Play review

AUDREY TICKTIN/Special to the Acorn RIGHT HERE IN RIVER CITY- Students performing in Lindero Canyon Middle School's production of "The Music Man" are, from left, Jacob Tobias (Tommy), Julie Silverman (Zaneeta), Jordan Hobba (Marcellus), Evan Laffer (Harold Hill), Alexandra Goldmann (Marian), Erin Ticktin (Amaryllis), Kathy Steele (Mrs. Paroo), Kyle Lewis (Mayor Shinn) and Nitzan Navick (Mrs. Shinn). Seated is Ben Zacuto (Winthrop). Those who think middle school productions of Broadway shows are just for fawning parents and loyal family friends are missing out on some great entertainment.

Witness Lindero Canyon Middle School's recent staging of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man," performed last week at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza's Scherr Forum. Lindero's production of the venerable comedy about a flim-flam man in 1912 Iowa was so terrific, it had its audience laughing hysterically and cheering for nearly the whole evening.

Two different sets of actors alternated in the lead roles for the show's three evening performances at the Scherr plus a matinee for the school. On Thursday night, it was the "gold" cast's turn, as the "red" cast made up the ensemble.

Acquainting modern-day middle schoolers with the lifestyle of Americans in 1912 is a daunting task, especially when you realize that the Lindero students are longer removed from Willson's original 1957 production than the original production was from the time it was depicting.

Many of the numbers in the "The Music Man" are patter songs that include tongue-twisting lyrics containing a dizzying array of period cultural references. Director/ choreographer Mayme PaulThompson made sure to explain what a thimble rigger was (a cheater), who Dan Patch was (a racehorse) and why parents frowned on their children reading Captain Billy's Whiz Bang (a humor magazine that didn't actually exist until 1919).

The famous opening number, "Rock Island," is one of the show's most difficult pieces, as a trainload of traveling salesmen trade fast-paced lines to the rhythm of a locomotive.

Enter the beguiling Harold Hill, a self-ascribed professor of music played by Evan Laffer. Laffer, who obviously studied the work of Hill's creator, the late Robert Preston, displayed the magnetism and charisma needed to pull off this difficult role. Laffer was at his best during Hill's two signature numbers: "Ya Got Trouble" and "76 Trombones," in which every deft move and sly wink made his character totally believable.

Hill's object of desire, the repressive librarian/piano teacher Marian Paroo, was played by Alexandra Goldmann, whose sweet voice was displayed in two duets: "Goodnight, My Someone" (featuring the talented Erin Ticktin, who gave a flawless performance as the winsome Amaryllis) and the show's most famous number, "Till There Was You" (sung with Laffer).

As the delightfully irritable Mayor Shinn, the diminutive Kyle Lewis nearly ran away with the show. A pint-sized ball of fire, Lewis had the audience in stitches just by walking onto the set, fitted with a tuxedo, bright red top hat and Groucho Marx moustache. Mayor Shinn's lines are laced with malapropisms, and Lewis belted them out with gusto; the audience was nearly on the floor with hysterics after he blasted the line: "Get that kid! He almost blew up my wife!!"

Other solo standouts included Ben Zacuto as the lisping Winthrop ("Gary, Indiana") and Jordan Hobba as Marcellus ("Shipoopi"). The remaining gold cast leads also played their parts well. They included Jacob Tobias (Tommy Djilas), Julie Silverman (Zaneeta Shinn), Nitzan Navick (Mrs. Shinn), Kathy Steele (Mrs. Paroo), Kenzie Knigin (Gracie) and Luther James (Charlie Cowell).

Meredith Willson's ingenious score emphasizes pairings of songs: "Goodnight Ladies" with "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little," "Lida Rose" with "Will I Ever Tell You?" and "Goodnight, My Someone" with "76 Trombones" (the last two are actually the same song sung at different tempos).

The chief cast members handled all of these juxtaposed numbers with professionalism and no slip-ups. The ensemble songs ("Iowa Stubborn" and "The Wells Fargo Wagon") were also a joy to hear.

Costume designers Serena Tobias and Andrea Lewis effectively depicted the fashions of 1912 Iowa (a veritable army of parents and students helped with the actual creation of the costumes).

Bandleader Dean Mora led the versatile sextet of musicians, and, in a nice touch, actual performers from the Lindero Middle School Music Department played Bach's "Minuet in G."

Lindero Middle School recently won a BRAVO award as one of the finest schools Los Angeles County for arts education, which shows why their production of "The Music Man" was such a bang-beat, bell-ringin', big haul, great-go, neck-or-nothin', rip-roaring triumph.