The Music Man (2003)

Contemporary rethinking of the legendary Broadway musical and 1962 film, updated to reflect a few early twenty-first-century sensibilities: A masterful con artist tries to bilk a staid ... See full summary »

Director:

Jeff Bleckner

Writers:

Meredith Willson (story), Franklin Lacey (story)

Stars:

Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber

Nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Broderick	...	Professor Harold Hill
Kristin Chenoweth	...	Marian Paroo
Victor Garber	...	Mayor Shinn
Debra Monk	...	Mrs. Paroo
Molly Shannon	...	Mrs. Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn
David Aaron Baker	...	Marcellus Washburn
Cameron Monaghan	...	Winthrop Paroo
Clyde Alves	...	Tommy Djilas
Cameron Adams	...	Zaneeta Shinn
Linda Kash	...	Alma Hix
Patrick McKenna	...	Charlie Cowell
Megan Moniz	...	Amaryllis
Richard Fitzpatrick	...	Constable Locke
Jenni Burke	...	Mrs. Squires
Marty Beecroft	...	Ewart Dunlop

Storyline

Contemporary rethinking of the legendary Broadway musical and 1962 film, updated to reflect a few early twenty-first-century sensibilities: A masterful con artist tries to bilk a staid Midwestern community, with unexpected results.

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Plot Keywords:

con artist | male female relationship | song | singing | singer | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Musical | Romance | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 February 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

A szótlan zenész

Filming Locations:

Millbrook, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Storyline Entertainment,Touchstone Television,Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

150 min 180 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", Matthew Broderick's character Ferris is shown playing the clarinet badly and he says "Never had one lesson." In "The Music Man" he plays Profeesor Harold Hill, a band leader who cannot read music or play an instrument.

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Goofs

At the end of "Sadder But Wiser Girl", the piano player's fingers strike the piano keys after the last note is played... showing that the piano player is acting like he is playing piano. Also, at the beginning of "Sincere", Ewart Dunlop does not start singing when the rest of the quartet does.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Train conductor: River City Junction, River City next station stop, River City next Aboard!
Salesman #1: It's them big new department stores back East. They let people buy anything on credit.
Salesman #2: If I don't give credit, I'm gonna lose customers.
Salesman #1: You crazy with the heat. Credit is no good for a notions salesman.
Salesman #2: Why not? What's the matter with credit?
Salesman #1: It's old-fashioned. Charlie, you're an anvil salesman, your firm give credit?
Charlie Cowell: No, sir!
Salesman #1: Nor anybody else.

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Connections

Featured in ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration (2003)

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Soundtracks

Seventy-Six Trombones
Written by Meredith Willson
Performed by Matthew Broderick and chorus

User Reviews

It was...fine.

Well, The Music Man is one of my all time favorite musicals. There were aspects about this one that I preferred to the original and some that I didn't. I have been in the stage version before and I noticed that they made this movie more similar to the stage version than just like the original movie. For example, they put in the reprise of pick-a-little, talk-a-little, etc...

First of all, the casting. I thought that if I hadn't seen the original movie version of this musical I would have enjoyed Matthew Broderick in this role a lot more. I thought he was good, but he didn't hold a candle to Robert Preston's performance as Harold Hill. He wasn't as convincing as Harold Hill as I hoped he would be. Overall, I wasn't impressed with him.

Kristin Chenoweth is definitely someone in this musical that I was impressed with. I really didn't think I would like her in this role, but I think I actually liked her better than Shirley Jones. I knew how well she fit the role of Sally in the new Broadway version of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and after that, I was having trouble picturing her as Marian Paroo. I still found her speaking vioce a little annoying and Sally-ish, but I thought she made it work. I think what I liked most about her performance was the change I saw in the character of Marian throughout the movie. I saw the transition from the up-tight librarian to a woman who is a lot looser and not as shrewish. I never saw that in the version with Shirley Jones. I really saw Marian fall for Harold Hill in this version, I don't think Shirley Jones played that up as well as she could have.

A couple complaints I have about this version are the fact that I found the girl playing Zaneeta Shinn pretty annoying and...well...not very good. Her "Ye Gods" was...well...just kind of...blah. I found the dance number of Shapoopi to be pretty weak, also. I thought that Harold and Winthrop's thing was cute and I thought that the Shinns' thing was cute, but where was all the fun dancing?

I don't really know how I felt about Molly Shannon playing Eulalie. I thought Hermione Gringold was perfect in that role in the original movie, but I really had no problem with Molly Shannon in this role. I didn't think she was better or worse, just different. Victor Garber could have been better, though. The role of the mayor is an entertaining role and he didn't really play up the mayor's stupidity as much as he could have. Same for the guy who played Marcellus. He could have put more into it. Buddy Hackett made this role unique and fun. This guy just made it...okay. Not bad, but not very good either.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. Mainly because of Kristin Chenoweth. I didn't think this movie was great, but it wasn't bad. It was...fine.