The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naïve Midwestern townsfolk, promising to train the members of the new band. Harold is no musician, however, and plans to skip town without giving any music lessons. Prim librarian and piano teacher Marian sees through him, but when Harold helps her younger brother overcome his lisp and social awkwardness, Marian begins to fall in love with him. He risks being caught to win her heart.
Buddy Ebsen, also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971); afterwards he starred as the title character in the television detective drama Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).
Hugh Ernest Leo Williams, known professionally as John Williams, was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, as the chauffeur in Billy Wilder's Sabrina, as Mr. Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and as the second "Mr. French" on TV's Family Affair in its first season (1967).
Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and comic actor. Known for his raunchy material, heavy appearance, and thick New York accent, his best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man (1962), Benjy Benjamin in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug (1968), and the voice of Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (1989). He was also a frequent guest on TV game shows and variety shows.
Robert Gérard Goulet was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts, until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Canada. Cast as Sir Lancelot and originating the role in the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot starring opposite established Broadway stars Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he achieved instant recognition with his performance and interpretation of the song "If Ever I Would Leave You", which became his signature song. His debut in Camelot marked the beginning of a stage, screen, and recording career. A Grammy Award winner, his career spanned almost six decades. He starred in a 1966 television version of Brigadoon, a production which won five primetime Emmy Awards. In 1968, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for The Happy Time, a musical about a French-Canadian family set in Ottawa.
Ignatius "Iggie" Wolfington was an American actor. He was the youngest member of the prominent Wolfington family of Philadelphia, operators of a carriage business early in the 20th century and brother of the founder of Wolfington Body Company in Exton, Pennsylvania. He married Lynn Wood, an actress, in 1972.
"Come Sail Away" is a song by American pop-rock group Styx, written and sung by singer and songwriter Dennis DeYoung and featured on the band's seventh album The Grand Illusion (1977). Upon its release as the lead single from the album, "Come Sail Away" peaked at #8 in January 1978 on the Billboard Hot 100, and helped The Grand Illusion achieve multi-platinum sales in 1978. It is one of the biggest hits of Styx's career.
"Lullaby of Broadway" is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, published in 1935. The lyrics salute the nightlife of Broadway and its denizens, who "don't sleep tight until the dawn."
"Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" is a show tune composed by Irving Berlin for the 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. The song is a duet, with one male singer and one female singer attempting to outdo each other in increasingly complex tasks.
"Day-O " is a traditional Jamaican folk song. The song has mento influences, but it is commonly classified as an example of the better known calypso music.
The Music Man is a 1962 American musical film directed and produced by Morton DaCosta, based on Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which DaCosta also directed. Robert Preston reprises the title role from the stage version, starring alongside Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Ronny Howard, and Paul Ford.
"Let's Misbehave" is a song written by Cole Porter in 1927, originally intended for the female lead of his first major musical production, Paris. It was discarded before the Broadway opening in favor of "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love". However, the star of the Broadway production, Irene Bordoni, performed it for a phonograph recording which was labelled as being from the production of Paris.
"You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)" is a popular song from 1913 composed by James V. Monaco with lyrics by Joseph McCarthy. It was introduced by Al Jolson in the Broadway revue The Honeymoon Express (1913), and used in the 1973 revival of the musical Irene.
The Music Man is a 2003 American made-for-television musical film directed by Jeff Bleckner with a teleplay by Sally Robinson. It is based on the 1957 musical of the same name by Meredith Willson, which in turn was based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth and features David Aaron Baker, Debra Monk, Victor Garber, and Molly Shannon. It was originally broadcast on ABC on February 16, 2003, as the eleventh episode of the forty-seventh season of The Wonderful World of Disney.
"Me and My Shadow" is a 1927 popular song. Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer are credited as the writers, with Jolson and Dreyer listed on the sheet music as responsible for the music and Rose the lyrics. Jolson was often given credits on sheet music so he could earn more by popularizing the tunes, but he played no part in writing this song. Jolson never recorded "Shadow", but in 1927, he used it in the touring version of "Big Boy".
Frank George Aletter was an American theatre, film, and television actor.
"Everyday" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty, recorded by Buddy Holly and the Crickets on May 29, 1957, and released on September 20, 1957, as the B-side of "Peggy Sue". The single went to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1957. "Everyday" is ranked number 238 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
The Royal Teens were an American rock and roll band that formed in New Jersey in 1956 and originally consisted of Bob Gaudio on piano, Tom Austin on drums, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on saxophone. The group is best known for its single "Short Shorts", which was a number 3 hit in the United States in 1958. The follow-up single, 1959's "Believe Me", hit number 26. They never recorded an album, and broke up in 1965.
"Ya Got Trouble" is a patter song by Meredith Willson from the 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man, and its 1962 filmed version. It is one of the most popular and recognizable songs in the musical, and Robert Preston's performance in the film is admired. Willson considered eliminating a long piece of dialogue from his draft of The Music Man about the serious trouble facing River City parents. However, he realized it sounded like a lyric and transformed it into "Ya Got Trouble".
Smash is an American musical-drama television series created by playwright Theresa Rebeck. It premiered in the United States on NBC on February 6, 2012. The series revolves around a fictional New York theater community making new Broadway musicals. In the first season, the focus was on the making of Bombshell, a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. In the second season, the show was split between taking Bombshell to Broadway and the creation and mounting of a contemporary pop musical called Hit List that was about the price of fame. Other fictional musicals that were touched on for which original songs were performed include Beautiful and Liaisons. A few of the songs were written for events outside of the aforementioned musicals.
