Here I am once again in Ashland Oregon for my yearly pilgramige to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Luckily the weather has been quite mild. Usually it’s 90 degrees plus which is a bit too much for my Seattle sensibilities — granted we Seattleites know all about 90 degree plus weather since last week.
This year OSF made the rather uncouth decision to produce a musical — something they never do. I suppose they figure there are plenty of places to see musical theatre and this isn’t one of them. Until now. This gave me the opportunity to see The Music Man for the first time. I’m not sure how it escaped me before, but I really enjoyed it.
As you may know, it’s about a travelling salesman who sells instruments and uniforms to unsuspecting townspeople so that they can start a band. He tells them he will form the band and teach all the kids how to play, only he doesn’t know anything about playing music on instruments. What was appealing about this musical is that he’s such a scoundrel and yet one that you can’t help but like. I liked also how music transforms the town into a happier place.
This first section on the train was absolutely brilliant. Much better on stage than on film.
The Implied Observer 