THE STORY OF THE SHOW
“The Music Man,” book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey, won Best Musical Tony in 1957 as well as four other Tony Awards and ran for 1,375 performances on Broadway.
The cast album won the first Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and included familiar songs such as “Goodnight, My Someone,” “Seventy-six Trombones,” “Till There Was You,” and “Shipoopi.” Revived (and parodied) many times, “The Music Man” is a quintessentially American musical.
On the 4th of July, 1912 in River City, Iowa, a con-man named Harold Hill has just arrived and stirred up trouble surrounding a new pool table being installed in the billiard hall. This commotion drums up paranoia and causes the colorful River Citizens to back Hill’s idea of creating a boys’ band. Questioned by a barbershop quartet of school board members, a huffing, puffing Mayor, and, of course, the town’s only music teacher, Marian, the librarian, Hill often barely escapes his persecutors.
However, once Harold champions Marion’s lisping and shy younger brother, Winthrop, to speak and sing, Marion is quick to change her tune and soon falls in love with Harold. As the story swells to its grand finale, Harold tries to reconcile his desire to be a legitimate band director and stay with the woman he loves with his need to escape the townspeople he’s cheated.
A tale of redemption and inclusion, love and fun, Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” is sure to dazzle in a colorful display of all that is truly American.
