'The Music Man': Lemont HS band director reprises role he played as student 20 years ago

LEMONT, Ill. - The lead actor in a suburban theater production this weekend isn't really acting.

The Little Mountain Community Theatre is staging "The Music Man" in Lemont. It's the classic musical featuring the tune "76 Trombones."

Playing the role of Professor Harold Hill is Matt Doherty, who is one of the Lemont High School band directors, and the band is also involved — providing some of those trombones.

Members of the award-winning high school band will be on stage playing. It's a new role for them, but not for Doherty. He played this exact same role 20 years ago when he was a student at Lemont.

SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE

Doherty says remembering his lines was like waking up from a dream.

"I had to re-learn a lot of the detail. It was a little foggy, but there's a number in it called trouble where there's just a lot of words and it's basically a rap written in 1950. And all of that came back, it was like a party trick throughout life and I would pull that out sometimes when people wanted to hear it," Doherty said.

"The Music Man" runs this weekend at the Lemont High School Performing Arts Center.