Homer High Students Join X101 to Promote Production of “The Music Man”

John Harrison: [00:00:00] Hello again, everyone. Welcome back to X101 Always Classic. It’s John Harrison in the Cayuga Health as part of Centralis Health System Sponsored Studios, and joining me in the studio today have a couple of students down from Homer High School, Oliver and Lydia, they are in their production of the Music Man from Meredith Wilson.

Uh, Oliver. Lydia, thanks so much for joining.

Lydia: Thank you.

Oliver: Thanks for having us on.

John Harrison: Yeah, of course. Always happy to have you, uh, in the studio and, uh, getting to chat about some of the great stuff that, uh, you guys are, are putting together. So, uh. Without further ado, why don’t you guys, uh, introduce yourselves, the characters you’re gonna be playing, and, uh, yeah, give us a little, little background.

Oliver: All right, so I’m playing the character Harold Hill, who is the music man.

John Harrison: Mm-hmm.

Oliver: Um, basically he’s a salesman who travels from town to town, selling instruments to all the kids, and he promises to make a boys band, however, he is not truthful as he doesn’t know how to read music or teach music or anything really about music.

So [00:01:00] after the kids all get their instruments and he sells ’em all the stuff he leaves. So in this musical, he goes to the town of River City, Iowa, and we see what he does there.

John Harrison: Right, yeah, um, I, of course, you know, I remember the, the musical growing up. It was something that, um, I, I was like in our music classes that, you know, it was kind of a yearly thing we would, we would watch.

Um, so I’m expecting all the, all the classics. Gary Indiana, you know, Wells Fargo Wagon. I don’t know. I I, it’s really nerdy of me that I can name songs from that. Um, but any particular song you’re, you’re looking forward to?

Oliver: Um, I think my favorite one to sing is probably Sadder but Wiser Girl. Cause it’s really jazzy.

John Harrison: Oh, nice.

Oliver: And I like it. But I think my favorite song in the whole show is It’s You.

John Harrison: Okay.

Oliver: I just really like how it sounds and it’s also like one of the only, uh, barbershop quartet songs that I don’t start. So I just get to listen to them.

John Harrison: Yeah, that’s great. And, uh, Lydia, what about you ? Uh, who are you gonna be portraying in, in the production?

Lydia: Um, so I’m playing [00:02:00] the role of Marian Peru. She is the town’s piano teacher and librarian. Um, she’s not very well liked by the town because she’s had kind of a rough past and she’s had to do, um, certain things to like survive in the town and some people just, Have made rumors about her, but she’s not very well liked.

And um, basically when she sees Harold Hill, um, Oliver’s character come into town, she is immediately like she doesn’t believe his whole gig. She is ready to kind of spill the truth out of him, and um, so she’s like a really smart character. Um, but she’s kind of been like, a lot of people have not treated her well in the past.

And so also Harold Hill is kind of trying to. Keep her off her feet, as he says in the musical, to make sure she doesn’t like find out his whole deal and so he’s flirting with her the [00:03:00] entire time and she starts to actually like it, kind of and so she, as the musical progresses, learns a little bit more about herself and that she’s actually gonna become really grateful for all of the things that Harold does for her and the town.

And so she has like a big character development. Um, throughout the musical. Going from like harsh and cold to kind of more like warm and loving and accepting.

John Harrison: Yeah. That, that’s awesome. And I’m, I’m sure people are excited to see your, your portrayal of that and get to experience that, that character arc.

Um, folks, the, the showtimes for, for the Homer High School’s, production of the Music Man, uh, Friday. That’s tonight at 7:00 PM We’re gonna have a show tomorrow, Saturday. Uh, one o’clock and seven o’clock. Ticket prices, adults, $10 students and seniors only $8. Uh, Lydia, I wanna go back to you and ask, uh, any songs that you’re looking forward to, to getting to perform.

Lydia: Um, okay. So my favorite song that I get to sing is Will [00:04:00] I Ever Get To Tell You because it’s a quintet techinally I sing a solo part, and then I’m also joined by the barbershop quartet backing me up with lighter rose in the background, and I think it is so cool. It is my favorite. I love the way that it sounds.

It’s a little bit less like, I guess it’s a little bit less sappy and it’s a little bit more like just kind of. Fun to hear, in my opinion, for of my songs. And then I would say my favorite song, just kind of in general, like to performance stuff is Marian The Libarian because, um, Oliver over here sings it and the entire time he’s making a ruckus in the library and I get to act all mad.

But we also do some cool dancing and there’s books and there’s a fun part at the end that I really enjoy doing. Where a certain character gets hit in the face by me, and I like doing that.

Oliver: I think Marian The Libarian will be an audience favorite.

John Harrison: Yeah,

Lydia: I think [00:05:00] so too. Yeah.

John Harrison: Alright, great. Well, you know, I, I’m looking forward to it.

I know our, our listeners out there, definitely looking forward to it. Again, Friday. That’s tonight, 7:00 PM. Tomorrow at one o’clock and seven o’clock. Of course, adults, $10 students and seniors can get in for only $8. Uh, I wanna thank you both so much for, for coming into the studio and chatting with me.

Lydia: Thank you for having us.

Oliver: Thanks for having us. You’re welcome.

John Harrison: Yeah, of course. Anytime. And for everyone listening at home, it’s been John Harrison on X101.