BENTON — The Royal Players will continue their 20th-anniversary season with the presentation of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, which will open Friday at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St. in downtown Benton.
Performances, which are sponsored by Curtis and Vera Ferguson of Benton, are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. March 8. Additional performances will be March 13-15 and 20-22, with nightly performances at 7 on Fridays and Saturdays and matinees at 2 p.m. Sundays.
Susan Dill, president of the Royal Players Board of Directors and producer of the upcoming show, said the local community theater group first presented The Music Man in 2001.
The current community-theater organization was founded in 1994. The first presentation of the current season, 2014-15, was Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, which was the first presentation of the group’s inaugural season in 1994.
Dill said the 20th-anniversary season features productions the Royal Players have done before, except for To Kill a Mockingbird, which will be presented this spring.
“We did talk about it,” Dill said of To Kill a Mockingbird.
“Next season we are going to try to get all new or ‘new to us’ plays,” she said.
The Music Man, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey, debuted on Broadway in 1957. The film version was released in 1962 and starred Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo.
The musical tells the familiar tale of “Professor” Hill, who has come to the fictional town of River City, Iowa, in 1912 to create a boys marching band, complete with instruments, uniforms and music instruction. It’s all a con to swindle the townspeople out of money. Hill tries to charm the librarian, Marian Paroo, who does not trust men and finds out Hill is an imposter. But somehow love prevails in the end.
The local production of The Music Man is under the direction of Mark Troillett of Little Rock.
“This is a huge production,” said Troillett, who is an accountant by trade. “We have a cast of about 50, mostly young people. It’s a challenge as a director, but it’s going well. The actors are working really hard.”
Troillett said he has appeared in, as well as directed, several shows with The Royal Players.
“I became interested in theater as a teenager,” he said.
Troillett said the stage production is “pretty much the same as the film version.”
“It’s the same story. We have 40-plus musical numbers, including iconic music such as ‘Rock Island,’ ‘Till There Was You’ and ‘Seventy-six Trombones.’
“This is absolutely a show for the family.”
Choreography for The Music Man is by Lisa Luyet of Little Rock, who is also the assistant director. Music directors are Valerie Couch of Benton and Jo Murry of Little Rock.
Justin Pike of North Little Rock plays Harold Hill.
Originally from Conway, Pike has been active with The Royal Players since 2009 and is vice president of the board.
“I first did The Music Man when I was 16 at Conway High School,” he said. “It’s exciting, 17 years later, to play the lead.”
Pike is employed by an interior designer and is the artistic director of Studio Theatre in downtown Little Rock.
Jennifer Jackson Restum of Little Rock, formerly of Bryant, plays Marian, the librarian.
“I played Zaneeta, the mayor’s daughter, the first time we did The Music Man in 2001,” Restum said.
“Playing Marian is fun and different for me,” she said. ”I normally am one of the boy-crazy girls in a play. This part is a more serious, uptight character.”
Restum’s 14-year-old brother, Jacob Jackson, is in the show’s chorus.
Restum is a real estate analyst for the Arkansas Building Authority-State of Arkansas. She is married to Lance Restum, who is the marketing director for the Arkansas Travelers.
Zachary Glover of Benton plays the part of Winthrop Paroo, Marian’s younger brother.
He is the 10-year-old son of Mark and Melissa Glover of Benton and attends Caldwell Elementary School, where he is in the fourth grade. Zachary has been involved in theatrical productions with The Royal Players since he was 7 and has appeared in more than a dozen shows.
Following is a look at the rest of the cast.
• Julie Vest of North Little Rock appears as Mrs. Paroo, the mother of Marian and Winthrop.
• Brian Roberson of Benton plays Charlie Cowell, the traveling salesman who arrives in town with information about Hill’s dishonest past.
• The school board quartet features Warren Walker of Bryant as Olin Britt, Danny Troillett of Little Rock as Oliver Hix, Michael Bartholmey of North Little Rock as Jacey Squires, and Matthew Burns of Benton as Ewart Dunlop.
• David Weatherly of Little Rock appears as Mayor George Shinn, who is suspicious of Hill. Members of the Shinn family include Lisa Taylor of Benton as Eulalie Shinn, the mayor’s wife; and Cassie Lovell of Benton as Zaneeta Shinn and Izzy Hammonds of Lonsdale as Gracie Shinn, the mayor’s daughters.
• Frank O. Butler of Little Rock plays Marcellus Washburn, who is Hill’s old friend, no longer a con man and living in River City.
• Austin Gregory of Benton plays Tommy Djilas, described as a “young man from the wrong side of town,” who is secretly seeing Zaneeta Shinn.
• Madison Fleck of North Little Rock plays Amaryllis, who takes piano lessons from Marian.
• The Pick-a-Little Ladies are Charlotte Hammonds of Lonsdale as Alma Hix, Destiny Marchese of Alexander as Maud Dunlop, Amanda Gilmore of Little Rock as Mrs. Squires, and Daphne Shoppach of Benton as Ethel Toffelmier.
• Larry Sullivan of North Little Rock doubles as Constable Locke and the Conductor.
• River City’s townspeople round out the cast. They include Bishop Butler, Kira Cadzow, Jacan Earnest, Randall Earnest, Tierney Earnest, Melissa Farmer, Matthew Glover, Jaden Holland, Noah Lee, Alex Pavillonis, Lisa Pavillonis, Georgia Simmons, Laurine Simmons, Zac Van Cleve, Olivia Ward, Anna Claire Wheeler and Abby Jo Windsor, all of Benton; Rylee Bolls, Andrea Hooten and Max Hooten, all of Bryant; Allison Boggs, Darren Winkler and Elizabeth Winkler, all of Little Rock; and Jack Clay and Nathan Clay, both of Sheridan.
Additional members of the crew include Lisa Goodrich of Benton, playbill; Misty Jezierski of Benton, props; Rocky Farmer of Benton, light and sound; Alaina Serrato of Benton, stage manager; Meg Amason of Benton, backstage crew; and Brandy Allen of Little Rock, costumes.
Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and $5 for students. Tickets may be purchased online at theroyalplayers.com. For reservations, call (501) 315-5483.