The rugged actor is playing Professor Harold Hill in the North Carolina Theatre's production of the Meredith Willson musical, which will run through Nov. 12 in the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.
Wopat stars opposite the Marian of Jacquelyn Piro, who has been seen on Broadway in Miss Saigon and Les Misérables.
The Music Man, according to press notes, "follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize - despite the fact he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef! His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian the librarian. . . who transforms him into a respectable citizen."
Tom Wopat received a Tony nomination for his role as Frank Butler opposite Bernadette Peters in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun and has also appeared on Broadway in I Love My Wife, City of Angels, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, 42nd Street and Glengarry Glen Ross. Perhaps best known for his seven-season run on "The Dukes of Hazzard," Wopat has also released several albums with CBS and Capitol Records.
The Music Man opened on Broadway in 1957 starring Robert Preston and Barbara Cook. Both actors won Tony Awards for their work (the musical also nabbed the Tony for Best Musical, beating West Side Story; New Girl in Town; Oh, Captain!; and Jamaica), and Preston repeated his role in the 1962 film opposite Shirley Jones. The classic score includes such tunes as "My White Knight," "Goodnight My Someone," "Lida Rose," "Till There Was You," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Gary, Indiana," "Marian the Librarian," "The Wells Fargo Wagon," "Trouble" and "The Sadder But Wiser Girl." A recent TV version featured Tony Award winners Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth. Tickets, priced $23-$68, are available by calling (919) 831-6950 or (919) 834-4000. The North Carolina Theatre is located at One East South Street in Raleigh, NC. For more information visit www.nctheatre.com.
