Marvin Hamlisch and "The Music Man"

My mom has season tickets to the Seattle Pops series at Benaroya Hall and last night, she invited me and Missi to go with her. We were also accompanied by my aunt Lois and a friend of hers.


We started the evening going out to dinner (Stuart Anderson's Black Angus...I don't recommend it). Dinner took a little longer than planned so we ended up racing down the freeway to get to Seattle from Lynnwood, parked, and in the theatre in 25 minutes. Ok, so we were a tad late, missed part of the opening number. Of course, it didn't help that when we arrived, someone was in my mom's seats, so we had to wait for the end of the opening number and the usher went over and straightened things out for us.



Ok, so we got all settled in and finally able to enjoy guest conductor and composer Marvin Hamlisch. He's a very talented and funny guy! We enjoyed the orchestra playing the overature from, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," and Hamlisch on the piano with an original composition. He then welcomed out guest artist, Ashley Brown. Most recently, she originated the part of Mary Poppins in the musical by the same name on Broadway. She has performed other parts on Broadway as well, including Belle from, "Beauty and the Beast," as well as performed several concerts across the country. Brown sang, "Somewhere," "Feed the Birds," "Speak Low," and Marvin Hamlisch's, "The Way We Were."




Following intermission, a Readers Digest version of "The Music Man" was presented. So many talented people in the Seattle area took the stage playing parts in the chorus and the mens quartet. The lead roles were played by actors brought in from other parts of the country, including some who had performed on Broadway and in television and movies. Of course, Ashley Brown played the role of Marian Paroo and did a fantastic job.


Now, if I didn't know the story of The Music Man, the shortened version may have been a bit confusing, but in general, they really did very well in shortening the story but still keeping the storyline flowing. Many of my favorite songs from the movie were performed including, "Ya Got Trouble," "Til There Was You," "Marian the Librarian," "Goodnight, My Someone," and, of course, "76 Trombones." My mom was a bit disappointed that she didn't get to hear, "Shipoopi," and "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little."


If you're interested, there are still tickets for sale for this performance going through this weekend. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours!!