The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957!  Although the remainder of this run is a virtual sellout, keep this number handy for the remainder of our season!

Music Man Featured on
Channel 8's Good Day, Iowa

On Monday morning, September 19, ACT I's production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man got an unexpected plug when we were featured in the new local Fox news program, Good Day, Iowa.  Reporter Linsey Gramm from the Cedar Rapids Fox affiliate and her crew spent nearly two hours in Vinton at our final dress rehearsal last Wednesday night, filming excerpts of the production, interviewing company members, and getting a look at our theatre.  The segment, which ran at about 8:25 Monday morning on channel 8, featured a collage of scenes from the show; director Steve Arnold, cast member Ben Hyland, and ACT I president and choreographer Joan Cooling were also interviewed.  Linsey told us she learned about the upcoming show when she stumbled onto our website.  Several VCRs in Vinton were running that morning, so if you missed the TV segment you can probably find someone who has a copy!

Our production also got a nice plug last week on KCRG TV 9 in the weekly Thursday morning arts segment featuring Cedar Rapids Gazette Arts and Entertainment editor Rob Merritt at around 6:15 AM.  Rob promoted the show to reporter Scott Sandborn.  Rob is the son of cast member Linda Merritt, who plays Mrs. Paroo. 

Meredith Willson:
Iowa's Musical Ambassador to the World

Meredith Willson  (1902 - 1984)

Former President Herbert Hoover.  Former First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower.  Actor John Wayne.  Actress Donna Reed.  Opera star Simon Estes.  Johnny Carson.  Former Vice President Henry Wallace.  Broadway star Timothy Shew.  Current film stars Elijah Wood and Ashton Kuchter.  Nobel Peace Prize winning scientist Dr. Norman Borlaug.  Iowa is a small state with a population barely one third that of New York City, but we have produced many notable personalities who have risen to the top in a variety of fields.  But two individuals who left the state to find fame and fortune beyond the Mississippi or the Missouri and found the way to the top found fame by making a lifelong career of promoting their home state through their art.  Artist Grant Wood was the creator of the most recognized painting in the history of American art, American Gothic, depicting an Iowa farmer and his daughter in front of a tiny farmhouse with a large gothic window.  Grant Wood devoted his entire career to portraying all things Iowa on canvass.  And Meredith Willson - composer, songwriter, band leader, radio personality known for corny, homespun humor - used whatever stage available, whether in Seattle, San Francisco, Hollywood, or New York - to promote his home state and his home town of Mason City, Iowa.  And, like Grand Wood's American Gothic, Meredith Willson created a work of art that not only brought honor and fame to his home state, but he did it with a work that had over the top popularity - one of the best known and best loved works in the musical theatre genre, The Music Man.  American Gothic and The Music Man are uniquely Iowa creations by artists who achieved fame during the first half of the twentieth century and who never forgot their roots but celebrated their own origins in their own artistic endeavors.  And when Meredith Willson gave his "valentine to Iowa" to the world, he did it with his own tribute to the artist from Anamosa when he added an American Gothic tableau to one of the opening numbers of his show.  It's a wonderful little wink at his fellow Iowan who did so much to promote their state through his regional style.  These two works of art are joined by their origins, their popularity, and by the love for their home state that their creators shared.  It's a beautiful irony that patrons of ACT I's production of The Music Man can travel just 40 minutes to Cedar Rapids to see the great Grant Wood opus at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art where it is visiting for two months in honor of the 75th anniversary of its creation.  In many respects, both Grant Wood and Meredith Willson could be called Iowa's ambassadors to the world, for their views of their home state have been seen throughout the world.

Iowa artist Grant Wood's American Gothic, painted seventy-five years ago in Cedar Rapids, depicts a stern pitchfork wielding Iowa farmer and his daughter outside a tiny farmhouse with an over sized gothic window.  This unique Iowa themed work, like Meredith Willson's The Music Man, enjoys great popularity and recognition.  The painting is currently on loan for two months from the Art Institute of Chicago and can be seen at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  Models for the couple in the picture were Grant Wood's sister Nan and his dentist.

Meredith Willson honored his home state in a big way, but doing things big was nothing new for him.  He came into the world in a big way.  His birth weight of 14 pounds and six ounces made him the largest baby on record born in Iowa when he was born on May 18, 1902 in his parents bedroom in their home of Pennsylvania Avenue in Mason City, Iowa.  And before his career was over he made the Guinness Book of World Records for leading the largest band ever assembled - over 2700 players.  But these are just interesting trivia facts about a man whose long career as a musician of great style and heart culminated with a work of art that has lasted as a centerpiece in our popular culture for 48 years and shows no signs of ever losing its glow.

The Willson home was dominated by Meredith's mother Rosalie, who instilled in her children both her religious faith and her drive for their own personal success in their chosen field.  The three Willson children were all successful as adults.  Dixie, the eldest and twelve years older than Meredith, led a very colorful life in a career that took many turns, from being a show girl with the Ziegfeld Follies to being a Hollywood screenwriter.  Cedric, older by two years than Meredith, was a businessman and engineer in the aggregate concrete field.  When Dixie, Cedric, and Meredith were children, their home was a hub of activity.  Mrs. Willson, who was very active in civic affairs, a leader in her church (thirty-three years as Sunday School Superintendent at the Congregational Church in Mason City) and who also took time to direct neighborhood children in theatrical productions staged at the Willson home, could easily be described in terms Vinton readers will understand as a 1912 version of Marcy Horst.  Music and theatre played major roles in the lives of the three children, and Meredith at an early age became the family's musical standout.  He played many instruments, but specialized in piano and flute, and piccolo.

Meredith left home at age 18 as soon as he graduated from Mason City High School, going to New York to seek his fortune.  It didn't take long.  He studied music at the Damrosch Institute, later renamed the Julliard School of Music, and was quickly hired by John Phillip Sousa - famous for his many marches, less famous for numerous operettas he composed, but perhaps most famous as the former director of the United States Marine Band.  Sousa at that time led a touring band and he made the teenager from Iowa his first chair flute and piccolo player.  After three years with Sousa, Meredith was hired by the New York Philharmonic Society, now the New York Philharmonic orchestra, where he played flute under another legendary conductor, Arturo Toscanini.

Also in 1920, six months after leaving Mason City, he returned to elope with his childhood sweetheart, Peggy Wilson.  In the intervening six months, however, the Willson home had been rocked by a local scandal.  Meredith's father demanded a divorce from Mrs. Willson.  The Willsons' marriage ended and shortly after, John Willson married a woman four years younger than Meredith's sister.  This would not be the last heartbreaking incident in the family, but Meredith never commented on such incidents publicly.

In 1929, Meredith Willson launched a career in radio as a musician and band leader, moving to Seattle and later to San Francisco.  During this time he became a hit song writer with such hits as "You and I," which was the number one song in America in 1941.  While living in San Francisco, he composed two symphonies, and later he composed the music for two well known films - The Great Dictator in 1940 (Charlie Chaplain's first talking film, which was a scathing satirical bash of Adolph Hitler) and the screen adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis.

In 1942 Meredith joined the army and for the remainder of World War II was involved in supervising the production of overseas radio broadcasts as well as composing songs for the war effort.  Following the war he was hired by George Burns and Gracie Allen to be the band leader for their radio program.  It was typical of Willson, who was famous for his corny humor, to plug "My hometown of Mason City, Iowa" in his weekly radio broadcasts, and broadcasts typically ended with the hymn "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" which he wrote as a tribute to his mother, who had a habit of using this phrase as a way of saying good-bye.

In 1947, Meredith's marriage to Peggy, which had been considered by insiders to be one of the happiest in Hollywood, ended after 25 years with little explanation.  Peggy Willson cited her husband's busy schedule as a reason for wanting out of the marriage.  In 1948 he married Russian opera singer Ralina Zarova, who was known as Rini.  During this time he also wrote his first book, "And There I Stood with My Piccolo," and made his television debut in 1950 on the variety program "The Big Show," hosted by Tallulah Bankhead.  In 1951 he composed the ever popular "Iowa Fight Song."  During this time he also began work on a musical play about his home state entitled The Silver Triangle.  Following a failed audition to be the quiz master of a TV game show, he began working full time on the play and did so for several years.

By 1956, The Silver Triangle had become The Music Man.  The featured characters were a con man attempting to sell a boys band to the small community of River City, Iowa; the town librarian (modeled after his mother) and a little boy in a wheelchair.  At midnight on December 19, 1956, Meredith and Rini Willson performed the show in a New York apartment for Kermit Bloomgarden, a Broadway producer who agreed to take on the project.  Director Morton DaCosta was later hired to stage the play.  DaCosta, who staged both the original play and the 1962 film version, insisted that the little boy be taken out of the wheelchair and so the lisping Winthrop became a part of the story.  A long list of actors, including Danny Kae, Andy Griffith, Lloyd Bridges, Van Heflin, Lawrence Olivier, Alec Guinnes, James Whitmore, Ray Bolger, Art Carney, Jason Robards, Dan Dailey, Gene Kelly, Phil Harris, Bert Parks, Milton Berle, and Jackie Gleason were considered before the role of Harold Hill was given to Robert Preston.

The original Broadway production of The Music Man ran for 1,375 performances, and it won eight Tony awards.  Shortly before the release of the film, Meredith Willson teamed up with the film's star, Robert Preston, to create "Chicken Fat," with music composed by Willson and performed by Preston, an exercise record that was used in the 60s in gym classes across the country.

Following The Music Man, Meredith Willson wrote three more musicals.  The Unsinkable Molly Brown premiered in 1960.  Here's Love, a musical adaptation of the film Miracle on 34th Street, was first performed in 1963.  This show includes another very popular Meredith Willson song, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," which he had written much earlier but incorporated into his new show.  His final musical, 1491, about Christopher Columbus, failed in early trial runs in 1969 and was never performed on Broadway.

The film version of The Music Man was premiered in 1962, with its first showing in Mason City.  In 1964, when the Beatles made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, one of the five songs they performed was "Till There Was You" from The Music Man.  Rini Willson died of cancer in 1966.  Meredith Willson married for the third time to Rosemary Sullivan in 1968.  Meredith Willson had no children; his brother Cedric had two daughters as well as a son who was killed in the Vietnam War.  Rosemary Willson is still alive today.

In 1982, Meredith Willson was elected to Songwriters Hall of Fame by the National Academy of Popular Music.  He died on June 8, 1984.  He is buried in Mason City.

In 1988 Meredith Willson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented posthumously by his friend President Ronald Reagan.  Also in 1988 he was given the Iowa Award for lifetime achievement (given once every five years), presented posthumously by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.  In 1999 he was the subject of a commemorative postage stamp by the U. S. Postal Service.

In 2002 for the centennial of his birth, the ten million dollar complex Music Man Square was opened in Mason City next door to his birthplace.

ACT I is proud to be able to bring to our local audience this unique work of art, dedicated to small town Iowa.  As a small town Iowa community theatre, it is our humble honor to bring to life this charming, brilliant, and memorable contribution to the popular culture made by one of our own.

The book Meredith Willson:  The Unsinkable Music Man by John C. Skipper was used as a source for much of the information used in this article.

As we enjoy the final week of our hit production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, we help Grease Paint Readers get acquainted with our leading lady!  Sheila Monson plays Marian the Librarian, her first major role with ACT I, and serves as one of the two music directors for the current show.  But Sheila is no stranger to our audiences, especially those who attend our children's theatre productions.  So as we bring our current production to a close, we honor Sheila Monson as our Member of the Month for September!

Sheila has been quite busy with ACT I during the last two years, as well as being very busy with her family (husband Kirk and three daughters) and her teaching position as 3/4ths vocal and general music teacher in the Center Point - Urbana School District Middle School, where she teaches a unit each year on The Music Man.  The Monsons live in Urbana seven miles away but are quite busy in Vinton as well.  In addition to her ACT I activities, Sheila directs the choirs at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Vinton.

Sheila Monson is one of a growning number of ACT I volunteers who are currently very active but who have not been with us very long.  Like so many adult members of ACT I, Sheila was preceded into the organization by her children.  Her oldest daughter Rachel, now eleven, who first appeared as a villager with ACT I in our summer, 2002 children's theatre production of Ogre Here, Ogre There, in the Remarkable Puss-in-Boots segment; Rachel's younger sisters Kaia and Sydney appeared as baby beans in the same production in the Once Upon a Vine segment.

In February, 2003, Sheila made her own debut with ACT I, in our production of The Reluctant Dragon, in which she played the role of Aggie.  Later that year, for our summer 2003 children's theatre production, American Hysterical, the girls were back, this time with Mom.  The girls were in the cast and Sheila was a rehearsal assistant.  Then last summer, Sheila served as music director for our summer production of The Adventures of Beatrix Potter with Rachel, Kaia, and Sydney in the cast, and immediately following that, Sheila played the role of Sister Margaretta in last season's The Sound of Music and Rachel was one of the folk dancers.

As rehearsals for The Music Man got underway, the Monsons were also in rehearsal for The Princess Plays.  Sheila was now in the director's role, sharing the responsibility with Shirale Hanson for the staging of the Twice Upon a Time Segment of that play.  As director for the delightful one act, Sheila got to coach her three daughters; Rachel and Kaia played two of the witches in the story and Sydney was seen as one of the seven dwarves.  Rachel and Sheila juggled two plays at once as Sheila handled the dual roles of co-music director and leading lady while Rachel took on the role of Gracie Shinn.

"God has been very good to me!" Sheila says.  She grew up in Northwest Iowa, graduating from Spirit Lake High School "where I spent a lot of time on stage or hanging out at the beach."  She began dating Kirk in her senior year.  She attended Luther College in Decorah with a vocal music education degree and married Kirk right after college.  She taught K-12 vocal and general music at New Hartford for three years, and then taught 5-12 vocal music at Center Point - Urbana for five years.  She asked for the part time Middle School position after Kaia was on the way, and she tries to give the girls as many musical and theatrical opportunities as she can, throwing in some sports as well when possible.  Kirk owns his own video production company in Cedar Rapids, which she says has been exciting to watch grow.

Prior to motherhood Sheila had also performed with the Cedar Rapids follies, but dropped out of performing in 1992.  "When Marcy called about The Reluctant Dragon I came out of mothballs and have had an absolute blast with ACT I and STAGE! experiences!   I love performing, but my real passion is working with kids and seeing how far they can go.  Its' been loads of fun being on stage with my daughter and watching all of them blossom from their stage experiences."

I

Sheila dances the Shipoopi with Tony Bopp, ACT I's Harold Hill

ACT I is delighted to have the Monsons as part of our family, and we appreciate Sheila's hard work as music director and performer.  We hope she's with us for many performances and directing contributions!  And congratulations on a great performance as Marian!

Iowa isn't thought of a major player in the entertainment industry, but we have made our share of contributions over the years, Meredith Willson's The Music Man being one of the shining examples.  How many of these Iowa theatrical accomplishments, events, and personalities can you identify?

1.  A major revival of The Music Man many years ago featured actor Dick van Dyke as Professor Harold Hill.  Dick Van Dyke was also featured in a major motion picture that was filmed in the town of Winterset, Iowa in 1971 about an entire town that tried to quit smoking.  Name the film.
Cold Turkey

2.  Another much more recent film starring Meryl Streep was also made in Winterset and the surrounding area.  Name it.|
The Bridges of Madison County

3.  Sticking with Winterset for one more question, name the world famous actor who was born in that town.
John Wayne  (Born Marion Morrison)

4.  Name the actress from Dennison who was featured in her own television show and who also had a year in the role of Miss Ellie on the TV show "Dallas."  Donna Reed

5.  Name the current Hollywood superstar with Vinton connections.  (0kay, we had to throw in ONE easy one!)  Elijah Wood

6.  Name the world famous artist who once donated his talents to painting scenery for the Cedar Rapids Community Theatre (now Theatre Cedar Rapids.)  (Hint:  No relation to #5!)  Grant Wood

7.  The Music Man is not the only Broadway musical to feature an Iowa setting.  Name the popular musical which takes place in a garment factory in a relatively generic setting identified as Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  The Pajama Game

8.  Though not with an Iowa setting nor by an Iowa author, this play, one of the masterpieces of 20th century American drama, has the distinction of having been written in Iowa City while its author was a student at the University of Iowa writers' workshop.  (HINT:  ACT I has produced another play by the same author.)  The Glass Managerie (by Tennessee Williams)

9.  A century ago, this performing act from Cedar Rapids was the toast of Broadway, and it was one of the oddest acts to ever draw national attention.  Name this unlikely quintet that remains one of the most entertaining diversions of eastern Iowa history!  The Cherry Sisters

Congratulations to Mike Modrow, who answered all nine questions correctly, and to Darran Sellers and Ruth Arnold who each answered seven out of nine correctly!