26-27 Proposal: The Music Man

The Music Man 

Book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson

Directed by Michael Phillips

Music direction by Rob Birdwell

Show Synopsis

From MTI:

“By turns wicked, funny, warm, romantic and touching, The Music Man is family entertainment at its best. Meredith Willson's six-time, Tony Award-winning musical comedy has been entertaining audiences since 1957 and is a family-friendly story to be shared with every generation.

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 that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that 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.”

Vision Statement

The Music Man is a slice of Americana in all the best senses. It’s about small-town life, where everyone knows everyone and where any newcomer (in this case, a charming conman named Harold Hill) is met with equal parts excitement and suspicion. It’s about people looking out for each other and celebrating the community as much as the individual. It’s a love story wrapped up in a scam surrounded by small-town hospitality and good-natured fun.

The Music Man is also an opportunity to bring actors of all ages on stage, from children (two featured and opportunity for more) to teenagers (those singing and dancing kids in the library!) to a full range of adults. It’s family friendly, both for the actors on stage and the audience in seats.

Meredith Willson was a triple-threat himself – he wrote the book, lyrics, and music for the show, and he filled it with an astounding variety of musical styles, from barbershop to ballads, and patter numbers to marches. There are opportunities for all vocal types to sing this delightful and varied score.

My vision for the show, as with all shows I direct, starts with the story itself. What is the heart of the matter? In The Music Man, the core is the love story between Harold Hill and Marian the Librarian with an important secondary concern being the hope and joy Harold Hill, perhaps inadvertently, brings to the small town of River City, Iowa. So, how would I go about that? I begin by stripping the production down to the bare necessities – what do I need to tell the story clearly and effectively, and what could I do without? That gives me the opportunity to think of alternate and creative ways to suggest location – with movable set pieces or projections, for example – rather than using massive sets for the many locations in the musical. 

To make that work, I like to take a sort of Shakespearean approach, where one scene leads immediately into the next, almost (but not quite) overlapping, and where set changes are choreographed to be as smooth, efficient, and interesting as the dances. I want the technical elements to be fully integrated into the action of the play, all in service of the storytelling. That’s the sweet spot: the integration of good storytelling with clever and effective technical elements to make the show flow.

The vision, then, is quite straightforward: to tell the story as efficiently and directly as possible without adding on a lot of conceptual elements that get in the way. To celebrate this gentle family-friendly slice of American life.

I am fully committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in casting. While I don’t generally accept the idea that any casting is truly “blind,” my personal commitment is that casting should be open to anyone and that directors have a responsibility to be aware of and fight against the privileged forms of casting that likely happened in 1957 when this show went to Broadway. Times have changed, and so must our commitment to open casting.

The Music Man is a product of its time, and as such it has several instances of material that would be offensive to a contemporary audience. MTI has been contacted and permission has been granted to adjust those sections, either by including alternative material or making appropriate cuts.

This is a well-known show with lots of name recognition. It has a delightful story and great music throughout. It also has a large cast including several children and teenagers. These things alone will bring a lot of audience – both new and current – into the theatre.