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Information about The Music Man

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
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 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

Enlarge picture
Dick Van Dyke on the 1980 Playbill



"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

Enlarge picture
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 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.
  • "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

1. ^ . The cast album was awarded "Best Original Cast Album" at the very first Grammy Awards ceremony in 1958. From DoggedResearch website

External links

Awards
Preceded by
My Fair Lady		Tony Award for Best Musical
1958		Succeeded by
Redhead
Tony Award for Best Musical: Winners (1949–1969)
 •  • [ e]
1949: Kiss Me, Kate  •  1950: South Pacific  •  1951: Guys and Dolls  •  1952: The King and I  •  1953: Wonderful Town  •  1954: Kismet  •  1955: The Pajama Game  •  1956: Damn Yankees  •  1957: My Fair Lady  •  1958: The Music Man  •  1959: Redhead  •  1960: The Sound of Music†  •  1960: Fiorello!†  •  1961: Bye Bye Birdie  •  1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying  •  1963: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum  •  1964: Hello, Dolly!  •  1965: Fiddler on the Roof  •  1966: Man of La Mancha  •  1967: Cabaret  •  1968: Hallelujah, Baby!  •  1969: 1776
(†: tie)
• • •
IMDb profile
The Music Man is a 1962 film musical starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson.
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Music Man can refer to:
  • The Music Man, a Broadway musical play by Meredith Willson
  • Two film adaptations of the musical were made: One in 1962 (a feature length film) and one in 2003 (a movie made for television).

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Robert Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) was an American composer and playwright. He is best known for writing the libretto, the music, and the lyrics of The Music Man.
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Robert Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) was an American composer and playwright. He is best known for writing the libretto, the music, and the lyrics of The Music Man.
..... Click the link for more information.
Robert Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) was an American composer and playwright. He is best known for writing the libretto, the music, and the lyrics of The Music Man.
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1954 1955 1956 - 1957 - 1958 1959 1960

Year 1957 (MCMLVII
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Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows.
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1977 1978 1979 - 1980 - 1981 1982 1983

Year 1980 (MCMLXXX
..... Click the link for more information.
Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows.
..... Click the link for more information.
A revival is a restaging of a former hit play at a later date. New material may be added.

A filmed version of a play is said to be an adaptation. This requires the writing of a screenplay.
..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
1997 1998 1999 - 2000 - 2001 2002 2003

2000 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
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Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows.
..... Click the link for more information.
A revival is a restaging of a former hit play at a later date. New material may be added.

A filmed version of a play is said to be an adaptation. This requires the writing of a screenplay.
..... Click the link for more information.

1940s

  • 1949 Kiss Me, Kate - Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack.

1950s

  • 1950 South Pacific

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Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the
..... Click the link for more information.
Robert Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) was an American composer and playwright. He is best known for writing the libretto, the music, and the lyrics of The Music Man.
..... Click the link for more information.
Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows.
..... Click the link for more information.
Morton DaCosta (March 7 1914 - January 26 1989) was an American theatre and film director, film producer, writer, and actor.

Born Morton Tecosky in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, DaCosta began his career as an actor in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942.
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Choreography (literally "dance-writing", also known as "dance composition"), is the art of making structures in which movement occurs. The term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures.
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Onna White (March 24, 1922 – April 8, 2005) was a Canadian choreographer and dancer nominated for eight Tony Awards.

Born in Inverness, Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the famed San Francisco
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December 19 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1954 1955 1956 - 1957 - 1958 1959 1960

Year 1957 (MCMLVII
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Majestic Theatre

Majestic Theatre, 2007
Address
247 West 44th Street

City
New York City


Designation New York City Landmark
Architect Herbert J.
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The Broadway Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1681 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.

Designed by architect Eugene DeRosa for Benjamin S. Moss, it opened as B.S.
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Robert Preston (actor)

Preston in This Gun for Hire (1942)
Birth name Robert Preston Meservey
Born May 8 1918(1918--)
Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Died
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IMDb profile
The Music Man is a 1962 film musical starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson.
..... Click the link for more information.
Barbara Cook (born October 25 1927) is a Tony Award-winning American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after creating roles in the Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man, among others.
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Eddie Hodges

Eddie Hodges was an American film and TV child actor and singer of the 1950s and 1960s.

Born March 5 1947 (1947--) (age 60)
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Pert Kelton (October 14 1907[1] – October 30 1968) was an American vaudeville, movie, and television actress most famous as the original Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason.
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For other people named Burns, see Burns (disambiguation).
David Burns (June 22, 1902 – March 12, 1971) American Broadway theater and motion picture character actor and singer.

Born on Mott Street in the Manhattan Chinatown of New York City.
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