An Interview with The Music Man (Jesse Klein)

Madison High School’s spring musical, The Music Man, will be showing at MHS on March 21-24. The lead role, con man Harold Hill, will be played by a familiar face in the theater department, senior Jesse Klein. The Madison Dodger (MD) was fortunate enough to sit down with Jesse (JK) for a brief interview.

 MD: How would you compare The Music Man to the shows you’ve done in the past?

JK: It’s definitely different without Mrs. Elefante directing, but I’m still really enjoying it. It’s a great experience. We have a great cast, and Ms. Ward and Ms. Alteri are doing a good job. The show is family-oriented. We have about sixty kids in the cast. It’s always fun.

 MD: How would you describe your character, Harold Hill?

JK: I really do like my character. He’s a charmer, and he really gets away with anything. It’s one of my favorite roles that I’ve done. He can really manipulate anyone to get what he wants.

MD: Do you have trouble memorizing your lines?

JK: That’s something I’ve gotten pretty used to. I can do it pretty quickly. I mean, there are a lot of lines to memorize this year, so that’s kind of hard, but it’s not the hardest part.

MD: What would you say is the hardest part for you?

JK: Just making the character believable is really hard. It’s one thing to have the lines memorized, but the acting needs to be convincing too.

 MD: What is your favorite song from the show?

JK: For me, it’s a song called “Ya Got Trouble.” The song is basically a rap about the dangers of the Pool in an effort to convince the town that they need a boys’ band to save them.

 MD: You’ve been an active member of the theater community throughout high school. As a senior, are you sad to see that come to an end?

JK: Yeah. It’s the last show I’ll do here. It’s something I knew would happen eventually, but it’s hard to believe the time has actually come.

 MD: Do you plan to continue acting/singing in college?

JK: I hope I’ll be doing theater in college. I’m definitely going to try. I’ll see what opportunities there are. The theater program we have here is great, and it’s an amazing opportunity to be a part of.

 MD: Is it difficult to keep the same energy for all four nights of the show?

JK: Four is a pretty good number. When you have an audience, the audience energizes the cast. You can sort of play off of them. If the audience is good and responsive, I find that the energy is there even if you’ve done the same show the night before. We’ve been doing run-throughs for weeks before this, so when you actually have a live audience it’s really refreshing. The energy definitely does last throughout all four shows.

MD: Is there anything else you would like to add? Are you excited for the show?

JK: I’m very excited. I think it’s going to be a great show.

MD: Thank you for taking your time to interview with the Madison Dodger Online! Break a leg!

Be sure to check out Jesse in The Music Man!

For tickets, call 973-377-9540 or email [email protected]

Price: $15 for adults and $12 students and seniors.

Performance dates/times:

Thursday, March 21 at 6:30 pm

Friday, March 22 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, March 24 at 3:00 pm