'Music Man' reopens at Chanhassen as a celebration of life

For folks who have wondered if actors have been able keep up their form during the pandemic, Michael Gruber has an answer. In "The Music Man," which reopened over the weekend after a 15-month coronavirus intermission, Gruber, who plays the title character, barely breathed as he sang and danced in "Ya Got Trouble."

His breathless singing and butter-smooth execution of Tamara Kangas Erickson's rhythmic and fetching choreography served as an exhilarating announcement that theater is back at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres — and in the Twin Cities, where "Music Man" became the first major indoor theater production to open after the pandemic.

Director Michael Brindisi's revival of the 1957 Meredith Willson musical played only nine performances before being shut down in March 2020.

At Chanhassen, the actors perform with spark, as if the production is not just about a show reopening, but an exultation to life itself. Still, "Music Man" is a curious show to celebrate with after surviving a pandemic. After all, it glorifies a shyster.

Gruber plays the title character, a sweet-talking master of distraction who calls himself Prof. Harold Hill. He's a con man who waltzes into small towns and swindles them. River City, Iowa, is his new mark. He finds out from old friend Marcellus Washburn (played by light-on-his-feet and ever-assured Tony Vierling) that the city has a new pool hall and it's just the thing he needs to tell River Citians that their town is going to H-E-double hockey sticks.

The so-called professor happens to have a solution for the now frightened townsfolk — a marching band, and he would sell them the instruments and uniforms. Never mind that Hill does not know a lick of music. He has a "think system" — and all the people have to do is imagine it. Librarian Marian Paroo (Ann Michels in a luminous return) sees through his grift, but gets caught by something else.

Robert Preston played Hill on Broadway and in the 1962 film opposite Shirley Jones, setting the template for those roles. Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster have been tapped for a much-delayed Broadway production with an announced December opening. But some are questioning if, at this time, a dated show like this should be brought back.

None of those controversies are apparent at Chanhassen, where the production delivers like an Amazon driver. From surefire singing and dancing to humor and wit, "Music Man" has the goods.

Michels and Gruber have really good chemistry — he's frenetic until he gets his foot caught in the door of her love, she's studious and practical until she, too, becomes flustered.

Their castmates also play their roles well, with lots of parts just as strong as before. Tod Petersen, who replaced Keith Rice as Mayor Shinn, makes him into an inflated yammerer who is on the edge of being a buffoon. When she's not harmonizing smoothly with the Pick-a-Little Ladies, Michelle Barber finds a few farm noises for Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, the mayor's at-a-loss-for-words wife.

Reese Britts joins John-Michael Zuerlein, Shad Olsen and Evan Tyler Wilson to bring some sweet harmonies to the barbershop quartet.

And Jay Albright again brings joy and light to salesman Charlie Cowell, who wants to rescue the good name of salesmen by calling out Hill.

So although Harold Hill was bent on swindle, does it matter if the end result is that people realize their selves? The question hangs in the air at Chanhassen, and elsewhere in the nation.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390

@rohanpreston