HYT celebrates community with The Music Man

Heights Youth Theatre's 2016-17 season. 

If you’re looking for an entertaining and meaningful activity for the whole family, consider attending Heights Youth Theatre’s (HYT) production of The Music Man at Monticello Middle School in Cleveland Heights. The show opens on Saturday, Oct. 22, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 30.

Cast and crew, and everyone involved in the production, are excited to bring this classic American musical to a local stage. Talented kids from Cleveland Heights, University Heights and Shaker Heights, and several other Cleveland suburbs, are ready to transform the theater into the small Midwestern town of River City, Iowa. They will take the audience back to a simpler time when community and family were the paramount values by which society lived.

Kelly Monaghan directs the show, with music direction by Stacy Bolton. Sixty-eight student actors in grades one through 12 will sing and dance. The lead cast members are Brian Tuohey as Harold Hill and Courtney Foerg as Marian.

The stage manager, who coordinates all the moving parts to bring this production to life, is Claudia Lief Zalevsky, a resident of Cleveland Heights. She is ably assisted Jack Ina, assistant stage manager.

Attending an HYT performance supports the theatrical arts in the Heights. Founded in 1954, HYT produces three or four complete musicals each year, offering kids and families an unmatched opportunity to gain valuable experience in the theater.

HYT’s goal is to make theater affordable and accessible to people of all incomes and backgrounds, in a nurturing environment that encourages social and emotional growth.

Many first-time HYT theatergoers are surprised by the high caliber of the work. Comments such as these have been heard: “The kids put on a great show” and “It’s like Broadway in the Heights!”

Performances of The Music Man will be held at Monticello Middle School auditorium, 3665 Monticello Blvd., on Saturday, Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, and Sunday, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, at 2 p.m.; and on Thursday, Oct. 27, and Friday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission; $9 for seniors and children under 6. The box office opens 45 minutes before each show. For more information, visit www.heightsyouththeatre.org.  For group seating information, call 216-410-7500.