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Community Corner

Encore's 'The Music Man' a Great Night of Musical Theater

Dexter's musical theater company shines brightly with its latest production.

The production of The Music Man had a few technical glitches on opening night Friday, but overall, it was a great show.

The Music Man tells the story of traveling salesman Harold Hill as he tries to con small-town River City, IA, into starting a boys marching band, so he can split town with the residents' money. However, in the process of scheming, Hill falls in love with the town's librarian and begins to see the error of his ways.

The children and the townspeople are the real stars of this production. The ensemble scenes had amazing energy, and each actor did a great job creating seperate characters, which really made audience members feel they were part of River City.

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The children steal the show as a great group of little professionals, especially Eliza Colby (ensemble), 6. Linus Babcock, as Winthrop Paroo, held his own in the prescence of adult actors on stage. Even with his character's lisp, Babcock was easy to understand and really pulled at the audience's heartstrings as he conveyed Winthrop's fear of speaking.

The adults shine, too. Mary Rumman, as Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, deserves special mention. I laughed every time she stepped onstage.

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Zachary Barnes, as Harold Hill, captures the essence of the slick traveling salesman with his amazing portrayal. He has great stage presence and command throughout the show. However, some of his standout songs, such as "Ya Got Trouble," were hard to understand on opening night.

Stephanie Souza, as Marian Paroo, brings a nice elegance to the production. Her smooth, soaring soprano voice is well-showcased in the songs "Til There Was You" and, especially, "My White Knight." She and Barnes have great chemistry together onstage.

Tight vocal harmonies are very hard to pull off, but Jesse Yost, Chuck Colby, Jeff Steinhauer and Michael Szymanski do so with flair as the town's barbershop quartet. It is very obvious how hard these men worked to make their numbers sound fantastic. Some of the early songs could use a bit more blending, though, as the inner two voice parts tended to overshadow the top and bottom voices.

Leo Babcock's set design was perfect. It was beautiful, functional and really used every inch of space while keeping everything in proportion, which can be very tricky on a dual-layered set.

Sharon Larkey Urick's costumes were spot on visually and easy to move and dance in. She is definitely an asset to the Encore.

There were a few small problems in Friday's performance, including breaking chairs, dangerous suspenders and a stage microphone that ended up in the ceiling, but that all goes with live theater. The actors handled everything in stride and never broke character.

The orchestra overpowered the actors on quite a few songs, making it very hard to hear them.

The Music Man plays at The Encore Musical Theatre Company through July 31. This is a show you and your family won't want to miss.

For tickets, call 734-268-6200 or visit theencoretheatre.org. Tickets cost $28 for adults, $25 for seniors and youths 17 or younger, and $22 for groups of 10 or more.

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