76 Trombones....revisted

Last night BK and I took an imaginary train ride with the Young Harris
College players made up of young adults and children.

mj...

(snipped)

We arrived in 1912 River City, Iowa with Prof. Harold Hill, a wily salesman
of bands and band instruments, who loses his heart to town librarian Marian
Paroo.

Instead of the hard-driving music and dialog of the movie and stage
productions of The Music Man, this play was softer and more genteel which
gave more authenticity to the characters and how they behaved at this time.
We didn't see Robert Preston or Shirley Jones, we saw young people we'd
never seen before dressed in period clothing catching us in a drama that
we'd hadn't seen before. They were enchanting.

For over two hours we were in an early American, very patriotic,
Midwestern town whose stubborn attitudes were softened and changed by a
charming con man who uses society's moral decline to achieve his ends i.e.
"T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool and that spells trouble
my friend right here in River City!" "When your children leave the house do
they rebuckle their knickerbockers below the knee!"(david still does.)

The music and songs were all there and it played along clearly and
rhythmically throughout our visit; "Goodnight My Someone" "Ya Got Trouble"
"Lida Rose" "Til There Was You" "76 Trombones" and all the rest.

It was a lovely trip, a short, refreshing vacation from our TV which has
147 channels with "nothin on" The only thing "on" last night were those kids
"on" stage who managed to bring out a "goose bump" and a small "tear" to
these tired old eyes. Orchids! to the Cast!

stanley(who still says "Swell" and "So's Your Old Man")

Yoj...

Thanks for the great review, Stan! I'm glad you had such a wonderful time.
It brings back memories of the days when my daughter's high school drama
class staged "The Mikado".

mj...

What a fabulous review. Reading it I felt as though I was there.

david...

that was my thought, too, mj... and stan pretends he can't write... :)
he's so modest, he must wear PJ's in the shower...

mj...

Really think so???? LOL

Sue...

Oh....if he only had a pair of PJ's.
bk

david...

you have our sympathy.... :))

**Dalin**...

I have some old ones of David's I could send him. He'd probably feel
right at home in them, kind of shrunken, a few stains here and there,
a few rips etc.

Dalin

Sue...

Thanks for the offer, Dalin. Shrunken won't work, I'm afraid. I will not
say anything more on this subject. LOL
sue

david...

thank you, stan,
i was there... i enjoyed all of it... dalin and i have always enjoyed
seeing young people, whether high school or college, doing stage plays.
there is an exuberance and excitement that isn't found on the professional
stage.... sure wish we could have been there... :)

Sue...

Besides being a great entertainment night for Stan and I, it brought back
even more memories.
The young man who played Marcellus, was a young, tall, Ray Bolger....all
legs. And could he dance. When he sang and danced to Shapoopi, it took me
right back to another great memory.
Stan's softball team had won their out of town tournament and a group of the
guys and gals had stopped at the Crab Trap on the way home. We sat at a
long table and had just finished our meal when we noticed, sitting at a
booth right next to us.....Buddy Hackett. He had won his golf tournament
and was sitting, eating with his body guards.
We met him out in the parking lot and I mentioned how much I had enjoyed him
in The Music Man. And right there, in the parking lot, he did his Shapoopi
dance. What a thrill. Somewhere, in all our softball books I have that
picture. I must look it up.
And while I think of it.....Buddy Hacket is gone now. But as long as there
is the Internet, there will be some one who will remember him.
sue