'Music Man's' theme, pace keep it current, director says

Katy Wolfe Zahn as Marian Paroo and David Kortemeier as Harold Hill lead a 40-member cast in the Clarence Brown production of “The Music Man” April 21-May 15.

Risa Brainin loves "The Music Man." Probably has since she was 8 years old singing in the chorus.

The most memorable thing about her "Music Man" debut as part of a Chicago acting school was a misstep and a mishap.

"I fell off the bleachers in the middle of the performance," says Brainin.

Meredith Wilson's 1957 musical about a con man and a small town and how they change each other is special to the freelance director for other, more theatrical reasons. "I think it's the most perfect musical ever written," says Brainin, who's also a professor and director of performance at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Brainin visits the University of Tennessee to direct the Clarence Brown production of "The Music Man." Shows start with an April 21 preview and continue through May 15.

Set in 1912, "The Music Man" tells the story of fast-talking traveling salesman and con man Harold Hill (played by UT Department of Theatre actor David Kortemeier). Hill persuades the folks of River City, Iowa, to buy musical instruments and uniforms for a boys' band. He promises the town he will organize that band but he really plans to skip yet another town with the cash.

Then Hill falls in love with town resident Marian Paroo (Katy Wolfe Zahn). His and Marian's lives begin to change. They're not alone; River City changes, too. And Brainin says that's one of the key elements that makes "The Music Man" relevant for any time.

"It will always feel current because it is about change and how we have to change. It's either change or die," she says.

Brainin finds herself returning to the script she so likes. At age 12, she played the female lead of Marian. In 1993 she co-directed a Cape Cod summer stock production.

One of the challenges of staging the Clarence Brown show is that it's got a cast of 40 and an 18-member orchestra. "You don't have to do 'Music Man' with a cast of 40 but it's wonderful that we have the opportunity to do that, to really fill it out," says Brainin.

"But that is a lot of people on stage. I think at the beginning of rehearsal in a big play like this you are really trying to figure out how to move 40 people around stage and tell the story. That's very different than if you are doing a play with six people.

"You are working with big images. The staging is really a collaboration between the director and the choreographer. (Chicago actress and choreographer) Amber Mak and I have worked together as a team to shape it so the storytelling is clear but that it is also beautiful to look at and that it tells the story in a way that the audience will enjoy seeing it."

But this is a musical. So before any staging or directing, the cast must know one very important thing. "They have to learn all the music," says Brainin.

And music fills the play. "The Music Man's" 15 songs include the well-known "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Till There Was You." But the orchestra also plays dozens of what the director calls "musical moments" throughout the performance.

Directed by UT faculty member Terry Silver-Alford, the orchestra of area professionals and UT undergraduate and graduate students will perform from the pit in front of the Clarence Brown stage. Their instruments include trumpets, drums, a piano, clarinets and three - not 76 - trombones.

Every note played and every word sung or spoken moves the story of "The Music Man," says Brainin. "There's no excess, no fat. Every single word, every note, every lyric, everything is necessary and essential to the story. So you never feel like, 'When is this number going to be over?'"

The Clarence Brown production underscores the play's story of change with Mak's choreography and Elizabeth Aaron's costuming. As the play begins, the townspeople wear clothing of subdued, almost sepia tones as they move rigidly. As events happen, their clothes are more colorful and their movements looser, more at ease.

Overall, Brainin says, "The Music Man" is a great story. "It's got sublime music, great toe-tapping music. It's got fantastic dancing. And it's got a heartwarming, uplifting story. It's a feel-good feeling. You can't help smiling when you walk out at the end of the night."

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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