of the play that set the scene exquisitely. It was obvious to me that -------- would be a smooth and sly character, just like a salesman.
The character’s sang their solos with confidence and allowed me to understand what they’re saying. The chorus was a little bit harder to understand, and it’s funny for me to see them interact with actors. At the same time when they burst out with song and dance, it seemed to have livened up the audience. Their voices rang throughout the theater or that may have been the acoustics of the building. This brings me to my favorite part of the play.
Above everything else in the play stood the set design. I believe this is one of the most important aspects of a play and I didn’t at all expect it to be done...