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*[http://www.endresnet.com/mminfo.html Site with extensive information about The Music Man]
*[http://www.endresnet.com/mminfo.html Site with extensive information about The Music Man]
*[http://www.themusicmansquare.org/index.htm The Music Man Square and Museum]
*[http://www.themusicmansquare.org/index.htm The Music Man Square and Museum]
{{succession
| office=[[Tony Award for Best Musical]]
| years=1956
| preceded=[[My Fair Lady]]
| succeeded=[[Redhead (musical)|Redhead]]}}
{{TonyAwardBestMusical 1949-1967}}
{{TonyAwardBestMusical 1949-1967}}


Revision as of 21:42, 4 August 2007

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
File:TheMusicManPoster.jpg
Original Broadway Poster
MusicMeredith Willson
LyricsMeredith Willson
BookMeredith Willson
Productions1957 Broadway
1980 Broadway revival
2000 Broadway revival
AwardsTony Award for Best Musical

The Music Man is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. In 1957, the show became a hit on Broadway and spawned revivals, a popular film and 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, where 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 a musical instrument. 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's modus operandi is 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.

Song list

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 Mackechnie Shinn (his wife)
  • The Barbershop Quartet (four bickering school board members)
  • Pickalittle Ladies (Eulalie's four gossipy friends)
  • 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

File:TheMusicManCD.JPG
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
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 in part on Willson’s own birthplace, Mason City, Iowa. The “river” in River City is likely the Mississippi, near Davenport, Iowa, owing to the announcement by the Rock Island conductor: “River City, Ioway! Cigarettes illegal in this state.” This suggests that Hill and his fellow passengers have just crossed the Iowa border, across the historic bridge spanning the Mississippi from Rock Island to 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 non-alcoholic beer Bevo is approximately 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. The Society has since changed its official name to "The Barbershop Harmony Society".
  • 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 "Seventy Six Trombones."

Pop culture

  • The indie band The Shins are 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 makes reference 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.
  • 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.

Notes and references

  1. ^ From DoggedResearch website

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