The Music Man : Promotions

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With people like Sutton and Hugh leading the troupe, it must be such a learning experience as well being in such joyous company!

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Sutton Foster On Her Big Broadway Homecoming In The Music Man

After eight years away, the star is finally back under the spotlight—both as Marian Paroo and a mother.

BY LEIGH SCHEPS
MAR 9, 2022
sutton fosterJENNY ANDERSON


Less than a year after the series finale of Younger aired in June 2021, Sutton Foster has made her way back to Broadway—for the 12th time. This go-round, the two-time Tony Award winner is tap-dancing across the stage as the spinster librarian Marian Paroo in the long-awaited revival of The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre. Given that this is Foster's first Broadway musical in nearly eight years—her most recent theater performance was in 2014's Violet—she's undergone a few dramatic shifts: Not only is she now the author of an autobiography, Hooked, but she's also become the mother of five-year-old Emily, whom she adopted with husband Ted Griffin.

Foster now believes her artistic responsibilities are about more than satisfying an audience; they must also satisfy her child. “One of the reasons why we went to London this past summer to do Anything Goes was not only to chase the art and a challenge to revisit the role, but it was an opportunity for her to live in another country and experience that for four months,” Foster told ELLE.com. (A taped performance of her Olivier Award-nominated role in Anything Goes can be seen at movie theaters across the U.S. for two days only on Sunday, March 27 and Wednesday, March 30).




Still, the idea of playing Marian the librarian beside Hugh Jackman as Harold Hill was impossible to pass up, even if it would strain her schedule. It took three years after casting for Foster to finally perform the role opposite Jackman as the traveling salesman and clever con artist. “I can’t believe that it’s here and we are doing it now,” Foster says. “I was attached to it for so long. It seems like a miracle.” As one of the biggest names in Broadway gets into the groove of her Music Man tenure, ELLE.com spoke with the actress about why she joined the production, what it's like acting alongside Jackman, and how she's managed her parenthood journey in the interim.


sutton foster
Dress by Michael Kors. Hair by Owen Gould. Makeup by Jen Wobito.



What is it like to return to Broadway for the first time since Younger?

I feel enormous gratitude. There's nothing like that live experience—especially now, after 18 months where it was non-existent. I loved Younger. Those seven years of my life were beyond an incredible experience for me. But Broadway and performing live in the theater is my true love.


Tell me about your interpretation of Marian Paroo for a 2022 audience. Were there changes you made? Or did you want to keep her as true to the original as possible?

I'm married to a writer, a screenwriter, and a director who probably knows more about musical theater than I do. He knew The Music Man way more than I did. In a weird way, that helped me because I didn't know what [the character of Marian] had been like before. She's probably the smartest, smartest woman in the town. She might have some past dalliance, which is hinted at in the play. Is it true? Is it not true? She's got some darkness to her. She has an enormous capacity to love and that's gotten her in trouble. Her heart is very guarded. She's misunderstood. She’s resilient. That was sort of how I approached her. The whole process of finding how she sings; how she talks; how she interacts; it all felt very organic.



So were you not entirely familiar with The Music Man?

I knew the songs, but I didn't know the show inside and out. When they approached me at first about doing it, I remember thinking, Oh, that's interesting. It wasn't a show that was in my lexicon. It wasn't something that I was like, Oh, someday I'll play Marian Paroo. I never even thought of that.



How did the role come about?

It was three years ago in January 2019. I got a call from my agent saying that there was a new production of The Music Man with Hugh Jackman. There was interest in me playing Marian Paroo.

They asked if I would be willing to come in to sing for everybody. I was like, “Of course I will!” I didn’t even know if I could sing it. So I worked with Michael Rafter, my musical director who I do all my concerts with, and my voice teacher, Joan Lader. I said, “If [the creators] want me to be Barbara Cook, Shirley Jones, or Rebecca Luker, I can’t sing like that.” I don’t know how to do that. So we found different keys for everything.


Then I worked with Patrick Vaccariello, our music director of The Music Man, who had already printed out music in six different keys. The next day, I sang for everyone at the piano. After I sang, they had me go out into the hall. [The director] Jerry Zaks came out and said, “Look, we want you to do this.”




What is it like kissing Hugh Jackman eight shows a week?

It is just a chore! It is so unbearable. Someone has to do it, and I’ve taken the hit. [Laughs.]

He is a dream to work with. As talented as he is, he is [also] kind, generous and humble. He is everything that you hope he would be and more. He is a true partner. One of the greatest things that has happened with this whole experience is that I can now call him a friend. It is just a joy to play with him every day, have fun and make each other laugh.




the music man opening night
Jackman and Foster during the opening night curtain call for The Music Man.



Speaking of laughter—I watched you two get into a laughing fit on stage one night. It was so endearing. The audience loved it. Do those moments happen often?

I would like to say they are rare, but it's happened a couple of times. He is a little devil, by the way. He is a rascal. I always blame Hugh Jackman. It is probably one of my favorite moments. And it’s just us. And it’s a spontaneous and magical thing when it happens.




Do your work and your art—including your nightly performances—feel different now that you’ve become a mother?

One thousand percent. It has changed me, and I appreciate everything more. It has made me a better performer. Especially in this show, Marian has such a relationship with Winthrop [her shy, much younger brother who doesn’t like to talk] and the kids in the town. I am much more motherly to the kids in the cast than I would have before—because that mother gene has been ignited in me. I understand Winthrop when his light comes back on because of Harold Hill. I understand that in a deep way. When someone makes your kid light up, laugh or come alive—it is everything. I don't know if I would have really understood that before.

There are challenges. One of the things I am struggling with the most is that balance between what I do for a living and my [personal life]. Right now, my daughter and I are on two different schedules. She’s in school during the day when I’m free and at night, I’m at work. So, that’s been really hard. I think we are trying to figure out what a balance of that looks like.



What was it like seeing your daughter in the audience on opening night? I saw a photo of you with the biggest grin.

Opening nights are stressful, exciting, and exhilarating. No one else in the audience mattered. There are all these famous people there. I was like, I don’t care. My kid’s here. I didn’t know where they were sitting. At the end, my husband was lifting her up on his shoulders. There was this little tiny girl in a pink dress flying above the crowd. I’ll never forget it. Hugh suggested I get that photo framed and put it in Emily’s room. So that she will always know that her mama was looking at her.



I've read numerous articles about your fertility journey, which is brave of you to have shared so candidly. How were you able to manage it while filming Younger at the same time?

It was hard. The amazing thing about Younger is that I had this joyful escape. I am a very optimistic and hopeful person, so I was feeling very optimistic and hopeful as I was going through all of it. Even though it is definitely a mindfuck. I can look back on all of it because what was meant to happen happened. I can’t imagine it any other way. I can write about it openly and candidly, but now I look at my daughter and think, Of course it wasn’t working. Because she was supposed to be my daughter. I guess that is what my book is about, too. Yes, there were icky and challenging things but I am grateful for every single one of them.


HOOKED: HOW CRAFTING SAVED MY LIFE
amazon.com
$28.00 $17.96 (36% off)


Speaking of your book, Hooked, I was surprised how earnest you were about your sexuality, especially while growing up on the road doing national tours. Why was it important to share those personal experiences so openly?

I guess I didn’t even know how not to. A lot of people [who read the book] said I was so vulnerable. I was writing it to my 17-year-old self. I was writing to those young people, to say you’re not alone. I wasn’t still in a wounded space. I am in a much more healed place. I wanted it to be honest to myself and honest to a young person who might be struggling. I thought that was important.


If there is a next chapter for Younger, where do you see Liza?

Hopefully they'll let me keep my gray hairs that are growing in. Pamela Redmond, who wrote the book Younger, wrote a sequel called Older. So I have that in my head of what happens to Liza. Pamela had sort of created a future Liza. I don’t know if she is with anyone. Hopefully she is successful and happy. Wouldn’t that be great? Let’s work on that!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Mar 20, 2022 16:34:41 GMT -5 jo said:

The Wall Street Journal

Who’s Sliding Into a Big Role on Broadway? Trombonists
The instrument’s sound is hard to replicate, putting the trombone in demand; ‘It’s good for so many things’
Trombonist Mike Boschen performs in the pit for the current Broadway revival of 'The Music Man.' AVERY BRUNKUS

By Charles Passy
Follow
March 20, 2022 1:20 pm ET



Broadway, looking to regain its prepandemic audiences, is relying on boldface names such as Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, Sarah Jessica Parker…and Mike Boschen.

Mr. Boschen is in the current revival of “The Music Man.” He is a trombonist, and they are having a moment.

In “Hadestown,” trombonist Brian Drye appears on stage and interacts with the cast. (As one theater observer noted on Twitter: “Phenomenal cast and all, but the trombone is the real star.”) In “Chicago,” trombonists Bruce Bonvissuto and James Burton III have coveted places on stage with the rest of the orchestra. “We can feel very viscerally the energy coming from the audience,” says Mr. Bonvissuto.

Then, there’s Mr. Boschen in “The Music Man.” “This is probably the coolest trombone part I’ve ever gotten to play” on Broadway, says the 48-year-old journeyman, who has performed with about 40 productions in a career that includes shows both familiar (“Cats”) and forgotten (a musical adaptation of Aristophanes’ “The Frogs”).

“The Music Man,” starring Mr. Jackman, a beloved take on Midwestern life circa early 1900s, is all about the band. Its key numbers include a homage to all things brassy—namely, “Seventy-Six Trombones.”

The production actually features two trombonists—Mr. Boschen, who plays the common tenor version, often simply referred to as the trombone, and Jack Schatz, who plays the bass version. Mr. Boschen jokes, “We’re 74 trombones short, but we’re trying our best to make up for it.”

Other tunes let him play in a jazzy or more romantic vein. He stays in the pit, but his presence is constantly felt.

Typically, trombonists have played supporting roles “like an offensive lineman,” says Mike Davis, a trombonist with “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.”

Producers have been reducing the size of Broadway orchestras as a cost-saving measure. Long gone are the Golden Age days when 25-piece ensembles were the norm, anchored by sizable string sections. Now, some shows can rely on 10 or fewer musicians—with digital instruments and tools often used to replicate the real deal.



Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in ‘The Music Man,’ with other cast members. (The real musicians are in the pit.)
PHOTO: JULIETA CERVANTES


But it’s hard to replicate a trombone, or “bone,” as it’s called in industry parlance, with its signature sliding sound. Also, the trombone is an instrument that adapts particularly well to many genres. “It’s good for so many things,” says veteran Broadway orchestrator Jonathan Tunick.

Mr. Boschen, a native of the Philadelphia area, has been wedded to his trombone since he picked up the instrument in third grade—it was either that or the cello, since both were suited to his height. He went on to study with trombonists in the Philadelphia Orchestra and then trained at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and the Juilliard School in New York City.

He could have looked for a full-time job in a symphony orchestra, but decided he liked the varied life of a New York freelancer, where the gigs can range from playing jazz standards at a cocktail party to performing with classical ensembles, sometimes within the space of a day. A Broadway job is a coveted base, especially if it’s in a show that has potential for a decent run.


Mike Boschen has performed in about 40 productions.
PHOTO: AVERY BRUNKUS

Mr. Boschen got his first shot as a substitute in “Cats” in 1997 and his first full-time position in “The Full Monty” in 2000.

Last July, while teaching one of his trombone students at his home near Peekskill, N.Y., he got a text telling him to call about “The Music Man.” He phoned and was told he had the job.

“He knows how to make something a comic moment or make it a jazz moment. It’s an art to what he does,” says Patrick Vaccariello, music director and conductor of “The Music Man,” who worked with Mr. Boschen on previous shows.

Like many Broadway musicians, Mr. Boschen is willing to play other instruments, if needed. Over the years, he has doubled on bass trombone and euphonium in shows, though he says he has a strict “no tuba” policy. “I’d rather be really good with less stuff than decent at more,” he says.

At “The Music Man,” Mr. Boschen shares an area the size of a modest suburban living room with about a dozen other brass and woodwind players (string musicians are in a separate spot). He is always mindful about where he aims his slide. During another show, he worried about knocking down the conductor’s podium.

“It would have been a showstopper in a different sense,” he says.



Mr. Jackman calls Mr. Boschen a “spectacular trombonist.” The actor, best known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men cinematic franchise, says despite studying violin in high school he can’t fathom the skills required of playing in the pit. Mr. Jackman buys the musicians scratch-off lottery tickets every week in recognition of the valuable role they perform. Mr. Boschen says he’s won a couple of bucks so far.

“I have no business being down there other than delivering lottery tickets,” Mr. Jackman says, though he adds, “If there’s a part for a triangle player, I’m in.”



Pit musicians must contend with long stretches of a show where there’s nothing to do. Some text on their phones or do crossword puzzles during downtime.

On a recent Saturday matinee performance, Mr. Boschen kept busy reading a book on stock trading. He says he became interested in investing during the pandemic, when Broadway theaters were closed for months.


Trombonists are mindful of their playing space.
PHOTO: AVERY BRUNKUS

There’s always the risk of missing a cue to start resuming playing. Mr. Boschen says he internalizes the score so that rarely happens. The only time it did on “The Music Man,” he says, was when he got caught up in a moment hearing Sutton Foster, who plays Mr. Jackman’s romantic interest in the show, work her way through “Goodnight My Someone.”

“I lost myself in the beauty of the singing,” he says.



Mr. Boschen has never seen this production of “The Music Man” from the audience—nor does he plan to. That’s almost standard practice among Broadway musicians, who view their jobs as strictly focused on the score, not the broader production.

“I have my own version of the story playing itself out like a movie in my mind. I see it through hearing it,” he says.

Write to Charles Passy at [e-mail]

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On the NYTimes -- not about Hugh Jackman...but a parallel to his Music Man Broadway return.

Hollywood Star Gives Broadway a Much-Needed Boost. Sound Familiar?

A Broadway comeback is a box-office triumph: Parallels abound between two starry shows, more than 80 years apart.


By Laurence Maslon
March 30, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ET



It was as dark a time as Broadway had ever seen. Multiple stages were shuttered, uncertainty abounded, and a beleaguered theatrical season was limping along, desperate for a hit. But then a Hollywood movie star — who was also a uniquely magnetic performer on the musical stage — rode into town, bestriding a vehicle perfectly suited to his outsize talents. He had retreated to a film career for nearly a decade, and frequently hinted at a Broadway return, but then, in his 50s, he finally did so — and it didn’t hurt that a beloved musical comedy ingénue was at his side.

Consumers tossed money over the box-office transom by the sackful, creating one of the biggest box-office advances in memory. It was a triumph that prompted one critic to conclude: “Broadway is beginning to look like Broadway again.”

While this may sound an awful lot like Hugh Jackman’s highly anticipated return to Broadway in “The Music Man” (co-starring the captivating Sutton Foster), this précis also captures another Broadway comeback: Al Jolson’s star turn in “Hold On to Your Hats,” a long-forgotten show that took a forlorn town by storm 82 years ago. And, though “The Music Man” grossed $3.5 million the other week — the most of any show since theaters reopened after the long pandemic shutdown — Jolson, it should be noted, got better reviews.





More...

After corralling a hit for a desperate Broadway, Jolson, having “nothin’” left to say or sing, rode back into the California sunset, passing the torch to other Hollywood stars and their own rescue missions along the Broadway trail.

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The irony in the Jackman situation...was that he did not commit to a Broadway-saving tenure when he signed up for The Music Man. As early as almost a year before the pandemic emerged worldwide, Hugh Jackman had already committed to Scott Rudin then to return to Broadway in The Music Man. It was more of a decision to get back on stage as part of his mixed career path.

What Hugh Jackman had done that could be viewed as heroic...was staying the course when odds became almost insurmountable for the beleaguered production because of --

*the continuing pandemic which engulfed the USA and the entire world
*the Scott Rudin debacle

But Jackman made the decision, together with producers Diller & Geffen, to stay the course and to re-stage the long-awaited production.

"I want to say how much I respect and applaud the people who have spoken up about their experience working with Scott Rudin. It takes an enormous amount of courage and strength to stand up and state your truth. This has started a conversation that is long overdue, not just on Broadway and the entertainment industry, but across all workforce. The most important voice we needed to hear from was Scott Rudin. He has now spoken up and stepped away from The Music Man. I hope and pray this is a journey of healing for all the victims and the community. We are currently rebuilding The Music Man team and are aspiring to create an environment that is not only safe, but ensures that everyone is seen, heard and valued. This is something that is and has always been very important to me."

And the show did go on -- even if had to open for previews some fifteen months later.


Corollary to this -- was the way ticketholders hanged on to their tickets --- through 2 cycles of rescheduling and exchanging dates!

And now, the show is the dominant show on Broadway, box office-wise!


At some point, it would be interesting for someone to write about this amazing sojourn...to add to the glittering history of Broadway!

Maybe Michael Riedel...

or even better, by a journalism graduate named Hugh Michael Jackman himself


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In twitter shortcut language --

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Interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel ( but about Wolverine) --

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Re Opening Night --

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The fuller version --

whatsonlatenight.tumblr.com/post/680395758758936576/the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon-hugh

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Someone noted the new ad --

StacyKnows
@stacyknows
·
31m
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in the Music Man May 3 via Stacyknows - Omg did you see the ad in this Sunday’s NYTimes for Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in The Music Man. It was an entire section...

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Playbill Logo


INTERVIEW


Hugh Jackman and Shuler Hensley on Reuniting to Make 'Trouble' Onstage in The Music Man

BY LOGAN CULWELL-BLOCK
APRIL 06, 2022


These award-winning stars are old friends onstage and off.


Shuler Hensley and Hugh Jackman in The Music Man

Photo by Bruce Glikas
In The Music Man, now enjoying a starry revival at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, former conmen twosome Harold Hill and Marcellus Washburn reunite in River City, Iowa, for one last grift.

Meanwhile, stars Hugh Jackman and Shuler Hensley (who play Harold and Marcellus, respectively) are enjoying an even happier reunion, co-starring in a stage production together for the first time since playing Curly and Jud in The National Theatre’s 1999 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! in London. The pair have been best buds since that show, which came before either had won a Tony Award, before they shared the screen in Van Helsing and The Greatest Showman, and before they both achieved worldwide acclaim.

Hugh Jackman in <i>Oklahoma!</i>
Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma! Courtesy of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization: A Concord Company
“I can count on actually just one finger the amount of people who make me laugh until I cry at inappropriate moments,” said Jackman. “And it’s his middle finger, too,” added Hensley, dropping by Jackman’s dressing room, as he does frequently.

“I’ll give you a tip for anyone reading this if you’re at The Music Man,” Jackman continued. “If you see that first scene between Shuler and I, and I’m not looking at Shuler in the eyes at all, then you know I’m in danger of completely breaking. That’s my only defense. He’s got that wicked grin, and he never breaks. It’s really annoying. He knows he can do anything to me, and he’ll never break.”



For Hensley, the laughter is the point.


“I work with high school musical theatre kids in Georgia every year. I do it because it makes you remember what it was like when you felt like you could do anything and the sky is the limit for the theatre world and acting, and that’s honestly how I feel with Hugh. It’s like regressing to that point where you think it’s not a technique. It’s not a job. It’s just play—it’s fun! I think that’s always what we as journeymen actors try to recreate, those moments where it’s just fun.”

The playful camaraderie that Hensley and Jackman share adds a deeper dimension into the relationship between Harold and Marcellus in The Music Man, too.

“Harold is coming into this town and putting on this persona,” says Jackman. “My scenes with Marcellus are where you get to see the real guy. We probably only have four or five scenes together, but that’s where the audience gets to see the real person. Having an actor where I just feel that rapport immediately is such a bonus.”

But what’s the next pairing for this award-winning duo? Both say they want to stick to comedy, but Hensley has a more specific pitch.

“The Odd Couple—but reverse the roles.”

[jo]

LIFESTYLE

PEOPLE.COM
THEATER

Warren Carlyle on Choreographing Hugh Jackman in
The Music Man'


: 'He's Game for Anything'
People Exclusive
Warren Carlyle on Choreographing Hugh Jackman in The Music Man: 'He's Game for Anything'
Tony-winning choreographer and acclaimed director Warren Carlyle tells PEOPLE about crafting The Music Man, and why Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster are "the perfect pair"
Dave Quinn
By Dave Quinn
April 06, 2022 09:54 PM



Hugh Jackman is indeed "the greatest showman" — just ask the man who has been teaching him his moves for 25 years.

"There is no one out there like Hugh," Tony-winning choreographer and acclaimed director Warren Carlyle tells PEOPLE of the actor, who is currently treading the boards on Broadway in the revival of Meredith Willson's The Music Man. "He is absolutely the greatest, and one of the hardest-working people in the business."

Carlyle certainly knows a thing or two about stars. He's worked with some of the best throughout his long career, including Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Cheyenne Jackson, Chita Rivera, Dulé Hill, Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara, to name a few. He got his big break working with Susan Stroman as an associate choreographer on the original production of The Producers with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and his success has since made Carlyle one of the industry's most sought-after talents.

"Lucky me, right?" he says. "I get the amazing, amazing joy to work with these incredible people and help tells these amazing stories. It's a pretty lucky, full life."




The British-born talent first met Jackman while working on the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma! in London's West End, which premiered in 1998, and struck up a friendship that would last for decades to come. "We have now been friends for exactly half of my life," Carlyle, 50, jokes. "How did that happen?"

Over the years, the two have collaborated many times. Carlyle directed and choreographed Jackman's 2011 one-man show Back on Broadway and his 2019 world tour, The Man. The Music. The Show. He also choreographed Jackman on the big screen, for 2008's Deception.

The Music Man is their first Broadway revival together, earning them both glowing reviews. It's been one of the hottest tickets since it opened in February.

Below, Carlyle tells PEOPLE about working with Jackman and Foster on The Music Man, and how the pandemic actually helped the production find its richness.





PEOPLE: Congratulations on The Music Man! It's a hit!
CARLYLE: Thank you! It means so much to us all that audiences have been enjoying it so much.

Your relationship with Hugh goes way back. What is it like working with him?
The thing I've learned about Hugh is he's a great collaborator. He's really good at hitting the ball back and forth, and always comes back with a better idea or a different idea. He challenges you in the best possible way.


One thing that's very clear when you see him on stage: he has that natural charisma. It's textbook definition "star quality." Did you see that from the minute you met him, all those years ago?

Absolutely. Hugh is a star and always has been. But what's interesting to me is that he's not an accidental star. There are some people who kind of accidentally become famous, but that man — if you saw him? If you saw his work ethic? He makes all of us feel lazy. He works so hard. He really cares about it. Do you know he still has a voice class every single week? He still takes acting lessons. He's still working on himself. He's still training every day, and he's doing eight shows a week at the Winter Garden. It's incredible.



He's also known for pulling pranks on set. Were you ever subject to one of his tricks?
A conspirator, actually! So in London, generally, the last matinee performance of a show's run, some tricks get played. And when we were doing Oklahoma!, he came to me and said, "I would love to learn your featured dance in the middle of 'The Farmer and The Cowman.' " Now, this was a tricky dance. It had a big jump in second and barrel turns and a double pirouette into a leg extended in front — I mean, dancers will know what that means but trust me, it's not for the faint of heart. But we worked on it for a couple of weeks, and on that final matinee, as I was standing center stage, ready for my solo, Hugh tapped me on the shoulder and moved forward as I stepped aside — to dance the entire sequence. The entire company was on the floor, they could not believe what he was doing.


Was that your first time choreographing him?
Yes, working on that gag for the matinee, that's where we really realized we had this bond. There was this feeling of, "Oh, I understand you, you understand me. I have an easy time creating with you. You're always going to say yes, I'm always going to say yes." We were very like-minded in our approach about it.


Is there anything he won't do?

I've found he's really game for anything, and he really can do it all. And I mean that, he actually really can. He has natural dexterity. That speaks to his success playing Wolverine, too; he's just a wonderful physical being. And if he does struggle with something, he'll work at it until he can do it. Our finale? Hugh worked on that for two years through the pandemic; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday mornings, every week, he worked on it. He did not stay home and eat bonbons. He was sweating away in a studio, figuring out that finale and making sure he was really ready for it.


That must be nice to have as a choreographer, someone who is willing to try!

Oh, very much so. I never have to convince him to try something. I never have to ask him twice ever. "Would you mind jumping off this?" "Yes." "Could you climb up this?" "Yes." "Can you flip over?" "Yes." I mean, just look at him in that show. He dances his way through the whole thing. It's magnificent.



You're also working with a Broadway legend in Sutton Foster. What's she like?
She's unbelievably special. The kids call it like a unicorn or something right? Where there's just these magical people? That's Sutton. She thinks that she's normal but she's not normal. She can do things no normal person can do. She's magnificent. I mean, you saw that audience?


They were eating out of the palm of her hand.

Sutton's like a modern day Mary Tyler Moore; that beautiful, easy humor. I find her funny at rest, simply from the way she carries herself. Her and Hugh together, they have impeccable chemistry. They walk on stage and everyone in the audience is like, "Oh, this is going to be great. This is going to be fun to watch these two navigate each other." When you're in the hands of Hugh and Sutton, you've got two masters who are just so in control of their art, and in control of those characters, that they can really do anything. They're the perfect pair.

And Sutton's also an accomplished dancer, which I imagine is a joy when choreographing?

Exactly. She's so talented, but also, she's good and honest in her creation process. If she's scared about something, she'll say, "I'm scared about this." We had a section for a while in "Shipoopi" that she called "the snake pit." She used to laugh and say, "All right, here it comes, 'the snake pit!' " But that never stopped her from tackling it. She's fearless.

Hugh Jackman

CREDIT: BRUCE GLIKAS/FILMMAGIC

This is material that's been beloved by audiences for decades on Broadway. When you're approaching choreographing a piece like this, do you lean into what people know?

It's funny, I go away from it, actually. With Music Man, I looked at it like it was a brand new musical. I opened that first page of the script, and I was like, "What should we do for the overture? How are we going to get in the train? Are we going to do with a drum, are we not going to do it with a drum?" It was really fun just to start fresh.


But surely, with some numbers, there are things you have to put in that people expect? You can't do "Seventy-Six Trombones" without the movement of playing a trombone?

Well that movement, it's natural to the material, it really is. For "Seventy-Six Trombones," I made a choice to make it into a nine-minute ballet. And that whole sequence, for me, is about faith. It's built on faith that if Harold Hill does his job, every single person in that high school auditorium believes they're playing instruments. And every single person in the audience at the Winter Garden, by the time we get to the button, believes they're seeing instruments. You believe that you see those little girls with piccolos. You believe you see the little guys with the clarinets. Whether or not I do the trombone movement, that shape is there.


Well "Seventy-Six Trombones" is a standout, no doubt, as is "Shipoopi," the big Act II opener.

It's a classic curtain-raiser, right? But I didn't want it to be dismissed, as those numbers often are. I wanted to make it a real storytelling moment and play off the Act I closer — where Harold gives Winthrop that cornet, and Marian begins to see Harold in this different light — to say, "What if Marian and Harold became an item? What if this became a family?" So I tried to use "Shipoopi" to inch those three closer.


Was it difficult to do that and still maintain the energy needed in a kickoff like that?

No, because it's in the music, and I honored that by making the moves ragtime correct. That's really what Harold is bringing to River City. We start very correct with "Iowa Stubborn," and even "Trouble" is kind of straight time. But over the course of his time there, the music of the town changes to a more syncopated, looser ragtime. By the time you get to "Shipoopi," the whole town is kind of jumping and hopping around.


And then "Marian the Librarian" — a number I overlooked in previous productions but was captivated by due to the intricacies of your choreography.

That's all [set designer] Santo Loquasto. Three years before we started, he was sending me sketches of the layout of the library, and measurements for tables and benches. "Do you think this is a good layout? How big should the central desk be?" So much planning went into it. We needed it to be Marian's world, not Harold's world, and everything we did reflected that, even down to the colors. Red is Harold's color, Marian's is blue, which is why there's more blue in that sequence than in any other. That is an artist, above and beyond, and that's why that scene is so beautiful. It's a delicious marriage between Santo, myself, [arranger] David Chase's dance music — which is exquisite — and all those 850 books that get tossed!


How long does something like that take you to work out?

Due to the pandemic, I really did nothing other than think about Music Man for three years. And the beauty of that was that it added so much richness and texture into each scene. Think of it like painting a masterpiece: you start with the first coat, and then you go away and you let it dry and you think about it. Then you look at it again, and do the second coat. "Wouldn't it be great if we had a cart where a dancer could float across the back?" Then you look at it again. "What if those benches tucked in?" And you sit with it again. "Oh, I love Harry Potter — can we make those books magically fly?" That's what happened; I spent just years and years of layering and fine-tuning. Things like that, you can't do in a two-week process.


Finally, a reason to appreciate the pandemic!
[Laughs] Perhaps the only...

The Music Man is currently playing at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre.