The Music Man

Well, here we are! The first musical on the list, as deemed by the random generator. I am already pretty familiar with this musical because I saw it once at the Tennessee Theatre (the film, I mean, not the actual play). I love the story and the characters, but I'm not so fond of how long it is.

The Music Man opened up in 1957 with lyrics and music by Meredith Wilson. The story, as if you don't already know, is about a conman salesman ("Professor" Harold Hill) who enters a town (River City) to try and bamboozle them out of their money. All kinds of waaaacky things happen to prevent the mayor from ever really catching him and somehow through all this, he falls in love with the town librarian (Marian).

The first song, "Rock Island", is an interesting one and always one that I like to listen to. It involves a bunch of salesmen on a train, and they keep their conversation in the tune of train noises. It's very entertaining. It ends with Harold stepping off the train and entering River City.

The second song, "Iowa Stubborn", gives us a picture of the kind of people "Dr." Hill will be trying to con. The movie has a certain sight gag that I always laugh at that reminds me slightly of Rocky Horror. I like this song.

The third song "(Ya Got)Trouble", is probably my favorite song in the whole show, as I'm sure it is for many. Professor Hill needs a scapegoat so the people will listen to him, and he singles out the new pool table in town as a source of "corruption" for the young people. The whole town gets involved in the song and it's a blast to see and hear. You've got to love a smooth con man.

The fourth song "Piano Lesson", introduces us to Marian and her mother. It's a short song, but it's entertaining how they frame their conversation on the music a child is playing on the piano in the background.

The fifth song "Goodnight, My Someone", has Marian pining for a man who may or may not exist. It shows us that she's not the ice queen that people in town might think she is. It's a rather sweet song, and pretty relatable, I think.

The next song "Seventy-Six Trombones", is a very catchy and rousing song where Harold has convinced the town to purchase supplies and lessons for a boy's band in River City, which he of course, has no intention of supplying. It's a great march song and is very high energy. It's definitely a favorite of mine.

This one is followed by the first of the quartet songs "Sincere". Hill convinces the school board members to sing together (to get them out of his hair). After this, they are never apart. I like the song, but the quartet starts to get grating later on in the play.

The eighth song is "Sadder, But Wiser". Harold and his old friend talk about how he wants to find a girl that you know will end up being Marian. Not much to say about this one.

The ninth song, I'm going to combine with the tenth one because I'd rather not waste time on the quartet song. This one is called "Pickalittle (Talk-a-little)" and it's a pretty funny song because of the connection it makes with the gossiping ladies and a bunch of chickens. The movie shoves a bunch of chickens into the scene just in case we didn't get that. Funny song. Harold gets harassed by the school board, but he gets them to sing good night to the ladies.

The next song is another favorite of mine "Marian the Librarian". In this song, Harold tries to convince Marian to basically go out with him. It's a cute song.

The 11th song is "My White Knight". It's basically Marian's second "I Want" song. It's pretty, but it doesn't bring much to the show. It's at least better than what's coming later.

And the last song in the first act is "The Wells Fargo Wagon". It's a pretty amusing song that the townspeople sing about, well, you know. Living in a pretty small town, I can't help but feel the same way when I see the UPS truck and I know Amazon is supposed to be sending me my order.

The second act opens up with another quartet song and then it shifts into the most pointless song in the show "Shipoopi". I really can't say I like this song at all, considering all it seems to be is filler. I generally skip this one.

Next we get a reprise of Pick-a-little and another quartet song. This quartet song is sung along with "Will I Ever Tell You?" It's kind of a duet between the quartet and Marian and it's the only other song featuring the quartet that I don't skip besides the first one.

Next up is "Gary, Indiana". Mr. Hill tries to explain where he's from and comes up with this one on the spot. It's a pretty good song and it pushes the plot along.

Next we get a reprise of a quartet song and that's followed by Marian's song to Harold, "Til There Was You." This is a beautiful song, especially if you're listening to the original cast album. Barbara Jones has such a beautiful voice and it really shows in this song. The end of the song has Harold singing with her. Sure, the lyrics don't make much sense considering how fast she fell for Harold, but hey, this is a musical, and in musicals love is spontaneous and beautiful (most of the time). Just roll with it.

This is followed by a reprise of "Seventy-Six-Trombones, "Good Night My Someone" and then a final reprise for "Til There Was You". I won't usually go over reprises unless I feel they're especially good, and while these are certainly not bad, I won't really go into them.

That's pretty much the ending of the play. Overall, I really like this one. Harold Hill is one of the greatest musical characters ever and it really shows. The only thing to really say against it is the abundance of filler songs, but even most of those have importance (except Shipoopi.) I recommend seeing the movie if you haven't seen the show before. It's a little long, but it's good.