Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...When so many musicals on Broadway struggle to justify their theatrical existence, Wilson's show is a veritable feast of theatricality. Actually, there are plenty of risks in “The Music Man” (rhythmic, thematic, poetic) and, formatively speaking, Griffin's production (and Matt Raftery's lively choreography) does right by all of the famous numbers, including an especially entertaining library sequence molded by Raftery. There's not much boldness in the design, but Griffin, who doesn't fall victim to the common temptation to turn this show into a marching extravaganza, has an idea for that famous final moment that strikes me as simple but shrewd. And he keeps Iowa honest, even as he sneaks in a few crucial, jangling notes of self-awareness."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...But every member of the large ensemble here is of A-list quality. In fact, it appears we are now in the midst of a grand competition between the Marriott Theatre and Drury Lane Oakbrook, with the audience winning in every case. Clearly there is no shortage of talent to make this city the real Broadway — one that never has to cast “American Idol” castoffs."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Griffin finds emotional depth in every twist and turn of the story, about a con man who gets entangled in the life and local politics of a tiny Iowa town. The result is that comic scenes are funnier, serious passages more powerful, and musical numbers are both more entertaining and more securely tied to the narrative."
Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...Gary Griffin’s direction of the story penned by Willson and Franklin Lacey is marked by memorable moments of sly humor and rich characterizations. The book is crackerjack full of marvelous phraseology (“I couldn’t make myself any plainer if I were a Quaker on his day off.” “He’s slipperier than a Mississippi sturgeon.” “Balzac!”), and Griffin makes the most of it, shaping an ensemble with pitch-perfect comic timing. Griffin benefits from a rock-solid supporting ensemble, including John Reeger as an unctuous, malaprop prone mayor and Iris Lieberman his melodramatic battleship of a wife."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...You won't see a Music Man of this high caliber for some time, so my advice is to drop your big-city pretensions and cozy up to Meredith Willson's sunny optimism of small-town life at the Marriott right away."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The Marriott Theatre is at the top of its game in its “Music Man” revival. It’s a gorgeous show to look at, thanks to Nancy Missimi’s colorful costume designs, including a wardrobe of gloriously opulent ladies’ hats from the early 1900’s. The ensemble consists of a full three dozen performers, many of them on the small-ish Marriott in-the-round stage at the same time. But director Gary Griffin and choreographer Matt Raftery still have concocted several sprightly dances that exuberantly match the performers to the performing space."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Santa just delivered an early holiday gift for entire families to enjoy. The Marriott is mounting "The Music Man" the Tony Award-winning classic about Harold Hill, the traveling salesman who finally gets his foot caught in the door and Marian, the small town librarian who ultimately falls in love with him.. Chicago’s Gary Griffin (director of Broadway’s “The Color Purple”) has given this 53-year-old musical a fresh, energetic treatment that sparkles with warmth and wisdom. And, thanks to Griffin’s staging, never has this story felt as personal and intimate."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This ‘feel-good’ musical needs to be remounted every few years so that the younger folks can experience the pleasure and craft of the Golden Age of Musicals. Don’t let the sweetness and charm of The Music Man fool you – Meredith Willson, Gary Griffin and Matt Raftery sure ‘knows the territory’ as much as Bernie Yvon’s Harold Hill. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a musical as much as THIS production."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Griffin has several of Chicago's finest musical performers at his beck and call, including the lovely Mary Ernster, herself a former Marian, and the formidable Iris Lieberman, who both make more of their supporting roles than you are likely to see elsewhere. Ernster has the ideal mixture of warmth and Irish spunk for Mrs. Paroo, charmingly mettlesome but always with her daughter's best interest at heart. Lieberman makes the Mayor's wife Eulalie into River City's answer to Agnes DeMille, delivering a thunderous solo in "The Wells Fargo Wagon" and an inspired invocation to her ladies to "always keep your face to the audience". The reaction to this bit in-the-round was priceless."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...From the opening train ride number “Rock Island” ( you know, the one with “But you got to know the territory”) with no train, no walls, just suitcases with men sitting upon them, bouncing in perfect symmetry, we feel the movement of the train and we even feel that we have arrived in River City, circa 1912 and thanks to Griffin and Rafferty along with a brilliant cast made up of some of Chicago’s finest actors and some of those rising talents, as well, we never feel it slip away. The story is simple. A con-man salesman, Harold Hill ( played to perfection by Bernie Yvon, who despite having some vocal problems was aces) comes to a small town to sell them on a boy’s band with instruments and uniforms knowing that once they get the goods, he will be gone with their money and they will be left with a bunch of instruments, uniforms and broken dreams. But along the way, he finds his heart and in the end, as it did in most of the classical musicals, everyone lives happily ever after."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...For reasons we can only guess at, Marriott Theatre has picked it for their holiday offering. But if ever a show spelled out summer, it’s Meredith Willson‘s 1957 masterpiece The Music Man. Throughout the rollicking story the title character exudes sunny optimism, a flimflam that "Professor" Harold Hill wants to believe as much as the suckers who take it in. His buoyant drive fits the season like a picnic. You’ll forget about the winter completely over the next 150 minutes."
