Professor Harold Hill

Yep, that's me. I just found out the director of the Gardner Community Theatre has chosen me to be the lead in Meridith Wilson's "The Music Man." Not only is this a great musical, but it's about a city in Iowa on the river, which is exactly what my hometown of Fort Madison is.

As we were doing our read-throughs and singing the duet with Marian, I had a feeling I might get chosen. But just to be safe, I was also trying out for the barbershop quartet, but the director pulled me from there to tell say, "I've got something else for you. Will you take whatever part I give you (I wasn't sure what that meant), I want you to be my Harold." Although I'm writing this on Friday morning, I can't post it until Saturday because not everyone has been told yet. The director said on Thursday night that although she hasn't chosen the other parts (including the female lead) Harold Hill was the one thing she was sure of. That both pumps me up and freaks me out.

This is going to take a lot of time and work but it won't take away from pastoral work because this is part of being a pastor. When we were at retreat, the speaker warned against spending all your time with the church and encouraged us to find a way to get involved in the community. We don't just pastor our congregation, we pastor those in the community, too. I'm going to get to know the other cast members very well, who knows how God might work through these relationships. And it sure seems to be a "God-thing." We just happened to find a flyer announcing try-outs laying in a shopping cart in Wal-Mart two weeks ago. I decided to go to the tryouts and just sing in the chorus, but since the atmosphere was so relaxed, I decided to audition for a minor part. Well, you can see they decided they wanted me for more than that.

If you don't know much about this musical, here are two of the more popular songs from the musical. Harold Hill sings both of them. Hill's a travelling salesman/conartist convincing the town he's here to lead a boys band. He plans on taking the money of these stubborn Iowans and leaving, but he gets sidetracked by a pretty music teacher.

76 trombones
Trouble
Till there was you
Madam Librarian