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Exclusive Interview: Patrick Blashill of 'The Music Man' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  The classic musical, The Music Man, is marching its way to the Fox Theatre And today we're speaking with Patrick Blashill about that from this production.
• 0:07
  Thank you so much for being here today, Patrick.
• 0:09
  Hey, it's my pleasure, I love it.
• 0:11
  We are so excited.
• 0:12
  I actually grew up on the Music Man with my grandma.
• 0:15
  This is one of her favorite ones.
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  We watched it all the time.
• 0:18
  Yeah.
• 0:19
  So it's really cool to see this kind of becoming to the Fox Theatre What is that kind of like to step into a show for you?
• 0:26
  This show is um like, you you know all of the songs.
• 0:30
  Well, not all of the songs, but it's like 76 Trombones, there's Trouble, and then you start getting into it a little bit more and you're like going, oh right, the song that the
• 0:41
  Beatles covered.
• 0:42
  Oh God, it escaped my mind.
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  Nothing at all till there was you that's the one till there was you
• 0:57
  didn't realize that they covered one of the songs from the music man.
• 1:00
  That's incredible.
• 1:01
  yeah.
• 1:02
  And it's just so iconic that everybody kind of has some relation to it.
• 1:12
  So it's incredibly.
• 1:14
  um
• 1:16
  community building almost in a way because everybody will come out for it.
• 1:21
  And it's such a delightful time and the amount of care that Big League Productions put into this in hiring this great director, Matt Lenz, in hiring this amazing choreographer,
• 1:34
  Joshua Bergasse, and getting Santo Loquasto uh
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  Broadway veteran, uh the costumes from Broadway and having these amazing designers.
• 1:47
  And then you put that all together with these incredible voices and these dancers.
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  And it's just, I am so proud of this show.
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  It is really nice.
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  And anybody that comes out to see it, they're gonna have a great time.
• 2:01
  I was going to say that I was able to have the privilege of seeing this when I was on Broadway.
• 2:05
  uh Well, I guess that was a few years ago.
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  But also this is.
• 2:09
  Yes, such an incredible show.
• 2:12
  And even recently I saw some community theaters do it and it just everybody flocks for the show.
• 2:17
  There's just something so nostalgic about the Music Man that it can fill a theater and everyone's having such a great time with the story.
• 2:25
  Yeah, and it's just such a...
• 2:27
  It's an uplifting story.
• 2:29
  And I think that that is one of the things that gets people to it.
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  But it's also, it's got so much heart, you know, you really kind of feel for these characters and this kind of uh a small town and we're kind of closed, but then this guy
• 2:43
  coming in and kind of showing them how to lighten up a little bit and how to, uh and how much music and the arts are uh important, you know, and they really kind of make
• 2:55
  communities and they're uh interesting.
• 2:57
  integral to communities.
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  And so I think that's another aspect of it.
• 3:03
  And theater kids everywhere love this.
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  We've seen so many of them who've just recently performed it or done it in high school.
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  I always think it's interesting about the show too because you do, like you said, it's very uplifting, but part of the premise, you know, being like a con man's coming there to
• 3:19
  this small town, you're just like, how does this come to feel so, you know, it's such a feel good show, but it really does in the end, you just, you kind of want to get up and
• 3:27
  dance, you know, and sing with the actors because it just, it fills you with so much happiness.
• 3:33
  really, really does.
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  And we had an opportunity to go play Mason City, Iowa.
• 3:39
  I'm in Iowa City right now, as a matter of fact, we show tonight and this weekend and oh in his hometown.
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  So we went to the museum.
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  They took us all around.
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  People were just, they, they love the fact that we're showing them themselves and that we're
• 4:01
  you know, especially for someone like me, my character.
• 4:04
  um I'm the mayor of River City.
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  and I am the antagonist through most of the show.
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  You know, because I'm calling him a fraud and all this kind of stuff.
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  And he's written to be a very, very funny character.
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  But the great way that we took this direction was to make him as serious as possible so that the humor really works.
• 4:26
  You know, he's not a buffoon, but the way he says things and the way that he speaks things is very funny, but he's very serious.
• 4:37
  about it.
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  In Iowans, know, they don't think they're funny, you know, they really are.
• 4:44
  So how do you what's your kind of process for developing a character such as the Mayor Shinn
• 4:49
  Well, I don't really, I saw the movie.
• 4:52
  I've not seen a live production of it in many, many, many, many,
• 4:59
  But my whole idea is I look at the script.
• 5:03
  What is the script telling me?
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  And in so much of this working through it, ah it's an interesting thing because all of the lines that the mayor has about his wife, her glorious singing and all this kind of stuff,
• 5:19
  which is meant to be kind of funny because she's not a great singer and blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:23
  But there's a real love there.
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  you know, and that was one thing that I thought was really important to bring across is that it's not the kind of like, oh, shut up, you battle axe, you know, that sort of thing
• 5:37
  with the wife, which is the way a lot of times it's done.
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  But in this case, it's really like they're very loving couple and it adds a different layer, especially when he's going off against the town ruffian, know, Tommy Geas and.
• 5:55
  So it it that's really the way that I look at this I try to take take a fresh approach What is the script telling me?
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  What is this script telling me about this person?
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  And what is the situation telling me about this person?
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  And then I filter that through through who I am which is uh mostly a very silly person and uh Let it go from there and it's been working
• 6:20
  So do you find yourself, you know, as the mayor, you said you're playing it very serious, but are there moments that you do get to play up kind of the funniness oh of him?
• 6:28
  Yes, in a way that is.
• 6:31
  uh
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  It's more playful.
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  I think that there's a playful side to him, especially with his wife.
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  And there are moments where he's really enjoying it, but it's like whenever some sort of change is happening, the change is this salesman coming into town, ruining all the things
• 6:54
  we've gotten.
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  So he's very upset about that.
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  Or the change that his daughter's growing up and she's seeing a boy.
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  And he's not ready to deal with that.
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  So I think a lot of that seriousness comes out of that fear of change.
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  And I think that that's a really important thing too for the way that Iowa people are depicted in this too.
• 7:18
  They're afraid of change, but as it happens they realize, this is better.
• 7:24
  Yeah, because specifically in the music man, too, know, life has kind of always been the same.
• 7:28
  know, there's always day in and day out is kind of same.
• 7:31
  then, you know, Harold's walk comes in and just throws a wrench in that.
• 7:35
  that, you know, you see that come out with the mayor specifically, just being like, no, things have to have an order almost like there's a way that you do things.
• 7:45
  Exactly.
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  And so it's cool for that dynamic, too, because you really do get to have some really good scenes with Harold as well to play off of.
• 7:53
  with just like that you can't do it this way.
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  You're messing everything up.
• 7:57
  yeah.
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  And his feeling like that he's in control of all of these interactions with Harold, where Harold's like, nope.
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  You know, it's pretty funny.
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  And uh Elliot, who plays Harold, is just fun and a lovely actor.
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  And uh Marion, played by Elizabeth, uh is so...
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  She's really funny.
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  She's really funny in the role and she brings the kind of silliness to Marian too that I think is uh kind of interesting.
• 8:30
  But everybody, everybody does like a really amazing job and I...
• 8:35
  eh
• 8:37
  I've seen a couple of the videos of it because I haven't seen the show obviously.
• 8:41
  But um it's just beautiful.
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  It's beautiful the way that the costumes and the lights and the set drops work together.
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  It's like a painting.
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  It's really, really cool.
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  And does, like, that's golden age of Broadway, you know?
• 8:57
  And the fact that you can have shows that are still coming around where it's just like the, there's just something so grand about them, like, kind of what you're talking about.
• 9:05
  It sounds so grand when you think about it, like the beauty of the show in every aspect.
• 9:10
  every aspect and you know there's 30 people on stage and there's a lot and you know there's a 10 piece band that we're traveling with and the semi is full of sets and it's
• 9:24
  like this it's very grand and it's
• 9:26
  Something big is something fun to watch and it's not just the spectacle.
• 9:30
  It's not just the dance and the music but it's it's the characters bringing this story to life and we've had more than a few people, you know in tears near the end because it's
• 9:41
  very touching too and yeah
• 9:44
  talk about the numbers like there's a lot of impressive choreography I always think of that opening number with the train you know where everyone looks like they're on the train
• 9:52
  so they have there's so many pieces in the music man where there's just again the word iconic kind of comes to mind there of just even like how you're moving and how you're
• 10:00
  doing the show it feels eloquent and spectacular and just you know classic Broadway
• 10:06
  Yeah, and what's nice about that too, especially that first uh song, the Rock Island, when they're on the train.
• 10:13
  The way that
• 10:16
  the live drums with this and the pattern of them.
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  It's amazing to watch.
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  And the idea of bringing in video elements to the story as well.
• 10:28
  And there's uh a really cool part at the very beginning.
• 10:32
  I won't, I'm not gonna spoil it, but it's one of my favorite parts to watch as the curtain goes up to reveal the train.
• 10:39
  It's a very cool moment.
• 10:40
  um Yes, exactly, exactly.
• 10:46
  But it's fun, know, we're on the road.
• 10:48
  We've been on the road since January.
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  We're going through June and uh we're probably going to start up again in the fall and hit some more uh cities.
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  So it's a really grand adventure.
• 11:02
  And before we start recording, you mentioned that you have a connection to Detroit.
• 11:06
  I do, do.
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  My parents are both from Detroit.
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  Their parents were from Detroit, so they're a long line of that.
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  And their siblings all live in and around the area.
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  my mother grew up loving the theater.
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  And she talked about, as a young woman, going to the Fox Theatre And she saw a very young Liberace there,
• 11:34
  wow.
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  like this amazing uh piano prodigy and singer and that's how it was built and it was like she's like he's amazing he's gonna find a wife no problem uh
• 11:47
  Right, but she saw uh Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine in The Visit in the 1950s and these other Broadway stars and she talked about it with such adoration that I've had this vision
• 12:02
  in my head for forever of the Fox Theatre and I am beyond thrilled that I get to play there and it's...
• 12:11
  It's gonna be just so exciting.
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  And I've had family come out to see and um people from all walks of life and they just are having a great time watching it.
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  And that's so cool that you get to have that piece of your own history going back to, know, if your mom loved the Fox Theatre to be there and just to be in the, grand space of
• 12:32
  just, like that's, it is theater, you know?
• 12:35
  So do you have a favorite number or song from the show that you enjoy performing?
• 12:39
  Well, I really love doing the Wells Fargo Wagon
• 12:43
  because that's one of the ones, because the mayor doesn't sing much in this or dance.
• 12:48
  uh I'm much more of the characters driving the story.
• 12:53
  But I would say Wells Fargo is so much fun to do and just seeing people clap and sing, you know, as you're looking out at the audience, it's so much fun.
• 13:04
  And uh at the very end, and I won't go into too much, but we do a curtain call that is a very big number, including costume changes.
• 13:14
  and it is so much fun to do and again it's the thing that makes it amazing makes it fun is looking out at these people they're just wrapped and they're just smiling and clapping.
• 13:31
  It's so excited and energized and it's one of the best feelings in the world.
• 13:37
  It's easily my top five of my experiences in the theater and I've been doing professional theater for about 40 years.
• 13:47
  I was going to say you have been in so many incredible shows.
• 13:49
  Lord of the Rings, Cats Cradle, Much Ado About Nothing.
• 13:51
  There's so many on your list here that that's high praise for this show and that as a moment for you and the audience.
• 13:59
  Yeah, yeah, I, you know, I've not done many musicals.
• 14:06
  My agent set me out for this and I submitted on a Lark and it was like, oh, okay.
• 14:14
  It was good timing and it was the good everything about it.
• 14:17
  I'm very much used to doing new works in Chicago.
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  I was just nominated for an acting award there and they had the awards the other night.
• 14:28
  Our play won best new work, thank you.
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  so there's a lot of that.
• 14:36
  But the thrill of doing theater, the thrill of making a good paycheck, ah and of seeing America in this grand adventure of traveling every day and doing a show in a different
• 14:52
  theater is...
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  It's truly, it's one of a kind.
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  And I'm very fortunate that the cast and the crew, the musicians, they're all lovely people.
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  And it's uh just a great group to travel with.
• 15:10
  That's awesome.
• 15:10
  then before I let you go, because I know you have a show tonight.
• 15:13
  You got to prepare for that, you know.
• 15:15
  But what are you just hoping audiences take away from this production of The Music Man?
• 15:20
  just a renewed love for it, you know, and seeing that it's not something from the past.
• 15:28
  that it's going on right now.
• 15:31
  And that, uh you know, there's a lot of things about uh America that are really strong and everybody can kind of get behind.
• 15:45
  And I think this is one of them.
• 15:47
  You know, it's a very American musical.
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  And I think it portrays, uh you know,
• 15:55
  America in a great light and in a wonderful situation.
• 16:01
  Absolutely.
• 16:02
  Thank you so much for being here today with us, Patrick.
• 16:04
  It's been such a pleasure talking with you.
• 16:06
  Great, thank you Brian, I really enjoyed it.
• 16:08
  um Thanks for having me on.
• 16:11
  So the music man arrives at the Fax Theatre April 2nd and runs through the 4th, so get your tickets now from 313 Presents and we'll see you at the show!