2026-27 TUTS season<\/a>.<\/p>\nHarold Hill is the show’s antihero, a traveling salesman who arrives in River City, Iowa, with a scam. The show’s opening scene in a train car sets a frothy, clever tone. Harold convinces the townspeople that a new pool table will corrupt the local youth, and the only way to save them is by forming a marching band. Parents gladly shell out money for instruments, uniforms and instruction books, despite Harold never playing a single note of music.<\/p>\n
A show with such a preposterous plot succeeds on the strength of its performers. As Harold, Elliott Andrews has presence and is a skilled dancer. But an experienced shyster like Harold, who claims to have swindled dozens of towns, needs a prickly edge. Andrews plays him too earnestly, and it makes the Act II reveal of his true intentions feel jarring and cruel. His singing is functional but never rises to the level of his powerhouse co-stars. He often goes low when he should belt.<\/p>\n
The show’s standout is Elizabeth\u00a0D’Aiuto as Marian, the town librarian who immediately doubts Harold. She does\u00a0have the necessary thorny exterior but is eventually swayed by Harold’s charm. She balances it beautifully with poise and longing.\u00a0D’Aiuto showcases a gorgeous soprano on “Goodnight, My Someone” and “Till There Was You.” The audience audibly reacted every time she sang.<\/p>\n
The rest of River City keeps the energy up: a vibrant\u00a0Charles\u00a0Antenen as bad boy Tommy; Patrick Blashill as the bumbling Mayor\u00a0Shinn; a charming Addie Jaymes as piano student Amaryllis. As Mrs. Paroo, Savannah Stevenson grounds every scene she’s in with wit, warmth and charm. The ensemble, from the school board quartet to the Pick-a-Little ladies, gets a fantastic showcase throughout, thanks to Joshua Bergasse’s lithe, athletic choreography.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Music Man\u201d is a classic because of its songs and spectacle. But if you care to look closer, it\u2019s a\u00a0reminder that\u00a0the most dangerous cons are always the ones that sound this good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A charismatic con man invents a moral crisis, creating outrage in a small town. He\u00a0offers himself as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-443130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}