This article is about the stage musical. For the film adaptation, see The Music
Man (1962 film). For other uses, see Music Man.
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by
Meredith Willson. The show is based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. In 1957,
the show became a hit on Broadway and spawned revivals and a popular film. It is still
frequently produced by both professional and amateur theatre companies.
Background and productions
After years of development, a change of producers, and more than forty drafts, the original Broadway production, directed by
Morton DaCosta and choreographed by
Onna White, opened on December 19 1957, at the Majestic Theatre. There it remained for nearly three years
before transferring to The Broadway Theatre to complete its 1,375-performance run.
The original cast included Robert Preston (who went on to reprise his role in the
1962 screen adaptation) as Harold Hill, Barbara
Cook as Marian, and Eddie Hodges as Winthrop, with Pert Kelton, David Burns and Iggie Wolfington in supporting roles. Eddie Albert replaced
Preston later in the run.
The original cast recording was released on January
20 1958 and held the #1 spot on the Billboard charts
for twelve weeks, remaining on the charts for a total of 245 weeks.[1]
After eight previews, the first Broadway revival, directed and choreographed by Michael
Kidd, opened on June 5, 1980, at the New York City Center, where it ran for 21 performances. The cast included Dick Van Dyke as Hill, Meg Bussert as Marian, and Christian Slater as Winthrop.
After twenty-two previews, the second Broadway revival, directed and choreographed by Susan
Stroman, opened on April 27 2000 at the Neil Simon Theatre, where it ran for 699 performances. The cast included Craig Bierko (making his Broadway debut) as Hill and Rebecca Luker
as Marian. Robert Sean Leonard and Eric
McCormack portrayed Hill later in the run.
The success of the 2000 revival prompted a 2003 television movie starring
Matthew Broderick as Hill and Kristin
Chenoweth as Marian, with Victor Garber, Debra
Monk, and Molly Shannon in supporting roles.
Synopsis
"Professor" Harold Hill is a con man whose scam is to convince parents he can teach
their musically-disinclined children to play musical instruments. Taking pre-paid orders for instruments and uniforms with the
promise he will form a band, he skips town and moves on to the next one before he's exposed. Arriving in fictional 1912 River City, Iowa, Hill finds his modus operandi compromised when he becomes attracted to local librarian, Marian Paroo, who recognizes him
for the fraud he is. Nevertheless, she falls in love with the smooth-talking charmer when he draws her self-conscious,
lisping brother Winthrop from his shell. When Hill's scheme begins to unravel, he is faced with the
choice of escaping yet again or staying with Marian and facing the consequences. He chooses to stay, and is rewarded with
unanticipated redemption: uncritical parents marvel and cheer as Hill's newly organized Boy's Band performs.
Song list
- Act I
- Rock Island
- Iowa Stubborn
- Trouble
- Piano Lesson
- Goodnight, My Someone
- Seventy-Six Trombones
- Sincere
- The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl
- Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little
- Goodnight Ladies
- Marian The Librarian
- My White Knight
- The Wells Fargo Wagon
|
- Act II
- It's You
- Shipoopi
- Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little (Reprise)
- Lida Rose
- Will I Ever Tell You?
- Gary, Indiana
- It's You (Reprise)
- Till There Was You
- Seventy-Six Trombones/Goodnight, My Someone (Reprise)
- Till There Was You (Reprise)
- Finale
|
|
"Lida Rose" and "Will I Ever Tell You," sung first separately and then simultaneously, are among the rare examples of Broadway
counterpoint--songs with separate lyrics and separate melodies that harmonize and are designed to be sung together. Willson's
counterpoint, along with two counterpoint song pairs from Irving Berlin musicals, are
lampooned in the 1959 musical Little Mary Sunshine. It combines three
counterpoint songs: "Playing Croquet," "Swinging," and "How Do You Do?"
Characters
- Prof. Harold Hill (a con man)
- Marian Paroo (a librarian)
- Winthrop Paroo (Marian's lisping younger brother)
- Mrs. Paroo (Marian's Irish mother)
- Mayor Shinn (a blustery politician)
- Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn (his wife)
- The Barbershop Quartet (four bickering school board members, Jacey Squires, Ewart Dunlop, Olin Britt, Oliver Hix)
- Pickalittle Ladies (Eulalie's four gossipy friends, Alma Hix, Mrs. Squires, Ethel Toffelmier, Maud Dunlop)
- Marcellus Washburn (Harold's friend, now retired from the con-man game)
- Others: Amaryllis (Marian's young piano student), Tommy Djilas (a young man "from the wrong side of town"), Zaneeta and
Gracie Shinn (the mayor's eldest and youngest daughters), Charlie Cowell (a rival salesman), and Constable Locke
Awards and nominations
2000 revival cast recording
- 1957 Tony Award nominations
- 1958 Theatre World Award
- 1981 Theatre World Award
- Theatre World Award - Meg Bussert (WINNER)
- 2000 Tony Award nominations
- Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical - Produced by
Dodger Theatricals (Des McAnuff, Michael David, Rocco Landesman, Doug Johnson, Robin De Levita, Ed Strong, Sherman Warner), The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Elizabeth Williams, Anita Waxman, Kardana-Swinsky Productions, Lorie Cowen Levy,
Dede Harris
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a
Musical - Craig Bierko
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a
Musical - Rebecca Luker
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design - Thomas Lynch
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design - William Ivey Long
- Tony Award for Best Choreography - Susan Stroman
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Susan
Stroman
- Tony Award for Best Orchestrations - Doug Besterman
- 2000 Theatre World Award
- Theatre World Award - Craig Bierko (WINNER)
- 2000 Drama Desk Award nominations
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical - Produced by Dodger
Theatricals (Des McAnuff, Michael David, Rocco Landesman, Doug Johnson, Robin De Levita, Ed Strong, Sherman Warner), The John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Elizabeth Williams, Anita Waxman, Kardana-Swinsky Productions, Lorie Cowen Levy, Dede
Harris
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical - Craig Bierko
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Rebecca Luker
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - Susan Stroman
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - Susan Stroman
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations - Doug Besterman
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical - Thomas Lynch
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design - William Ivey Long
Trivia
- The play’s fictional setting, River City, Iowa, is based partly on Willson’s own birthplace, Mason City, Iowa. The “river” in River City is probably the
Mississippi, near Davenport, Iowa: the Rock
Island conductor's announcing “River City, Ioway! Cigarettes illegal in this state” implies crossing the Mississippi from
Rock Island, Illinois, into Iowa at Davenport.
- American Libraries, the journal of the American Library
Association, reported in the March 2005 issue the source of the name of the character Marian Paroo (aka Marian the
Librarian) was Marian Seeley of Provo, Utah. Mrs. Seeley had been an acquaintance of Meredith Willson during World War II, when she was a medical records librarian. The magazine reported that Meredith Willson "dubbed
her 'Marian the Librarian' at the time, then went on to include that character in his play."
- Mayor Shinn indicates the year is 1912, but the song "Trouble" contains a reference to Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang, a
monthly humor magazine that didn't begin publication until October 1919. Similarly, the reference in "Trouble" to the
nonalcoholic beer Bevo is about four years too early.
- In both the stage play and the movie, the School Board was played by the 1950 International Quartet Champions of the
Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in
America (SPEBSQSA), the Buffalo Bills.
- In an interview with Robert Preston, he said that he got the Broadway lead despite his limited singing range because, when he
went to audition, they were having the men sing Trouble. The producers felt it would be the most difficult song to sing, and with
his background, it was the easiest for him.[citation needed]
- "Goodnight, My Someone" is the same tune, in waltz time, as the march-tempo "Seventy-Six Trombones." (Likewise, the 1942 song
"Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" has the same tune as 1833's "[Tell Me the Story of] Long, Long
Ago," and Elvis Presley's 1956 hit "Love Me Tender" has the same tune as 1861's "Aura Lee"; but
those pairs lack the novelty and subtlety of two tempos, and neither pair is from a musical.)
Pop culture
- The indie band The Shins is named after the Shinn family in The Music Man.
James Russell Mercer chose the name for the band because his father loved The
Music Man.
- The song "Till There Was You" was covered by the
Beatles in 1963 on their second album With the Beatles. It is the only
showtune the Beatles covered.
- The Music Man is spoofed in The Simpsons episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" written by Conan O'Brien. At some
point during the revival, O'Brien was approached about playing the role of Harold Hill for a brief run, but he ultimately could
not fit it into his schedule. He says, on the DVD commentary track for the aforementioned Simpsons episodes, that it was
the hardest choice he's ever had to make professionally, because The Music Man is one of his all-time favorite things.
O'Brien did, however, as host of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, send up a parody version of "Ya Got Trouble" in
his opening monologue targeting NBC and their slide in the ratings.
- Several Music Man songs were used in Ally McBeal.
- Gilmore Girls, which uses the same backlot set as the Music Man film,
frequently refers to the film.
- In an episode of Happy Days, Marion Cunningham comments that the little boy in
The Music Man looks "so much like Richie when he was little." Both Richie Cunningham on Happy Days and Winthrop
Paroo in the feature film The Music Man were played by Ron Howard.
- The musical instruments featured in the movie were manufactured by the Richards Martin company, which also released a limited
edition "Official Music Man Model" of some of its most popular instruments.
- In the Family Guy episode "Patriot Games" (Season 5), Peter sings "Shipoopi" at a
New England Patriots game with the entire stadium. Also, in the third-season
episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows," there is a scene similar to the "Piano Lesson" number.
- The second episode of Carnival Capricious, an internet
series made with puppets, spoofs the Music Man with an episode titled The Montebank Man. In the
episode, the gang is having trouble running the popular carnival. Hearing their cries, Slater Slope, a con man, offers to sell
them his "100% Functional" robots to help run the Carnival. Much like Marian Paroo in the original Music Man, Ali, the smart one
of the crew, sees through his disguise and investigates. However she eventually falls in love with him after he has gotten
Walter, the depressed ghost, singing and (almost) filled with joy. Once the Robot Shipment comes into town, the Carnival realises
that Slater has been lying to them, and charge after him to kill him. But Ali convinces him that it was all for the good. After a
goodbye kiss, Slater boards the bus. As he does so, he mutters, "Suckers!"
- In Episode 21 of Boston Legal titled - A Whiff and a Prayer, the character of Alan
Shore, played by James Spader, stands up in a restaurant and breaks into TROUBLE, in order to convince the patrons of the
restaurant to not eat the trout.
- In an episode of the sitcom, The Nanny, Fran goes to her High School Reunion,
where she sees one of her friends dates singing "76 Trombones".
- The premise of Jeff Goldblum's mockumentary Pittsburgh involves The Music Man.
Notes and references
- ^ . The cast album was awarded "Best
Original Cast Album" at the very first Grammy Awards ceremony in 1958. From DoggedResearch website
External links
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