You can say this for director Mary Zimmerman’s staging of Meredith Willson’s multiple Tony winner, The Music Man: like the titular con man in the 1957 musical, she sure knows the territory. From the corrupting influence of the bawdy humor magazine Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang to the Isadora Duncan-inspired modern-dance ode to a Grecian urn, Zimmerman packs the story (by Willson and Franklin Lacey) with as much charm as you’d expect from the tale of a flimflammer colliding with truculent Iowans in 1912.
“Rock Island” is a mini masterpiece of scene setting via spoken word, and Zimmerman’s cast positively nails the darn thing with a percussive, physical comedy that’s a joy to behold. Ten minutes in and The Music Man has already delivered a bona fide showstopper.
Is The Music Man lacking in any fully formed femme characters? Yes. Is it nonetheless as entertaining as a John Philip Sousa march on the Fourth of July? Yes. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the latter cancels out the former enough to merit your time and money. v
Through 8/18: Wed 7:30 PM, Thu 2 and 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Tue 7:30 PM; no performance Wed 7/10 or Tue 7/23; Sun 7/21 and 8/4, 2 PM only; Thu 8/8 and 8/15, 7:30 PM only; Sat 8/10, 8 PM only, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, goodmantheatre.org, $25-$142.
