Trouble Comes to River City in Dexter High School's Winter Musical

There's trouble coming to Dexter this weekend.

will present an encore production of Meredith Wilson's musical, The Music Man, for two performances on Friday and Saturday at the Dexter Performing Arts Center.

The classic musical tells the tale of Professor Harold Hill, a con man who wants to solve the problems of River City, Iowa by convincing the citizens of the town to invest in a boy’s band.

The show features a cast and crew of more than 125 students — the largest production managed by DHS Advisor Erin Palmer.

"It has become a 'the more the merrier' mentality," Palmer joked.

That magic number includes 55 actors, 45 stage crew and 25 student musicians in the pit orchestra.

"There is a lot of components that can be challenging, especially when we're coordinating the instrumentation with all the ensemble dance numbers," she said.

Palmer said she and assistant director Tomi Dres chose The Music Man in order to accommodate a growing interest in club membership.

"The popularity of our organization attracts a lot of students. Tomi and I sit down every year with our choreographer and pit director and evaluate our pool of vocal and acting talent," Palmer explained. "I always want to push the envelope vocally and we thought we could do this show and do it well."

The production opened last week to rave reviews, sparking the club to offer a second weekend of shows.

"We've gotten more compliments on this show than any show we've done," Palmer said. "The credit goes to the students. Holly Claegg and Patrick Rogers, our leads, knocked it out of the park.

"Because our students are so talented, it really elevated the whole show."

Bringing the show to life

In addition to the student cast and crew, the DHS Drama Club is aided with the help of choreographer Amanda Weber, a theater student at the University of Michigan, and vocal director Julie Basset.

"Amanda is fantastic; there are three songs over six minutes long (in the show), which can be daunting for choreographers, and Amanda pulls it off with ease," Palmer said. "Julie is great when it comes to pushing the students and really getting them to shine vocally on stage."

When the lights go down, however, the spotlight reflects the DHS student body.

"One thing we pride ourselves on in Dexter is that our productions are entirely student-run," Palmer said. "On opening night I get to walk away and it's all placed in the students' hands."

DHS senior Charlotte Knoerl-Morrill acknowledged that the responsibility is a big one.

"It's been stressful keeping everything organized," she said.

Knoerl-Morrill is the stage manager for The Music Man and was recently accepted to Emerson College in Boston. She plans to study stage management.

"I like to be part of the visual aspect of the show," she said. "I take a lot of pride knowing I am pulling all the elements together for the audience's enjoyment."

In order to pull off River City, Knoerl-Morrill said she worked with make-up artists and costume designers by studying every aspect of the early 1900s.

"We looked at period clothes, hair and sets to give the show a realistic feel," she said.

'One big family'

DHS seniors Patrick Rogers (Harold Hill) and Holly Claegg (Marian Paroo) lead the cast and said the experience has been a lot of fun.

"I was a little nervous," Claegg said about the role. "I was shocked when I heard I was cast over girls who had more experience than I did."

Claegg said she has used that anxiety to her advantage.

"If you can control it, the adrenaline can calm your nerves on opening night," she said.

No stranger to the stage, Rogers said he has enjoyed working with his fellow classmates and said this weekend will be bittersweet.

"This will be my last production with the club because I will be playing lacrosse in the spring," he said. "It's been a lot of fun and I am ending on a high note."

Exchange students Karn Jitsukummongkol of Thailand and Sonam Chawla of Pakistan are also sad to see the show end.

"Working in the drama program has been real helpful for me making making friends," Jitsukummongkol said. "Drama a lot of fun and everyone here welcomes you like a family."

The Music Man will take place Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, visit www.dexterdrama.com.