The Music Man performers see Stratford as the ‘pinnacle’

Known for familiar songs, musical will be like ‘one big dance show,’ actor says

Daren A. Herbert and Danielle Wade won’t have any “trouble” putting their own stamp on Meredith Willson’s beloved songs in The Music Man at the Stratford Festival.

Known for its familiar songs, spirited dancing and big production numbers — including “(Ya Got) Trouble,” “SeventySix Trombones” and lyrical ballads “Goodnight, My Someone” and “Til There Was You” — the multiple Tony-winning musical centres on a fast-talking fraudster who arrives in an early 20th-century Iowa town, peddling musical dreams.

Herbert is Harold Hill, the slick travelling salesman who claims he’s a whiz at turning awkward boys into top-notch marching-band musicians. Wade plays Marian Paroo, the town’s no-nonsense librarian and piano teacher.

The Music Man director and choreographer Donna Feore says the show has a timeless combination of drama, intrigue and love. The musical wraps audiences in feelings of hope and the redemptive power of love, Feore says, with a rousing score, energetic dance numbers and a multigenerational cast.

“We have this fun con man (Hill), who meets this brick wall of Marian, and he comes in thinking one thing and comes out thinking another,” Feore says. She sees Hill as “a reverse Pied Piper,” someone who brings kids and teens back to their families.

“Every song is a production number … this is a big dance show,” Feore says. Look for plenty of up-tempo ragtime moves and a few surprises. “I want to do something in The Music Man that speaks to 2018 and young people with a contemporary feel.”

Wade and Herbert are excited to be making their Stratford debuts with The Music Man.

Herbert, who had roles in films This Means War and Dreamgirls, previously por- trayed Hill at Vancouver’s Theatre Under the Stars. He calls being on the Stratford stage “the pinnacle.”

“You don’t really get to this anywhere else in Canada, especially when it comes to musicals,” says Bermuda-born Herbert.

“This is the top as far as Canada goes. It’s a thrill.” Wade, who won CBC’s Over the Rainbow reality show and went on to star as Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz, says she first came to Stratford on school trips as a kid. She remembers how enthralled she was seeing plays on the festival stage. “So, I think it’s so cool to be on the opposite end of that.”

Beyond learning dance steps, songs and lines, Wade and Herbert have also spent time getting to know their characters.

“He’s a snake, basically,” Herbert says of Hill. “He has to be quicker than the competition and quieter than his prey.” Wade believes Marian is the smartest person in town, and finds it amusing she’s written off as an “old maid” at 23. Marian knows her mind — until Hill shows up “and throws a wrench into her plans.”

Feore praises Wade for bringing a blend of modern sensibility and a real understanding of Marian to the role, along with her skill as “an incredible singer.”

As for Herbert, Feore says the very physical role of the alwaysmoving Hill is as challenging as Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “The first act, he doesn’t leave the stage,” she says.

“You’ll be engulfed in his charisma,” she adds.

“He lights up a room.”

“You don’t really get to this anywhere else in Canada, especially when it comes to musicals.” DAREN A. HERBERT WHO PLAYS HAROLD HILL