Master showman Harold Hill is in town and he’s got “seventy-six trombones” in tow. Can upright, uptight Marian, the town librarian, resist his powerful allure? 

 

That’s the basic premise of this year’s Becker Middle School musical-comedy at PAC called, The Music Man, Jr.” The play is being directed by Greg Lynch and features  eighth-graders Anna Pancoast (Marian Paroo) and Conner Schafer  (Harold Hill). 

 

The performances are Fri., March 10 at 7 p.m., Sat., March 11 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Cost is $8 for adults and $6 for children.

 

Lynch is doing a masterful job managing the youths and pulling out their best performances. Schaefer looks comfortable and confident in the lead role and his resumé is incredibly first-class.

 

“I’ve been in seven different Great Theater shows over the years at the Paramount and St. Ben’s,” Schafer said. “I also played  Zazu in last year’s production of The Lion King.”

 

Zazu was the hornbill who was the steward for Mufasa.

 

Pancoast hasn’t nearly the credentials as Schaefer, but she comes across as polished and highly-skilled.

 

“I haven’t been in any Great Theater plays but when we used to live in North Dakota I did a few different shows there,” she said. “I also was in the Lion King and played Shenzi.

 

Shenzi is one of the hyenas in the Lion King and was sassy and tended to boss around the other hyenas in her trio.

 

The Music Man, Jr. is Based on Meredith Willson's six-time-Tony-Award-winning musical comedy and  features some of musical theatre’s most iconic songs and a story filled with wit, warmth and good old-fashioned romance.  

 

The story follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill (Schafer), as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize.

 

The setting is 1912 and Lynch’s cast is expected to try and remember to act like their from that era and stay in character for the timeline. It can be challenging for today’s youth who express themselves completely different from those days while trying to imitate adult behavior from over 100 years ago.

 

The catch of the play? Hill is clueless about music — he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. As he uses his adept salesmen skills to take advantage of the innocent Iowans, he plans to skip town with the cash. Those plans are foiled when he falls for Marian, whose belief in Harold’s power just might help him succeed in the end in spite of himself.

 

“My character falls in love with Conner’s, but she struggles to overcome the truth she knows that Harold Hill is a fake,” Anna said.

 

“My character is sleazy and is only into making money and he doesn’t really care about anyone but himself,” said Schafer. “Until he, too falls for Marian.”

 

Memorizing lines to act in a play can be an overwhelming task for most 12-year-olds and to add even more difficulty — how about throwing in songs they have to learn and even some dance steps. The venture can be daunting but these amazing youths Lynch has at his disposal are magnificent.

 

“Yeah, sometimes singing and acting at the same time can be hard because you have to focus on two things, but sometimes when you get on stage, everything comes pretty naturally,” said Anna.

 

“Acting and singing in a production are hard things to do,” said Conner. “But it’s a lot of fun and the songs in this musical are really super easy to learn and memorize.”

 

Lynch feels his troupe is working well together and will be primed and ready for next weekend’s performances. He said he’d love to see a packed house at each performance.

 

“I hope people get to see that their children, these young 12-year-olds can put on a high-quality production and entertain audiences,” Lynch said. “It’s amazing how they soak up direction and the enthusiasm to do something special for the crowd is thrilling. It’s a really good play and I hope people come out and see the hard work these kids have put into it.”

 

“We’ve worked really hard,” said Anna. “I hope we see a lot of people in here next weekend.”

 

“It’s a super-fun show and the songs are upbeat,” said Conner. “ I think people will enjoy it because it’s a good story with great acting and great music. Come on out!”

 

Conner Schafer as Harold Hill; Anna Pancoast as Marian Paroo; Brooke Hendrickson as Marcellus Aria Webster as Mrs. Paroo; Nicholas Berglund as Winthrop Paroo; Kaelyn Lombard as Amarylis; Marshall Steffens as Charlie Cowell; Bodie Moore as Tommy Djilas; Maddie Schmitz as Ethel Toffelmier; Marissa Pettit as Constable and Monica Zimmerman as Conductor.

 

Wyatt Hiltner as Mayor Shinn; Kailey Peterson as Eulalie Shinn; Alexis Dremel as Zaneeta Shinn and Leah Pierson as Gracie Shinn.

 

Austin Clemens as Edwart Dunlop; Kenna Jett Johnson as Oliver Hix; Gretchen Graftaas as Jacey Squires and Grace Schendel as Olin Britt.

 

Kylie Applen as Alma Hix; Brynn O’Connor as Maud Dunlap and Devynn Cox as Mrs. Squires.

 

Wa Tan Ye Girls/ Townspeople/Pick a Little Ladies

Emilie Baumgartner, Nev Bjorlin, Annika Davidson, Ani Dehmer, Charlotte Fleck, Maddie Kolbinger, Rachel Larson, Taylor Storlien and Hailey Watts.

 

Ellie Christensen, Raeanna Cota, Brianna Koch, Lexi McKay, Alyssa Oelmann, Madison Ratz, Kylee Rick, Levi Roske, Lily Savage-Heinkel, Annika Soyring and Nadine Super.

 

Traveling Salesmen/Townspeople

Kami Janssen, Cara Condon, Faith Potter, Sarah Warren and Camden Aanenson.