RSVP unveils cast for upcoming ‘The Music Man’

Philip Shore

Special to the Randolph Hub

Ladieeees and Gentlemen! Break out the double bell euphoniums and big bassoons, and the noggins and the piggins and the firkins – The Music Man is coming to Asheboro’s Sunset Theatre! 

A cast of Fifty-One Names! — count ’em! — Fifty-One! Young, Old and Middle, right here in the bosom of your community. The Music Man has been on Broadway three times since 1957 and will now be presented locally by RSVP Community Theatre for the second time since 1991.

One of the most enduring pieces of show-biz Americana, The Music Man by Meredith Willson has your Fourth of July celebration, your tuneful hit songs, your soulful romance and a ton of irrepressible fun. Add to this a con man selling band instruments he doesn’t intend to materialize, stir a bit, dance a bit, and what do you have? Small Town America at the turn of the previous century. Taking all the good parts and forgetting all the bad ones, you might as well have us today.

Propelling this extravaganza is an all-star propulsion unit: Artistic Director Jim Shover, Music Director Rick Morgan, Choreographer Elizabeth Parry, Stage Manager Ann Greene (assisted by Gracie Faith Macon) and Property Mistress Michele Dawes (assisted by Theresa Thompson). The show is produced by Alisa Smith McNeil.

We might have trouble in River City had we not a charming troublemaker by the name of Professor Harold Hill. In that category we have located with great delight Timothy Miller. And if we have the professor we must have the librarian: For the role of Marian Paroo, Shannon Lowe, sweet singer of the west, will perfectly do. She has a mother Paroo played by Peggy George Kilburn and a brother Winthrop otherwise known was Owen Scott.

The administrative needs of River City are attended to by Mayor Shinn (Justin Tarlton) while community cultural niceties are the domain of Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn (Laurine Varner). Prof. Hill has an old friend in town, Marcellus Washburn (Brandon Almazan). Townspeople including young folks and passers-through include Amaryllis (Edith Gee), Zaneeta Shinn (Alanna Cheek), Tommy Djilas (Michael Silva-Garcia), Charlie Cowell (Phillip Schuyler), Ethel Toffelmier (Megan Smith), Alma Hix (Lauren Wood), Maud Dunlap (Bethany Kidd), Mrs. Squires (Hannah Beaton), Gracie Shinn (Alex Griffith), Constable Locke (Tom Tennison), and Train Conductor (Charlie White). JB Griffith, John Halsey, Mike Miller, and Nicholas Neighbors make up the barbershop quartet.

The ensemble of kids and townspeople is enormous: 

— Carolyn Auman, Rose Brown, Cathy Clark, Mae Cox, Fernanda Guerrero, Rylee Holdaway, Elaina Hunter, Makayla Hunter, Susan Jarrett, Elijah Laprise, Shelley Peterson, Brandon Rancourt, Jackson Paul Rose, Miranda Sowers, Joyce Spoon, Evelyn Strider, Tom Tennison, and Charlie White are the elders.

— Landon Allmon, Sophia Ashraf, Kellan Auman, Alanna Cheek, Liam Evavold, Alex Griffith, Chloe Mitchell, Krimson Powell, Michael Silva-Garcia, and Tatum White are the youngsters.

In your examination of the cast, you will find RSVP veterans and first-timers as well.  Let this be a suggestion that the future might have you, dear reader, in a cast list.

Performances will be July 28-30 and August 5-7 at Asheboro’s Historic Sunset Theatre.

Tickets will be available mid-June, both online and at Brightside Gallery; details to come, both on facebook.com/RSVPCommunityTheatre and at RSVP’s website, rsvptheatre.org.

March yourself on down and join these River Citi-zians for a seventy-six trombone good time!