Music on Norway Pond will present a semi-staged concert version of the classic Broadway musical, “The Music Man,” at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at the Hancock Meeting House at 47 Main St. in Hancock. The show will be a full musical performance with no intermission.
Jody Simpson, Executive Director of Music on Norway Pond, said a trip to Paris inspired her to stage the quintessential American musical this spring.
“We were at the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, and there was a statue of Balzac, and his name is a in famous line in the ‘The Music Man,’ and I said to my husband, ‘I know what we need to do next spring. We need to do ‘The Music Man.'”
Simpson said the themes of “The Music Man” and the iconic setting in Iowa make it the perfect show for the times.
“It’s about a con man, it’s about Iowa, it’s about the middle of the country, and ultimately, it’s about music bringing a community back together,” Simpson said. “Every day that the world gets farther along on the path we are on, this show seems like a better choice.”
Simpson says the musical offers hope, and shows that people can change.
“The original villain, the con man, falls in love, and he stays in the community. Then the whistle blower ends up being the villian, which is not how we see whistle blowers now, so it’s complex. We picked the show because of its messages,” Simpson said.
Previously, Music on Norway Pond has performed musical concerts of “Pippin,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and songs from Gershwin.
“We didn’t do a show last year; they are very hard to do and very complicated. I only do shows if it is something I really, really want to do, and I really wanted to do this one,” Simpson said.
The cast includes more than 50 people, ranging from a Broadway actor to students from Great Brook School and young singers from the Norway Pond Junior Mints.
“My belief is that if you can create a highly professional nest of people and instruments, and put the Norway Pond singers and the kids into that nest, you end up with something that is so much more real than if it were all professionals. It’s a beautiful combination when you’re in it; it is mesmerizing when you have really high level people mix in with amateurs who are serious about doing this,” Simpson said.
After deciding to stage the “The Music Man” in spring 2026, Simpson called her friend, the Broadway actor Phillip Remio Stoddard, to see if he would play the lead role of “Harold Hill.”
Stoddard most recently appeared in the Lincoln Center production of Camelot. He has also appeared in “The Gilded Age” on HBO.
“I called Phillip in July, and I said I would only do this if he would play the lead,” Simpson said.
Stoddard said yes, and Simpson went on to cast locally based actors Brittney Redler as “Marion the Librarian” and Isaiah LaPierre as “Marcello.”
“We have these two colossal, top drawer talents with Phillip and Brittney, and Isaiah is going to be hilarious as Marcello,” Simpson said.
Simpson’s next goal was to find “the best barbershop quartet in the northeast.” She found the Catalyst Quartet, an Albany, N.Y.-based quartet that competes internationally.
“They are absolutely amazing. They are coming Saturday for the first time, and we will just put it all together,” Simpson said. “Friday is the first time the whole cast will be all together, and Saturday night is the open dress rehearsal.”
Simpson said between the cast, costumes, the set pieces, and the music, the audience will be “mesmerized.”
“There shouldn’t be a barrier between the audience and the cast; everyone should feel like they are all in one village, and I think it will work they way we are doing it. Everyone in the audience will feel like they are ‘right there in River City.'”
Tickets are available for the dress rehearsal on Saturday night, April 18. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to musiconnorwaypond.org.
