As TCP enters its 28th year we do so reflecting on our past. ‘Community Theatre At Its Very Best’ is not a catch-phrase that we created – it is an honest expression given to us from a passionate advocate of the arts – Harry Currie – and has become a considerable source of pride as we build our shows from year to year. The Community Players of New Hamburg and those associated with us can be extremely proud of the fact that in our 28 years we have presented new, leading edge and challenging musicals – all to critical success – including Children of Eden, Titanic: The Musical; Cats and most recently Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA.

The challenges for audience, performer, production and management team alike are numerous when undertaking shows that are relatively unknown and untested, demonstrate unparalleled complexity or represent a regional ‘premiere’. For those brave enough to come on that journey – the rewards are numerous.

There are shows however over the course of time that remain very dear to the heart of TCP. Shows that represent and exemplify the values of family, simpler times and fun. Shows that represent a high watermark in the history of this group in a representation of a leap of faith as we have moved from one home to another.

These are shows that have become mainstays in the constellation of musical theatre for all the right reasons. An enchanting storyline – lively and engaging music – inspired dance numbers – and the overall sense of being thoroughly entertained. All of these ingredients are evident in our 2012 show choice, of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man.

“An extraordinary warm-hearted, funny and captivating show.” -Daily News

SHOW SYNOPSIS

An affectionate paean to Smalltown, U.S.A. of a bygone era, Meredith Willson’s THE MUSIC MAN follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill as he cons the people of River City, Iowa into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band he vows to organize – this despite the fact he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain’s fall.

Act I

In 1912 in a train leaving Rock Island, Illinois, Charlie Cowell and other traveling salesmen in the car begin a heated argument about credit (“Rock Island”). Charlie and another salesman tell the others about a con man known as “Professor” Harold Hill, whose scam is to convince parents he can teach their musically disinclined children to play musical instruments. On the premise that he will form a band, he takes orders for instruments and uniforms. But once the instruments arrive and are paid for, he skips town without forming the band, moving on before he is exposed. The train arrives in River City, Iowa, and a stranger on the train stands up and declares, “Gentlemen, you intrigue me. I think I shall have to give Iowa a try.” He picks up his suitcase clearly labeled “Professor Harold Hill,” and exits the train.

The townspeople of River City describe their reserved, “chip-on-the-shoulder attitude Iowa Stubborn Harold discovers that an old friend, Marcellus, has “gone legitimate” and now lives in town. Marcellus tells Harold that Marian Paroo, the librarian who gives piano lessons, is the only one in town who knows about music. Marcellus informs him that a new pool table was just delivered to the town’s local billiard parlor, and as a part of his scheme, Harold convinces River City parents of the “trouble” that will be caused by that pool table Ya Got Trouble. Harold follows Marian home and attempts to flirt with her, but she pays no attention to him. At home, Marian gives a piano lesson to a little girl named Amaryllis while arguing with her mother, Mrs. Paroo, about her “standards where men are concerned” after telling Mrs. Paroo that a stranger followed her home Piano Lesson/If You Don’t Mind My Saying So. Marian’s self-conscious, lisping younger brother Winthrop arrives home, and Amaryllis, who secretly likes him but makes fun of his lisp, asks Marian who she should say goodnight to on the evening star since she doesn’t have a sweetheart. Marian tells her to just say goodnight to her “someone” Goodnight, My Someone.

The next day is the 4th of July, and Mayor Shinn is leading the morning festivities in the high school gym, with the help of his wife, Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn Columbia, Gem of the Ocean. After Tommy Djilas, a boy from the wrong side of town, sets off a firecracker, interrupting the proceedings, Harold takes the stage and announces to the townspeople that he will prevent “sin and corruption” from the pool table by forming a boys’ band Ya Got Trouble (reprise) / Seventy Six Trombones Mayor Shinn, who owns the billiard parlor, tells the bickering school board to get Harold’s credentials, but Harold teaches them to sing as a barbourshop quartet to distract them Ice Cream/Sincere. Harold also sets up Zaneeta, the mayor’s eldest daughter, with Tommy, and persuades Tommy to become his assistant. After being rejected by Marian again, Harold describes to Marcellus a special kind of girl he wants The Sadder But Wiser Girl. The town ladies are very excited about the band and the ladies’ dance committee Harold plans to form. He asks them about Marian, and they intimate to him – falsely – that she had an inappropriate relationship with deceased old miser Madison, who gave the town the library, but left all the books to her. They also warn Harold that she advocates the “dirty books” by “Chaucer, Rabelais and Balzac” Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little. The school board arrives to collect Harold’s credentials, but he leads them in song and slips away Goodnight, Ladies.

The next day, Harold walks into the library, but Marian ignores him yet again. He declares his unrequited love for her, leading the teenagers in the library in dance Marian the Librarian. For a moment, Marian forgets her decorum and dances with Harold. He kisses her, and she tries to slap him. He ducks, and she hits Tommy instead. With Tommy’s help, Harold signs up all the boys in town to be in his band, including Winthrop. Mrs. Paroo likes Harold and tries to find out why Marian is not interested. Marian describes her ideal man (“My White Knight”). She tries to give Mayor Shinn evidence against Harold that she found in the Indiana State Educational Journal, but they are interrupted by the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon, which delivers the band instruments The Wells Fargo Wagon. When Winthrop forgets to be shy and self-conscious because he is so happy about his new coronet, Marian begins to see Harold in a new light. She tears the incriminating page out of the Journal before giving the book to Mayor Shinn.

Act II

The ladies rehearse their classical dance in the school gym while the school board practices their quartet It’s You for the ice cream social. Marcellus and the town’s teenagers interrupt the ladies’ practice, taking over the gym as they dance Shipoopi. Harold grabs Marian to dance with her, and all the teenagers join in. Regarding Winthrop’s cornet, Marian later questions Harold about his claim that “you don’t have to bother with the notes. He explains that this is what he calls “The Think System”, and he arranges to call on Marian to discuss it. The town ladies ask Marian to join their dance committee, since she was “so dear dancing the Shipoopi” with Professor Hill Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little (reprise), They have reversed their opinions about her books, and they eagerly tell her that “the Professor told us to read those books, and we simply adored them all!”

That night, the school board tries to collect Harold’s credentials again, but he gets them to sing again and slips away Lida Rose. Marian, meanwhile, is sitting on her front porch thinking of Harold Will I Ever Tell You?. Winthrop returns home after spending time with Harold and tells Marian and Mrs. Paroo about Harold’s hometown Gary, Indiana. As Marian waits alone for Harold, traveling salesman Charlie Cowell enters with evidence against Harold, hoping to tell Mayor Shinn. He has to leave on the next train, but stops to flirt with Marian. She tries to delay him so he doesn’t have time to deliver the evidence, eventually kissing him. As the train whistle blows, she pushes him away. Charlie angrily tells Marian that Harold has a girl in “every county in Illinois, and he’s taken it from Harold arrives, and after he reminds her of the untrue rumors he’s heard about her, she convinces herself that Charlie invented everything he told her. They agree to meet at the footbridge, where Marian tells him the difference he’s made in her life Till There was You Marcellus interrupts and tells Harold that the uniforms have arrived. He urges Harold to take the money and run, but Harold refuses to leave, insisting, “I’ve come up through the ranks … and I’m not resigning without my commission”. He returns to Marian, who tells him that she’s known since three days after he arrived that he is a fraud. (He said he was a graduate of Gary Conservatory, Gold-Medal Class of ’05, but the town wasn’t even built until ’06!) Because she loves him, she gives him the incriminating page out of the Indiana State Educational Journal. She leaves, promising to see him later at the Sociable. With his schemes for the boys’ band and Marian proceeding even better than planned, Harold confidently sings Seventy-Six Trombones. As he overhears Marian singing Goodnight My Someone, Harold suddenly realizes that he is in love with Marian; he and Marian sing a snatch of each other’s songs.

Meanwhile, Charlie Cowell, who has missed his train, arrives at the ice cream social and denounces Harold Hill as a fraud. The townspeople begin an agitated search for Harold. Winthrop is heartbroken and tells Harold that he wishes Harold never came to River City. But Marian tells Winthrop that she believes everything Harold ever said, for it did come true in the way every kid in town talked and acted that summer. She and Winthrop urge Harold to get away. He chooses to stay and tells Marian that he never really fell in love until he met her Till There Was You (reprise). The constable then handcuffs Harold and leads him away.

Mayor Shinn leads a meeting in the high school gym to decide what to do with Harold, asking, “Where’s the band? Where’s the band?” Tommy enters as a drum major, followed by the kids in uniform with their instruments. Marian urges Harold to lead the River City Boys’ Band in Beethoven’s Minuet in G; despite a limited amount of traditional quality, the parents in the audience are nonetheless enraptured by the sight of their little boys playing music. Even Mayor Shinn is won over, and, as the townspeople cheer, Harold is released into Marian’s arms Finale.

THE CAST

Harold Hill, male baritone
Marion Paroo, female soprano
Marcellus Washburn, male tenor
Mayor Shinn, male spoken
Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, female alto

Mrs. Paroo, female mezzo (speaks with an Irish accent)
Tommy Djilas, male
Zaneeta Shinn, female
Winthrop Paroo, male alto (speaks with a lisp)

Amaryllis, female alto
Olin Britt, male bass
Oliver Hix, male baritone
Ewart Dunlop, male baritone
Jacey Squires, male tenor
Gracie Shinn female
Alma Hix female
Charlie Cowell, male
Maud Dunlop female
Ethel Toffelmier female
Mrs. Squires female
Conductor male
Constable Locke male
River City Townspeople

Musical numbers

Act I

Rock Island – Charlie Cowell and Traveling Salesmen

Iowa Stubborn – Townspeople of River City

(Ya Got) Trouble – Harold Hill and Townspeople

Piano Lesson – Marian Paroo, Mrs. Paroo and Amaryllis

Goodnight, My Someone – Marian

Seventy-six Trombones – Harold, Boys and Girls

Sincere – Quartet (Olin Britt, Oliver Hix, Ewart Dunlop, Jacey Squires)

The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl – Harold, Marcellus Washburn

Pickalittle (Talk-a-Little), Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, Maud Dunlop, Ethel Toffelmier, Alma Hix, Mrs. Squires and Ladies of River City

Goodnight Ladies, Quartet

Marian The Librarian, Harold, Boys and Girls

My White Knight, Marian

The Wells Fargo Wagon, Winthrop Paroo, Townspeople

Act II

It’s You, The Quartet, Eulalie, Maud, Ethel, Alma and Mrs. Squires

Shipoopi, Marcellus, Harold, Marian and townspeople

Pickalittle (Talk-a-Little) (reprise), Eulalie, Maud, Ethel, Alma, Mrs. Squires and Ladies

Lida Rose,  Quartet

Will I Ever Tell You, Marian

Gary, Indiana, Winthrop, Mrs. Paroo, Marian

It’s You” (reprise), Townspeople, Boys and Girls

Till There Was You, Marian, Harold

Seventy Six Trombones (reprise), Harold and Marian

Goodnight, My Someone (reprise), Marian and Harold

Till There Was You (reprise), Harold

Finale – Company

MEREDITH WILLSON, THE REAL LIFE MUSIC MAN

Meredith Willson was born on May 18, 1902 in Mason City, Iowa. He learned to play the flute as a child and began playing semi-professionally while still in high school.

After graduating from high school in Mason City, he left Iowa to study at the Damrosch Institute of Musical Art (later the Julliard School), receiving flute instruction from world-class flutist Georges Barrere. While still attending the Institute, he was hired as principal flutist and piccolo player for the John Philip Sousa Band from 1921 to 1923. He then joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra where he was first flutist from 1924 to 1929. He later moved to radio work, serving as concert director for KFRC in San Francisco and later as musical director at NBC, first in San Francisco and then Hollywood.

As a musical director and conductor, Willson is known for his work on the popular radio programs Carefree Carnival (1933-1936), Maxwell House Coffee Time (1940-19) and Tallulah Bankhead’s The Big Show (1950-1953). He wrote the theme song for Maxwell House Coffee Time (“You and I”) which became a number one hit. He also wrote “May the Good Lord Bless You and Keep You” as the show closer for The Big Show, and the University of Iowa fight song.

Willson composed scores for Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and Hellman’s The Little Foxes, as well as symphonic, band, and choral works, including The Jervis Bay: Symphonic Variations on an American Theme and Anthem of the Atomic Age. He was a Major in the U.S. Army during World War II and was the Musical Director for the Armed Forces Radio Service. Willson’s song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” was written in 1951 and made famous by Perry Como.

Meredith Willson’s The Music Man opened on Broadway on December 19, 1957 and ran for 1,375 sensational performances. The cast album won the very first Grammy Award ever presented. The Music Man won eight Tony Awards with Willson winning for Best Musical Author and Best Composer and Lyricist.

In 1962, The Music Man hit the big screen, and became one of the most successful musicals ever filmed. The incomparable Robert Preston was one of the few Broadway cast members to star in the movie, and was instead joined by a stellar cast that included Shirley Jones, Buddy Hacket and a very young Ronnie Howard. An elaborate set was constructed in Hollywood for the filming.

The film premiered in Mason City in spectacular fashion. With support from the movie studio, more than 100 marching bands from throughout Iowa and across the nation participated in a four-hour parade, and Meredith Willson personally served as band leader. Many of the stars from the movie, including Preston, Jones and Howard, were also on hand for the parade and premiere celebration.

The movie was nominated for several Academy Awards, and won for Best Musical Score. Beatle Fans may remember Paul McCartney singing the love ballad “Till There Was You” (a song from The Music Man) on their 1964 album Meet The Beatles.

Willson also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which opened on Broadway in 1960 and Here’s Love (a musical adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street) opened on Broadway in 1963.

As an author he published two autobiographical works (And There I Stood with My Piccolo and Eggs I Have Laid), one novel (Who Did What to Fedalia) and a memoir about the making of The Music Man (But He Doesn’t Know the Territory).

Meredith Willson died in Santa Monica on June 12, 1984 at the age of 82, and was buried in his hometown of Mason City, Iowa. A museum tribute and entertainment complex dedicated to

Willson were constructed in Mason City in the 1990s, and a revival of The Music Man began a run on Broadway in 2000. A television movie of The Music Man was in the works in 2002.

Trivia

  • The play’s fictional setting, River City, Iowa, is based in part on Willson’s own birthplace, Mason City, Iowa. The “river” in River City is likely the Mississippi, near Davenport, owing to the announcement by the Rock Island conductor: “River City, Ioway! Cigarettes illegal in this state.” This suggests that Hill and his fellow passengers have just crossed the Iowa border, across the historic bridge spanning the Mississippi from Rock Island to Davenport.
  • American Libraries, the journal of the American Library Association, reported in the March 2005 issue the source of the name of the character Marian Paroo (aka Marian the Librarian) was Marian Seeley of Provo, Utah. Mrs. Seeley had been an acquaintance of Meredith Willson during World War II, when she was a medical records librarian. The magazine reported that Meredith Willson “dubbed her ‘Marian the Librarian’ at the time, then went on to include that character in his play.”
  • The story is thought to take place in 1912. However, the song “Ya Got Trouble” contains a reference to Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang. This was a monthly humor magazine that began publication in October 1919.
  • The melody of Marian’s “Goodnight, My Someone” follows the same chord structure as Harold’s “Seventy-Six Trombones”. This is revealed in the double reprise in Act II scene 4, in which the two seamlessly medley their respective motifs (and eventually trade off).
  • The Minuet in G, featured in the Act II Finale, was composed by Beethoven.

Pop culture

  • The song “Till There Was You” was covered by the Beatles in 1963 on their second album With the Beatles. It is the only showtune the Beatles covered.
  • The Music Man is spoofed in The Simpsons episode “Marge vs. the Monorail” written by Conan O’Brien. At some point during the revival, O’Brien was approached about playing the role of Harold Hill for a brief run, but he ultimately could not fit it into his schedule. He says, on the DVD commentary track for the aforementioned ‘Simpsons’ episodes, that it was the hardest choice he’s ever had to make professionally, because The Music Man is one of his all-time favorite things.
  • The song “Ya Got Trouble” was spoofed in the Boston Legal episode “Men To Boys,” the Veronica Mars episode “Look Who’s Stalking” and the Everwood episode “Vegetative State”.
  • In the Everwood episode “Fear Itself”, Dr. Abbott prefers watching the classic The Music Man to contemporary eye candy XXX, declaring that Robert Preston is cool. He reminds his daughter Amy that she always liked the song “Shipoopi”.
  • The “Piano Lesson” musical number is spoofed in the Family Guy episode “Brian Wallows and Peter’s Swallows”. Also, “Shipoopi” was sung in an extended sequence in the later episode “The Patriot Games.”
  • Several Music Man songs were used in Ally McBeal.

“As American as apple pie and a Fourth of July oration … a marvelous show, rooted in wholesome and comic tradition.” -New York Times

ADDITIONAL FACTS

The Music Man is unquestionably one of the most beloved shows of all time. The original production of THE MUSIC MAN opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 19, 1957. Winning five Tony Awards (including Best Musical), the show ran for 1,375 performances. The cast album won the first Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album. The show was such a sensation that even Jack Lemmon’s character attended it (or tried to, anyway) in the 1960′s Best Picture, The Apartment.

Willson went through many trials and tribulations in getting The Music Man to Broadway (detailed in his book But He Doesn’t Know The Territory). Before achieving his first success on Broadway, Meredith Willson was a popular radio personality and bandleader who occasionally worked with Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying). Loesser so much in The Music Man that he backed it for years of development and produced the original production.

The Music Man made a star of Robert Preston. Marian was originated by Barbara Cook, who went on to be one of the most celebrated Broadway singers in history.

The popular 1962 film version had Robert Preston repeating his stage triumph. Shirley Jones was Marian, Hermione Gingold was Eulalie and a young Ron Howard portrayed Winthrop.

MORE REFERENCE INFO

To understand the show, characters and songs of The Music Man better, the 1962 Warner Bros. film is a great reference for the show, as is the original 1957 Broadway Cast Recording.