Music Man BTS: Cast and Crew Perspective

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Archives/XPress Photo

A picture of the curtains before the show began at Xavier College Prep located in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo Credit: Sattu Samura ’21

The recent production of Xavier’s The Music Man took place on October 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. The Music Man tells the story of a con man by the name of Harold Hill, who travels town to town pretending to be a professor of music. Hill promises to solve youth problems in each of the towns he visits by forming boys marching bands. However, he usually charges the towns exorbitant fees to form the bands, then leaves town before fulfilling his promises.

The performance was a brilliant display of our talented student body and the broad capabilities of our fine arts program. There has been an extraordinary amount of work put into making such a spectacular production into reality. From pre-production such as creating set designs, blocking, researching costumes, to production itself, as well as ensuring that all sound, makeup, and costuming runs smoothly. And all of this is before we even get to put on the play itself.     

Ireland Blim ‘21 (Ethel Toffelmier) states “Music Man was an amazing show and an even more amazing cast. Getting to be a part of the cast and bond with my classmates that I have never talked to helped me find new friends. Part of being in a cast is being a family and I found a family within my castmates making it an awesome show and something I’ll always remember. “

             However great and perfect the process may sound, the cast expresses a multitude of challenges with preparing for the show. For example, Ariana Herrera Ady ‘21 (River City Townsperson/Constable’s Wife) states “one large challenge was that we were learning music at the same time we were learning choreography. Seeing the show, you probably recognized that it was a heavy dancing show, and had a lot of complicated harmonies. Luckily, I sang Soprano, so I just had the melody the whole time, and my role was more limited as a dancer, though it was still a lot of work, there were also a lot of newer actors, which is fantastic because I love it when I see a large group of people supporting the arts. Overall, the show was very difficult and at times I wondered if we were even going to pull it together”

As a viewer of the play, one might first notice see the dazzling effects and brilliant cast performances, however, the cast perspectives demonstrate their experience of preparing for it to be a fantastic blend of challenges and excitement.

 If you missed the performance of The Music Man or are just excited to see more, Xavier’s next full-scale production will be the spring performance of Little Women on March 5th, 6th, and 7th. There will also be Xavier’s annual Christmas Pageant on December 8th at 2:00 pm.