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June 26, 2002
Okay, so this is where you start to find out what a weird person I am. I have been obsessively listening to the Broadway cast album of The Music Man for the last three days or so. Don't ask me what brought this on, because I'm not sure. It's great music, though -- and interesting. The piano lesson with "Goodnight, My Someone," the barbershop layered with "Lida Rose" as well as "Pick A Little, Talk A Little" ("He left River City the library building, but he left all the books to her!" . . . hee). Great stuff. This is all not to mention the fact that when I was in high school, a guy I knew wrote in my yearbook, "You still mystify, puzzle, and confuse me." If he didn't get it from "Sincere" ("Your apprehensions confuse me, dear, puzzle and mystify . . .") then it's a lovely coincidence. And if he did, then it's one of those bittersweet things that's almost too lovely to contemplate. "How sweet that mem'ry, how long ago . . . " Posted by Alison-Jane at June 26, 2002 08:22 PMComments
The Music Man was the first musical I saw professionally produced (the national tour came to Chicago, I was in 7th grade). I loved it. Then later I went through a period of imagining that I shouldn't think so highly of it because it wasn't, y'know, progressive or whatever, it was just fun. And now? I've not only regained my earlier fondness for it, I like it better and better all the time. I think it's one of the great shows, and even the people who like it sometimes underrate it. So thanks for mentioning it. The cast album (and THANK YOU for not calling it a "soundtrack") is, as you say, great stuff. So many of the songs grow out of everyday things (the piano lesson, the school board's arguments) that it really does build up the half-hidden overall theme that there's music everywhere, if we only allow ourselves to be aware of it ("but I never heard them at all..."). I teach History of Musical Theater every fall. Would you believe that there are kids every year (who've known the songs all their lives) who gasp "I never noticed that!" when I point out that "Goodnight My Someone" and "76 Trombones" have the same tune? (Thereby proving that Harold and Marian are right for each other, despite appearances.) One more Fun Fact: You mentioned a lot of the neat counterpoint of one tune against another, and it's definitely one of the pleasures of the score. There's one more that was planned, but ended up unused: "My White Knight" and "The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl" fit together in counterpoint. The duet was originally planned as the Act I finale. You can hear it on a Music Man recording on the Telarc label. Oh, and in case you didn't know and are curious: Meredith Willson wrote a book about getting TMM written, produced, and rehearsed. It's called But He Doesn't Know the Territory, and it's great fun to read. Posted by: Rinaldo on June 27, 2002 11:19 AMPost a comment
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