All tagged The Music Man
Oh, you knew that sooner or later I was going to have to address this one, easily the most debated Tony Awards Best Musical outcome in history. Many people feel that West Side Story should have bested The Music Man this season, when it was, in fact, the other way around. Today, we look at the merits and detractions of both shows, as well as those of the three other nominees to debate whether Tony got it right.
Break out the marching band uniforms, the brass instruments, the banners and batons! The Music Man is headed back to Broadway and it is time for a parade. Producer Scott Rudin has announced that Tony-winning actor Hugh Jackman (The Boy From Oz) will make his triumphant return to the Broadway musical stage as Professor Harold Hill in a revival of the classic for the fall of 2020. Jerry Zaks (Hello, Dolly!) will direct the piece with Warren Carlyle (After Midnight) choreographing. Performances will begin on September 9, 2020 toward an October 22 opening at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.
Meredith Willson gave us one big Broadway smash hit with The Music Man, one modest hit with The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and one critical failure with the musical Here’s Love. For a man who wrote so adeptly about parades and an unlikely romance between two stubborn individuals in The Music Man, Willson seemed like an ideal choice for bringing the classic holiday film Miracle on 34th Street to the musical stage. Here’s Love was that attempt, but the show failed to ignite on Broadway lasting a serviceable (if lackluster) 334 performances. Not exactly a disaster, but this was a time when the big hits were running well over 1,000 performances. The show opened on October 3, 1963, a little over a month before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which may have led to a slump in ticket sales as Broadway as a whole experienced a weak fall and winter that season. Nevertheless, Here’s Love cannot blame all of its shortcomings on the bad timing of its opening.
One of musical theatre’s most celebrated leading men is the late, great Robert Preston. Demonstrating a warm confidence, Preston had a booming voice that could shake the room like thunder. He possessed an indelible charm, something unique and extra that is rarely found in other leading men of Preston’s day. Though he is looked back upon as one of Broadway musical’s icons, it is interesting to note that Preston only had a handful of Broadway musical outings over his career. Robert Preston split his time evenly, appearing in plays and films as well. But it was on the musical stage that his talents particularly shined. Today, I take a look back at the Broadway musicals that had the honor to have Robert Preston in the cast.
