Bo: ... But Do THEY Get It??

One final thought about "The Music Man"! In addition to reminding you that there are still two more shows left; Saturday night, February 1st @ 7:30 p.m., and Sunday afternoon, February 2nd @ 2:00 p.m. After this post, I'll move on to other

topics, I promise! You see, both our Torah portion and our synagogue musical remind us about something quite essential. For whom is all this taking place? An entire story is unfolding - whether about slaves in Egypt or townsfolk in River City, IA - and the plot is developing and developing, progressing towards... something! Where is this all going, what is the ultimate meaning and message, and who, exactly, is supposed to learn it?? Perhaps not surprisingly, in both cases (and something for us to consider in our own lives...), the answer is: The Children.

Our parashah lays out the final three plagues inflicted on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, culminating in Pharaoh's long-awaited surrender, and the miraculous freeing of the Israelite slaves.
Towards the end of this week's text, we see a curious little repetition, hidden among the dramatic, culminating events. God commands Moses to instruct the people, and everyone prepares for the terrifying final plague; the death of the firstborn. And then, Exodus, chapter 12:26-27 adds, "And when your children ask you, 'what do you mean by this rite?', you shall say: It is a Passover sacrifice to Adonai..." In other words, you are performing a ritual that must be codified into practice, and it isn't going to mean much if you don't explain it to the next generation (and the next one, and the next one, etc., etc...), so they can keep the traditions alive! As if this point wasn't clear enough, a chapter later, in 13:8 AND in 13:14, the Torah TWICE reiterates that the kids are gonna wanna know, and you better be ready to explain all this stuff to them!! (I'm paraphrasing, of course.)

What, then, does all this have to do with Harold Hill and his "River City Kids' Band"? As I watched rehearsal after rehearsal, and more recently performance after performance, I thought a lot about this question. And, related to my post from last week, I continue to try and reconcile the peculiar climax of the show, where Professor Hill does not, in fact, get his just desserts. It occurred to me, that
ultimately the story isn't about Harold at all. The beauty of the final scene - slightly hidden behind humor and a dramatic resolution - is that the quality of the music produced by this band was never actually the point at all. When the children march on stage, ready to defend their beloved band leader, and they squawk and squeak out some horrendous notes, we finally realize what the adults were really looking for. They wanted their kids to care, and they wanted them to work towards something. And most important of all, parents are, and should be, proud of their children no matter what, and should love them unconditionally.

We get blinded (ninth-plague-pun-intended...) by the high drama of regents clashing with prophets and Divinities, or the chase scene of townsfolk frantically searching for this charlatan who has stolen their money.

Our attention is pulled away, but in both cases, we are ultimately brought back to the central point: The heart of the matter is, what will you pass on to your children? How will you show them what you *really* care about, and why it should matter to them. And at the same time, do you also see what matters to them, and can you truly see them for who they are and love them no matter what? I'll conclude by sharing that one of my absolute favorite moments in the show, is that my character, Mayor Shinn, delivers the very last line of the play. Having been a skeptic and a critic throughout the performance, and seemingly having become obsessed with locating Harold Hill's credentials, his final words reveal what has REALLY concerned him all along. "Mrs. Paroo! That's Winthrop!!" he exclaims... because all he ever really wanted, was to see a 10-year old playing a coronet, and loving it.

And... SCENE!


Images in this blog post are once again from the Ohev Players' production of The Music Man:
1. Children of River City, waving to the Wells Fargo wagon
2. Zaneeta and Gracie Shinn, the mayor's fabulous daughters!! :-)
3. The most adorable band members imaginable
4. Mayor Shinn, watching Winthrop play away on that coronet...