Listen No. 7 - The Music Man by Meredith Wilson
Genre: Musical theatre
Context: A huge Broadway hit about a conman called Harold Hill who promises music lessons to unsuspecting Iowans, but has no musical training. He sells musical instruments, sets up a band, inspires a ladies’ drama troupe and generally brings good cheer to a previously dour town. But something interferes with his plan to run away with the proceeds of his scheme. He falls in love with the glamorous, perceptive librarian Marian (who has seen through him right from the start). Marian’s heart is won when she sees how Hill has helped her previously non-verbal little brother( Winthrop Paroo) to speak, and even sing.
Notable facts: Winner of five Tonys, including Best Musical (1957). A film version was released in 1962, and I watched the DVD as the plot made no sense to me at first. It’s an enjoyable film, and Robert Preston (from the original musical) is magnificent even though he wasn’t the director’s first choice. And a young Ronny Howard (of Happy Days fame) plays Winthrop Paroo with a spectacular lisp.
It took this record for me to realise that ‘Till There Was You’ was written by Meredith Wilson, and not the Beatles. And John Lennon didn’t know the song was from The Music Man when he first performed it. Anyway, the Beatles’ version made Wilson’s widow more money in royalties than from the show itself.
My favourite track: Marian the Librarian or Seventy-Six Trombones.
What critics made of it: Much applauded. Brooks Anderson of the New York Times wrote ‘If Mark Twain could have collaborated with Vachel Lindsay [founder of American singing poetry] they might have devised a rhythmic lark like The Music Man, which is as American as apple pie and a Fourth of July oration…’ But the 2022 revival of the show, starring Hugh Jackman, was judged dated and somehow not making enough of the central theme - con artistry.
Listening to this inspired me to: Well, I bought the DVD, and was very impressed by Robert Preston, who had a long film and stage career. I may try to find some of Preston’s early films - This Gun for Hire, 1942 is one I’d like to track down.