Thu 2/11 @ 7PM
The musical The Music Man, which made its Broadway in 1957, is a lighthearted, romantic period piece, set in 1912 and both poking fun and looking fondly at a small-town American life that was already starting to vanish in the 50s. A huge hit, it produced song after song familiar to virtually everyone who follows popular music at all: “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Ya Got Trouble,” “Till There Was You,” “Lida Rose,” “Goodnight, My Someone,” “Gary, Indiana.” Both lyrics and music were by Meredith Willson, who never had another hit of quite that magnitude.
Naturally it was made in a film — movie musicals were big business in 1962 when it was released — starring Robert Preston (reprising his Broadway role) and Shirley Jones. And “Ronny” Howard, then 8, played Jones’ kid brother!
The Music Man is the topic of The Musical Theater Project’s next “Movies at Home” discussion. First watch TMTP artistic director Bill Rudman’s introduction here; then stream the movie on Amazon Prime or YouTube. Finally, join Rudman on Zoom for the post-film discussion which also includes a Q&A. Go here to be part of it.
musicaltheaterproject.org/moviesathome