It might as well be called “Molly Smith’s ‘The Music Man.’ ” The artistic director of Arena Stage has a swell penchant for producing shiny American musicals unlike any other local director in the Washington area. Sure, there are those who take on high-budget, slick affairs in the same genre, but no one quite understands the understated like Smith in her unique presentation of musical theater.
It’s in the way that her version of Meredith Willson’s great ode to small towns is distilled down to its soul and presented on a (mostly) bare stage, and it’s in the way that Smith moves her players around that stage with trademark finesse. “Set in a vision of America’s past, with echoes of today,” Smith’s production replicates life in microcosm, amid the small minds and stuffy stiffs of River City, Iowa.
Invoking the spirit of the early Midwest is Willson’s job, though, and here this classic tale of a traveling salesman who shows up in the middle of nowhere ready to strike up a band still hearkens back to an age when kids were more interested in trombone slides than tweeting and tuba lessons were more popular than AutoTune.
Yes, “The Music Man” has always been about the arrival of one “Professor” Harold Hill and his profound impact on a tightly knit hamlet where the biggest news is that the billiards hall has just procured its first pool table. He’s come bearing the promise of musical instruments and band uniforms for a hefty fee to a population that doesn’t know the difference between the bleats of a bugle and a B flat. And when the con artist becomes smitten with the town librarian, it’s time to pull out all the stops before he blows his cover.
Smith’s svelte interpretation features fresh, lively choreography from frequent collaborator Parker Esse, and Lawrence Goldberg’s music direction hits all the right notes with gusto. But in spite of its golden highlights, this “Music Man” feels like you’re sitting down to a beautifully trimmed feast, only to find it missing the centerpiece.
Broadway veteran Kate Baldwin is a fine Marian, softly trilling the notes of “Till There Was You” across the Fichandler Stage, though very little chemistry develops between the pair at the heart of Willson’s story. Still, it’s sheer joy to watch Esse’s dancers cut a rug, and the evening’s dapper barbershop quartet delivers lilting a cappella renditions of “Goodnight Ladies” and “Lida Rose.” There’s plenty of youthful charm on tap, too — Ian Berlin is an adorable Winthrop Paroo, and his pint-size talents are equally matched by Heidi Kaplan’s spunky Amaryllis.
