Oh such family history.
Coming off their fantastic sold out performances of Bye Bye Birdie, the El Camino drama department/music department decided to put on Meridith Wilson's Music Man. It was a huge production in 1965. It took 9 weeks of rehearsal including weekendss. I was in it! The cast was 60 students and the band had at least 20 members. What a sound. It just doesn't happen like that now.
I tried out for the lead. Can you imagine a 14 year old professor Harold Hill? What a laugh! I got a chorus part. I had a line in the Wells Fargo wagon scene. Raisins from Freson (how ironic considering that we live about 60 miles from Fresno). I was great to be in the musical and have such a great cast. We had some people that were really good. I taught my little sister, Kelly all of the lines. She has such a wonderful memory, that she can still spout them today. I had a lovely costume that fit right into the times. They were all rented from a costume agency that costumed the cast from many of the original movie or Broadway originals.
My daughters.. so sweet, just bought me 3 months of Netflix for father's day. I figured out how to download the movie viewer and discovered that the movie version of the Music Man is one of those steamed.. for free movies that Netfix has to offer. Wow. Its great. There has been some serious upgrades in movie technology since that era.. but the colors and cinematography is really wonderful. One reviewer in the Netflix group mentioned that the Music Man ousted West Side Story that year for the best musical on broadway. Can you imagine such wealth of options?
Love it Love it : ) Pat
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Just heard on the radio this am that Oklahoma was the first lp album of a musical that set the tone and pace for all the rest of "pop" music. In one hour no one that called in could guess why or what it was about it-It was recorded in Stereo, also in the day, it was thought no one would have time or spend the money to buy a whole album and sit and listen to it-it was just side A and B on 45's.
I can remember you in the musical as if it were yesterday-you were the star!
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