The Music Man

In 1912 a salesman named Harold Hill arrives in a small Iowa town. His pitch: the town will form a boys' band, with instruments and uniforms paid for in advance. He cannot read music, knows nothing about bands, and plans to leave once the money is collected. What stops him is that Marian the librarian sees through him on day one and does not turn him in anyway. Morton DaCosta adapted Meredith Willson's Broadway musical and insisted on keeping the stage Harold Hill, Robert Preston, when the studio wanted a bigger name. The opening number Ya Got Trouble, built on Preston's speaking rhythm, is counted among the hardest routines in musical history. Who it is for: viewers who like classic American musicals and stage-trained performance. Who it is not for: anyone without patience for two and a half hours and the period's portrait of small-town life.