I love a good musical, and as someone who writes about music, I especially love musical soundtracks. “The Music Man’s” soundtrack was probably one of the most energizing I’ve heard, with a familiar name attached to it. 

Meredith Willson, the writer and composer, based the fictional city of River City off his hometown of Mason City. Willson was also the composer of the “Iowa Fight Song,” commissioned by the University of Iowa around 1950.

The musical centers around professor Harold Hill, a con man who runs a scheme on the citizens of River City by offering to take the rowdy, misbehaving boys and put them in a boy’s brass band. Hill clashes with piano teacher and librarian Marian Paroo. 

From the start, I knew the musical was going to be fun. The scene opens with a bunch of salesmen on a train to River City complaining about the con artist who seems to be everywhere and is ruining their sales. 

The set design was incredible. In one standout scene, men sat in a box that looked like a train car, and as they sang, they bounced in their seats to mimic the movement of a locomotive. 

Harold, who was on the train but was hidden behind a newspaper, gets off the stop at River City. As the con artist finds himself in the center of town, a new set is revealed with the help of a projector screen and a few cleverly placed props. 

If you haven’t heard of the musical beforehand like me, there are at least two songs you have probably heard of: “Trouble” and “Seventy Six Trombones.” With the song “Trouble,” Hill tries to convince the townspeople to form a boy’s brass band with the line, “‘You got trouble, folks, right here in River City…’” and terrifies them into believing that their sons will turn to gambling. Hill sings a mile a minute in an engaging and funny song, perhaps drawing from the idea of salesmen being fast-talkers. 

At the July 4 town meeting, Hill takes a different approach. There, he sings “Seventy Six Trombones,” stating that he can deal with the troubled boys, and glamourizes the idea of a boy brass band. As he goes through the list of different brass instruments, the townspeople dance around him, and by the end of the song, are fully convinced a band will work. 

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Of course, there is still one person who needs convincing and that is Marian, the music teacher and librarian. After multiple attempts to talk to her, Hill confronts her in the library. I absolutely loved this set design, because it looked so much like a real library with two tall shelves filled with colorful books, a circulation desk, and children’s books. 

As any library frequenter knows, libraries value quiet, so watching Hill trying to sing “Marian the Librarian” but constantly being shushed by her was hilarious and relatable. The book choreography done by the town kids was also impressive as they did flips, splits, and spins all while holding books. With all the impressive choreography and singing, Marian is still not charmed by the salesmen, but that song was probably one of my favorites in the entire musical.

What convinces her is when her 10-year-old brother Winthrop takes an interest in the band. Winthrop, a shy boy with a lisp,  is charmed by Hill and the idea of the boy’s band. He is inspired by Hill’s nontraditional teaching method of the “think system,” where if you can think the notes, you can play them. 

If you are a beginner musician with no experience, the “think system” is completely ineffective without practice and a good teacher. Hill is not a good teacher, and uses the system as a cop out, basically leaving the children to teach themselves. The townspeople are in awe of this new method, but it isn’t until salesman Charlie Cowell comes to town, that Harold realizes the jig is up. 

Cowell, one of the salesmen from the beginning of the musical, tries to convince Marian about Hill’s scheming nature, but she chooses to ignore it, having fallen for the conman over the course of the musical. Perhaps we would consider that a modern-day enemies-to-lovers trope, but I personally found that a little cliche. 

From the start, she is established as an intelligent woman with a love for books and music, and the moment her romance begins to develop with Harold, she suddenly pushes her morals aside for him. I won’t deny that their relationship was cute to watch, but it felt like she became a completely different person. 

As the drama unfolds, and Harold finds himself back in the center of town, what saves him is the boy’s band. A handcuffed Hill badly conducts an enthusiastic boy’s brass band and they, of course, perform terribly. In a surprising twist, the townspeople are elated at the band’s “success” and set Harold free. 

The musical concluded, but the evening was not over, as the actors who played Harold and Marian came back out to talk to the audience. They shared the composer’s history with the university and then revealed a surprise: in honor of Meredith Willson, the Hawkeye Marching Band was going to perform on stage. 

The curtains pulled back, and members of the marching band in full uniform, performed a rendition of “Seventy Six Trombones” combined with the “Iowa Fight Song” as the audience clapped along. It made for a very fitting tribute.