Jana J. Monji

GO!: Celebrate Iowa and the Power of Love with ‘The Music Man’ at the Ahmanson

I’ve never been to Iowa and I’ve also never experienced the joy that is “The Music Man” in a large theater. My familiarity with this Meredith Willson game comes from the 1962 film starring the late Robert Preston and the lovely Shirley Jones, but for a brief two-weeks, the national tour of “The Music Man” is bringing the joy of the fictional River City, Iowa  to the Ahmanson.

Composer/lyricist Meredith Willson (1902-1984), who wrote the book with Franklin Lacey, knew something about Iowa and bands. He was born and raised in Mason City, Iowa. He played the bass drum as a child and as a flute and piccolo musician, he was a member of John Philip Sousa’s band from 1921 to 1924. He played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini from 1924 to 1929.

While the Broadway production (2021-2023) featured Hugh Jackman as Professor Harold Hill and Sutton Foster as Marian Paroo, the national tour features Elliott Andrews as the Professor and Elizabeth D’Aiuto as Marian.

In Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey’s story, Harold Hill is a traveling salesman, the kind that gives other traveling salesmen a bad name. He’s stopped off in River City and he’s planning on selling the townspeople band instruments and instructions, but not necessarily music lessons. He’s also selling them band instruments. To do so, he must convince the townspeople that they need these things to prevent their boys from becoming corrupted. He also plans on seducing the piano teacher who, according to rumor, had a fling with the wealthiest man in town. He left the town a library, but Marian the Librarian owns all the books.

Marian is nearing 30 and already considered a spinster. She also has a brother, Winthrop (Dylan Patterson),  who isn’t yet 10, and has a lisp and barely speaks since his father died two years ago. Marian and Winthrop live with their widowed mother, Mrs. Paroo (Savannah Stevenson).

Andrews is a tall, lanky fellow and imbues his Harold Hill with a slick and slippery energy and a big smile. He’s not the booming, slightly looming presence that Robert Preston brought to the role in the 1962 film. Nor is he the everyman, slightly sympathetic con man portrayed by Matthew Broderick in the 2003 television movie.  Willson’s score demands a lovely soprano and D’Aiuto has beautiful soaring tones, aptly highlighted in the bridge scene (“Till There Was You”). Emmanuelle Zeesman as the mayor’s wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn is a real hoot, especially in the “Pickalittle (Talk-a-Little)” sequences with her posse (Rose Messenger as Maud Dunlop, Alexi Ishida as Ethel Toffelmier, Whitney Daniels as Alma Hix and Hannah Rose Kidwell as Mrs. Squires).

Ann Beyersdorfer’s scenic design is meant to quick changes and breakdowns. You’ll see below that the tour is mostly short weekend stops. Santo Loquasto, who designed the Broadway and tour costumes, gives us glorious colors and a feel for an era long past–the action takes place in July of 1912. I especially loved the hats. The dancing, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, is energetic and engaging.

Don’t wait to see this fun and energetic production. If you’ve never seen “The Music Man” on stage, this might be your only chance. According to Snehal Desai, the artistic director of the Ahmanson Theatre, this is the first commercial production of this musical to hit Los Angeles in 40 years!  This is a family-friendly production so bring your kids as well.

“The Music Man” continues until 3 November 2026. For more information and tickets visit CenterTheatreGroup.com.

The national touring production has diversity casting and before you dismiss that,  you need to know a little bit about Iowa.

History

As a territory, Iowa had required a $500 bond for Black people to enter and restricted them from attending public schools. Black people could not vote, hold public office or serve in the state militia. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Iowa did have a Black regiment: the 60th Iowa Regiment of US Colored Troops.

In 1839, when Iowa was still a territory, it passed a law banning marriage between White people and Black people. However, after becoming a state, the anti-miscegenation restriction was omitted in 1851. That is 116 years before the SCOTUS decision of Loving v. Virginia (1967) and 97 years before the California Supreme Court decision of Perez v. Sharp (1948).

Likewise, post-Civil War, school segregation was struck down in Iowa. In 1868, Alexander Clark sued the school board when his daughter, 12-year-old Susan Clark was denied entry into a school in Muscatine, Iowa because she was Black. Alexander Clark was a barber and had been active in the Underground Railroad. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racial segregations violated the Iowa Constitution’s equality clause. This decision came 86 years before the SCOTUS Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

In April of 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, Susan Clark – a 12-year-old girl from Muscatine, Iowa – became the first Black child to attend an integrated school because of a court order.

The Supreme Court of Iowa issued that court order when it made its historic ruling in a school desegregation case brought by Susan’s father, Alexander Clark. This was 86 years before the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ordered the desegregation of the nation’s public schools.

In the Iowa case, a judge named Chester Cole ruled that the Muscatine School Board’s racial segregation policy was illegal. The Iowa Supreme Court was the first court in the nation to say that segregation was unlawful.

In 1884, Iowa criminalized discrimination and segregation in public accommodations. It was a misdemeanor to deny equal access to hotels, restaurants, barbershops, theaters and public transportation based on race.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t segregation and redlining in Iowa. And there was discrimination at restaurants, swimming pools and theaters. However, in 1948, a woman, Edna Griffin, brought a discrimination lawsuit against Katz Drug Store in Des Moines (State v. Griffith, 1949).

National Tour

After Los Angeles, the National Tour continues on with mostly weekend only stops. For more information and tickets visit TheMusicManTour.com.

11-12 November 2026: Yakima, Washington

14-15 November 2026: Spokane, Washington

17-18 November 2026: Modesto, CA

20-22 November 2026: San Francisco, CA

8-27 December 2026: St. Paul, MN

 

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