City Springs Theatre Company stages 'The Music Man'

City Springs Theatre Company presents a new production of "The Music Man" at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center opening Sept. 6. (Courtesy of City Springs Theatre Company.)

City Springs Theatre Company presents a new production of “The Music Man” at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, opening Sept. 6. Shuler Hensley, artistic director of City Springs, will be directing the delightful tale of the brassy con man Harold Hill, who has made a living swindling small towns and accidentally finds himself falling in love during his latest scheme.

The Tony-Award Award-winning actor and director recently joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to discuss the upcoming production and his relationship with the musical.

Hensley’s last interaction with the play was during a 2022 run (intended for 2019) that helped welcome theater back into American life after the pandemic.



The director starred as sideman Marcellus Washburn in alongside fellow Tony winners Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Hensley considers the 2022 production to be a “perfect storm” that ended up inspiring him to bring the musical to City Springs Theatre Company this year.

“It’s the book. It’s the music. It’s the story. It’s everything,” he explained about his reasoning for directing the musical so quickly after starring in it.

Hensley sees a particular timelessness in the charm and lessons that “The Music Man” brings to audiences, stating that “at the heart of them is the human condition and the things that we struggle with, no matter if it’s 1912 or 2024.”

Details on the upcoming show can be found at: cityspringstheatre.com/musicman/