Music Man, The

Music Man, The (1957), a musical comedy by Meredith Willson (book, music, lyrics). [Majestic Theatre, 1,375 perf.; Tony, NYDCC Awards] “Professor” Harold Hill ( Robert Preston) is a “con” man who cannot read a note of music but specializes in organizing boys' bands and selling band instruments, then disappearing with the money. But when Harold comes to the Iowa town of River City, he comes up against the town librarian, Marion Paroo ( Barbara Cook), who plans to unmask him until she realizes that he is bringing new life to the town and that she is falling in love with him. But Harold is found out by the townspeople anyway and is about to be tarred and feathered until the boys' band gives a horribly cacophonous concert, which the children's doting parents think masterful. Notable songs: Goodnight, My Someone; Seventy‐Six Trombones; Till There Was You; Trouble; Gary, Indiana; Marion the Librarian; Lida Rose. Louis Kronenberger wrote, “If The Music Man was not cream, but only nice fresh half‐and‐half, it did catch the jubilant old‐time energy of a small‐town jamboree.” The apple‐pie American musical was drawn from Willson's recollections of his Iowa boyhood and the score employed numerous clever devices. He used the same basic melody in Hill's rousing “Seventy‐Six Trombones” and Marion's tender “Goodnight, My Someone” to suggest a common bond, “Rock Island” mimicked the rhythm of a moving train, “The Piano Lesson” duet was set to practicing piano scales, and the tongue‐in‐cheek sermonizing of “Trouble” was turned into a modern‐day patter song. Long a favorite in theatres across the country, it was revived on Broadway with success in 2000.