Evergreen musical ‘The Music Man’ gets a proper staging at Porthouse

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

 

Is there a better time than now to escape to Meredith Willson’s musical comedy safe-haven of River City, Iowa in 1912? 

 

And is there a better place to do it than at the Porthouse amphitheater, summer home of the Equity actor-enhanced productions of Kent State University’s musical theater program?

 

This is just the kind of time-honored classic that is squarely in the wheelhouse of director Terri Kent, choreographer John Crawford-Spinelli and music director Jonathan Swoboda, who opt for sincerity in their depiction of these people and their world rather than the satire often attempted by too many others. 

 

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