Thursday, July 1 — Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" is my all-time favorite musical, but I've now been disappointed by two New Hampshire productions of the show. The first was at the Papermill Theatre in Lincoln in 2001. It lacked energy and the talent was mediocre. This evening, I went to North Conway to see the Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company's production of the award-winning musical at the Eastern Slope Inn Playhouse, and once again I wasn't inspired. Maybe my problem is I tend to compare it to the 1962 movie version starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. All other productions pale by comparison to that superb presentation.
This evening's performance, like the 2001 Papermill version, lacked energy. There was some good talent, most notably Megan Buzzard, a very good soprano, as Marion the librarian, Shirley Jones' role in the movie. Kevin O'Neil was hilarious as Mayor Shinn. The rest of the cast was unremarkable. I've seen some excellent shows at the Eastern Slope Inn Plsyhouse in the past, so I know they can attract good talent and have good production values and stagecraft, but "The Music Man" didn't measure up to their best work.
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