继去年夏天出演迪士尼经典名作《阿拉丁》之后，我家童少将重归故里，再度参加捷门堂(Germantown Academy)暑期戏剧夏令营的排练活动。这次即将登台表演的是现代歌舞剧《音乐人》少儿版本，它自1957年大获美国百老汇舞台剧最高荣誉奖──“东尼奖”(Tony Awards)和音乐界奥斯卡奖──“格莱美奖”(Grammy Awards)以来，倍受广大观众喜爱，先后被拍摄成电影(1962)和电视片(2003)《欢乐音乐妙无穷》，成为职业和业余戏剧爱好者争相施展才艺的热门剧目。

　　故事发生于爱荷华州名叫“河城”的小镇，全镇居民在镇长乔治•西恩(George Shinn)大力倡导下酷爱台球，素与音乐无缘。身为推销员的哈罗德•希尔(Harold Hill)不愧为一位彻头彻尾的职业骗子，他无往不利趁虚而入，决定为骗取钱财巧施诡计。虽说他本人连一个音符都不认识，却以组建男生铜管乐队为名，亲自担任音乐教授，并凭借三寸不烂之舌劝说镇民放弃台球，转而投入乐队，添置乐器，购买服装。哈罗德企图在搜刮团费之后远走异乡溜之大吉，这一切却被当地一向古板的图书馆女馆员兼钢琴教师玛丽安•帕鲁(Marian Paroo)看穿识破。不过，当玛丽安目睹哈罗德真诚帮助自己因为口吃而不善交际的胞弟温斯罗普•帕鲁(Winthrop Paroo)克服心理障碍、焕发童真朝气之后，却不顾一切迷上了他。与此同时，哈罗德也戏剧性地陷入爱河，致使他不由得回心转意，直至痛改前非。小镇生活因之重现新貌。

　　《音乐人》剧情主要围绕7首著名的歌舞展开：《都市欲望》(Pick-a-Little)、《富国马车》(Wells Fargo Wagon)、《冰激凌/真心诚意》(Ice Cream/Sincere)、《钢琴课/如果你不介意》(Piano Lesson/If You Don't Mind)、《寻找爱情》(Shipoopi)、《相爱》(Till There Was You)和《76把长号》(76 Trombones)，情节跌宕起伏，场面震撼人心。

　　戏剧夏令营一共举办五个星期，主要角色均由九岁以上的大班营员扮演。第一周试听，营员随音导、舞编学习上述7首歌曲和简单的台步，然后现学现卖，在全体营员面前临场发挥，剧导从中物色演员。以后四个星期，营员将全力以赴出演全剧。

　　以下是我家童少撰写的纪实，我们依此可以略见戏剧夏令营生活一角。

　　Monday, June 25th, 2012

　　Today was my first day in Germantown Academy summer camp of this year. Most of the time we were trying to figure out our advantage to fit in any characters in Music Man Jr. You could request to play a role that you really liked in the act. I even made some new friends. Some of people I met before have already left. I would miss them.

　　星期一，二O一二年六月廿五日

　　今天是捷门堂戏剧夏令营的头一天，我们花大部头时间润色少儿剧《音乐人》中的人物，看看自己究竟适合表演哪些角色。我认识了新的伙伴，有些过去结交的朋友今年没有再来，实在遗憾。

　　Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

　　Today was our first day performing on stage. Music Man Jr. is a Broadway play that we are going to perform this year. It went pretty good. But I felt a little confused because the person next to me was doing the opposite thing of me. Then we had to sing a memorized song. Our music teacher sounded tough. However we could handle it. A few of reasons why I liked him was that he was full of energy and loved to keep a beat.

　　星期二，二O一二年六月廿六日

　　今天我们头一次登台表演。少儿剧《音乐人》是戏剧夏令营中我们要参与表演的一个百老汇剧目，我感觉不错。不知怎么搞的，站在身旁的人动作总是与我相反。我们学唱了一首歌曲，音乐老师非常严厉，好在我们没出什么乱子。其实我倒蛮喜欢他，因为他精力充沛，节奏感很强。

　　Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

　　Today was our third day in theater camp. I had to sing as a soloist for 2 songs and the teacher rated my average as 8.5 out of 10 points. I thought that the score was pretty good. Other than that, I was put in the group that contains all boys. I think that there were only 6 of us. And that's it for now till tomorrow.

　　星期三，二O一二年六月廿七日

　　今天是戏剧夏令营的第三天，轮到我登台亮相了。我必须独唱2首歌曲，老师给我打了8.5分(满分10分)，我非常满意。此外，我被分到全部由男生组成的小组。今年戏剧夏令营大班成员中总共仅有6位男生，而且都集中在一起。

　　就此告一段落，明日再聊。

　　Thursday, June 28th, 2012

　　We had an amazing rehearsal today. I had to sing a solo of "Wells Fargo Wagon" in front of the whole theater camp. Then we must read some lines. It was so unfortunate that I had to read Winthrop's lines of Music Man Jr. who spoke with a lisp. We got to know our characters. I was assigned as one of the quartet. Now we are starting our real performing.

　　星期四，二O一二年六月廿八日

　　今天大家排演得非常棒，我还当着大伙儿的面独唱了一首《富国马车》。接着，我们练习朗诵台词。不巧的是，我得乔装口吃的温斯罗普。人人都要扮演不同角色，我被分派到四重唱剧组。终于，我们要开始演戏了。

(二O一二年六月廿八日)