Director's Note

​

The Music Man, which opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 19, 1957, established composer-lyricist-book writer Meredith Willson as a major talent of the Broadway musical. The Music Man was based on Willson's recollections of his own childhood in Mason City, Iowa. It lovingly and humorously captured the lost innocence of America at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Music Man is the story of Professor Harold Hill and his impact on the sleepy town of River City, Iowa. Hill arrives in that small community on July 4, 1912, with every intention of fleecing the town's citizens. But even with nothing but the lowest of intentions, he inadvertently brings joy into his own life, as well. His "con" is simple but effective: he convinces the town's residents he can teach their children to play in a marching band if they buy the instruments and uniforms he has for sale. Then he simply collects the money and escapes without fulfilling his promises. His best laid plans, however, go wonderfully awry when he falls in love with the town librarian, Marian Paroo, who makes an honest man of the perennial huckster. Trapped by his own love for Marian, Hill is literally forced to face the music when he is made to "conduct" his rag-tag orchestra. While the children can hardly play their instruments, the inner music that Hill and the band bring into the life of the town transforms River City.

The show's score has its roots in the music of the soft-shoe, of ragtime, of barbershop quartets and of the march- the sounds of the American heartland in the first years of the twentieth century. It is an original, fresh and warmhearted musical about basic American values. Its pace is brisk, its packaging brilliant.