(Batesville, IN) – The Batesville High School (BHS) Drama Club and Music Department will bring the classic American musical The Music Man to the stage in Batesville this weekend.
The high school production features more than 50 Batesville Bulldogs from first to 12th grade in the Tony Award-winning story of an established con artist who meets his match in a small, stubborn Iowa town.
Charismatic Harold Hill, played by senior Samuel Shroder, is a traveling salesman who sweeps into the sleepy town of River City, Iowa, with a bold plan: to organize and collect money for a boys’ band—despite not knowing a single note himself. By seizing upon the hyped evils of the new pool table in town, Hill creates the need for the band as a positive diversion for the youth. He wins over the townspeople—and the contents of their pocketbooks—except for the town’s hard-hearted librarian, Marian Paroo, played by senior Abby Hartz.
The musical follows the change of heart of both Harold and Marian, as they consider whether their way of approaching life is holding them back from true happiness.
Filled with unforgettable songs like “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Wells Fargo Wagon,” “Gary, Indiana,” and “Trouble,” Meredith Willson’s The Music Man is a heartwarming story about the power of community, the unexpected nature of love, and the redemptive quality that music plays in people’s lives. The BHS show is produced in cooperation with Music Theatre International.
Besides Shroder and Hartz, other cast members include: Vince Wilson (Harold Hill’s sidekick Marcellus Washburn), Alysun Simon (Marian’s mother, Mrs. Paroo), Zeke Obermeyer (distrusting Mayor Shinn), and Emily Merkel (the mayor’s wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn).
The gossiping Pick-a-Little Ladies are played by Madelyn Comparone (Ethel Toffelmier), Lexiyne Harris (Alma Hix), Adria Combs (Maud Dunlop), and Becca Knight (Mrs. Squires).
Isaac Trossman (Olin Britt), Robert Jensen (Oliver Hix), Jaden Basler (Ewart Dunlop), and Levi Essick (Jacey Squires) make up the Barbershop Quartet.
Eli Doll (rival traveling salesman Charlie Cowell), Henry Peters (Constable Locke), Ethan Rahschulte (teen leader of the band, Tommy Djilas), and Charlotte Trossman (the mayor’s teen daughter Zaneeta Shinn) round out the high school students in the main cast.
Younger Batesville Community School Corporation students with named roles include Ellie Basler (Amaryllis), Eleanor Garrett (Gracie Shinn), and Jonah Trossman (Winthrop Paroo).
River City townspeople include BHS students Everett Biltz, Dreyden Bolser, Jacob Chapman, Sydney Gilland, Ryan Grossman, Charlotte Hurtley, Veronica King, Allison Martin, Addison
McGuire, Cash Myers, Makenna Moore, Chanyasa “Ling Ling” Phunchuen, and Abe Trossman.
Biltz, Bolser, and Trossman also play newspaper readers in the musical.
Town teenagers will be played by BHS students Abi Beaver, Haley Feiss, Serenity Feldmann, Abby Raab, and Maisy Tarkington.
Other teenagers will be played by Batesville Middle School students Lorenzo Beaver, Lucas Gadberry, Bruce Li, Ellie Raab, Lilly Redding, Alexis Schiller, and Helena Walls.
Batesville Primary and Intermediate School students playing children in the cast include Rhett Davis, Willow Davis, Sophia Evans, Carter Feldmann, and Everett Moore.
Adult traveling salesmen cast members include John Basler, Dathan Beaver, and Joey Feldmann (parents of cast members) and Batesville High School teachers Judd Klingerman and Charlie Raab, who also has a daughter in the cast.
Batesville Middle School language arts teacher Lisa Barnett directs the play. Assistant directors are BHS English teacher Alison Vitolo (tech) and BHS art teacher Andrea Grimsley (set design and set crew).
Set construction is by BHS teacher Tim Mauzy, who volunteers his time in this capacity. Retiring this year, Mauzy has assisted with many of the productions over the years.
The vocal director is BMS/BHS choir director Dan Borns, and the pit director is BHS band director Cameron Everage. Choreography for “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Marian the Librarian,” and “Shipoopi” is by Amy Borns, sponsored by the Batesville Area Arts Council through its Arts-in-Education program.
Performing with the band in the pit are students Remus Filice, Alexis Gallagher, Naomi Hulse, Haylie Spangler, Grace Mills, Katelyn Mangold, Henry Laymon, Zach Frye, Mason Cunningham, Ethan Nolen, and Kalem Grooms. Adults in the pit include Dan Borns, Ellen Fennell, Fred Gunn, and Bradley Ziegelmaier.
As of press time, the set crew includes Katie Moenter, Charlotte Harmeyer, Lylah Fox, Tanner Young, Zach Gerdowsky, Winston Lecher, Mary Harmeyer, and Owen Doll. Tech crew is composed of Matthew Lambert, Alyssa Mauer, Jonathan Spreckelson, and Carlee Steinkamp.
Performance times are Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 27, at 1 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. All seats are reserved. Tickets ($10 adults, $5 students) can be purchased online
at https://cur8.com/24915/project/131486. If still available, tickets can also be purchased at the door on the day of the show.
Seniors will be recognized after the Saturday evening performance.
Patrons should enter via Door N in the rear of the building. Handicapped parking and an elevator are available for those with mobility issues.
(Batesville Community School Corporation press release)
