I never saw The Music
Man on Broadway. When it opened in
1957, I was only twelve years old. (Put
away the abacus; I’m seventy-one.
“Yikes! We’re reading an old guy!” Sorry.
There is nothing I can do about it.)
Composer-lyricist Meredith Willson tinkered with this pet project
for more than eight years. The man had legitimate
“street cred”, as a longtime musical arranger and as a flute and piccolo player for both John Philip Sousa’s band
and Toscanini’s New York Philharmonic.
That’s a remarkable spectrum. From Marching Band brass buttons to white tie
and tails. And woe, if he forgot which
performance was that night!
“Willson, you are a total embarrassment!”
Though Meredith Willson wrote three other musicals, none of
them came close to the enormous success of The
Music Man (The original Broadway production ran for 1375 performances.)
I saw Willson’s second
biggest hit, The Unsinkable Molly Brown
(532 performances) starring Tammy Grimes and it was extremely enjoyable. I only mention that parenthetical tidbit
because my original idea for this series – offering memorable moments from
shows I personally attended – is coming apart at the seams. More on that later, when I run up the white flag
and surrender completely.
I found no excerpts from the original stage play. As a second
choice, I offer a memorable highlight from the movie version. I have little enthusiasm for movie renditions
of Broadway musicals. (They inevitably feel
lifeless.) But this scene comes the
closest I’ve ever seen to exploding to life, despite the celluloidal
intervention.
(Interesting Footnote: The studio wanted Frank Sinatra to play
Professor Harold Hill in the movie, but Willson insisted on the less luminous
Robert Preston, who’d played the “Professor” on Broadway.)
Oh, to have seen original stage version, playing directly in
front of me.
No cuts.
Not “Take twos.”
If this filmed offering is good.
Imagine how rousingly spectacular that would have been.
From the 1962 version of The
Music Man, here’s Robert Preston
Warning the townsfolk of River City
About “Trouble.”
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