Study Guide

This study guide has been prepared for you and your students. It is intended to assist in making the play enriching and enjoyable theatrical experience. Background information, discussion ideas

and suggested activities for use both after and before the play are included. Please feel free to select the material most appropriate for your class.

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DISCUSSION IDEAS: • Find out how many of your students have seen or

been in a play. • Discuss the ways in which theatre is similar to and

different from movies, television and other live events such as concerts, circuses, or sports events.

• Discuss Theatre Etiquette: There is a big difference between seeing a play and going to a movie. The actors are performing for you live onstage, and they can see and hear what goes on in the audience. Please have your students consider the following questions: 1. What behaviors are acceptable at a live theatre performance?

2. What behaviors are NOT acceptable? 3. How can audience behavior influence a performance in a positive manner? 4. How can audience behavior affect a performance in a negative manner? 5. What other points/ observations would you consider in this discussion? • Discuss the roles of director, playwright, musical director, choreographer,

actor, set designer, light designer, costume designer, stage manager, etc. in the creation of a musical play. (*See Who Puts a Show Together below.)

• Talk a bit about the art of acting. Actors need to possess many skills to communicate the story and their characters to an audience. Have your students list what skills they think an actor needs to be successful in a play (i.e., speaking clearly, imagination, physical agility, etc.)

WHO PUTS A SHOW TOGETHER

Director- Often, a director will come up with a show he/she likes, then finds people willing to help them put the show together. The director picks the actors, runs rehearsals, and works with every single member of the staff to create a unified vision of the production.

Choreographer- Choreographers design the dance in productions.

Musical Director– Rehearses all the music with the actors and musicians. Working with the director, they guide the live musical sound of the show.

Lighting Designer -The Lighting Designer, in cooperation with the director, decides on exactly how a production should be lit, using natural or artificial light sources.

Set Designer -Works with the director to create the physical space of the play. Draws up plans to be executed by the technical director and carpenters and painters.

Costume Designer-Works with the director to create the clothes the actors will wear.

Technical Director -Responsible for turning the set design into a practical set of working drawings and construction techniques, while ensuring a safe acting/working space for actors onstage.

Properties Master/Designer -Most productions use a Props Master to deal with the large number of small items that a play needs. In larger shows, there may also be a Props Designer who will decide on exactly what the props should look like, in coordination with the Director and Set Designer.

Stage Manager -The Stage Manager works very closely with the director and manages rehearsals, When the show is performing they are in complete control of every aspect of a production, and everybody answers to them.

Before the performance 2

Plot Synopsis 'Professor' Harold Hill is a con man who sells musical instruments, pretending that he will teach youngsters to play them and form a town band. His plan to carry out the scam at River City, a small town in Iowa, is thwarted when he becomes attracted to Marian Paroo, the local librarian, who immediately recognizes him as the fraud he is. When some of the town officials become suspicious of him, he forms them into a barbershop quartet. He gets around the ladies of the town by encouraging them to put on a concert and he wins Marian over by his kindness towards her younger brother, Winthrop, who was shy and withdrawn for several years over the death of his father before Hill arrived. Although she recognizes his scheme, Marian falls in love with him and helps him to escape detection. Hill is eventually found out, but decides to stay in town and face the music. Finally, the townspeople realize that even though he lied about the band, he did so much for the town (including the city officials, the ladies of the town and Winthrop) that they forgive him.

A Brief Biography of Meredith Willson

Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson was born in Mason City, Iowa on 18 May 1902. Meredith Willson was educated at Damrosch Institute of Musical Art (now known as The Julliard School). He was a flute and piccolo player. Willson was the solo flautist with John Phillip Sousa's band from 1921 to 1923 and he played flute in the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Arturo Toscanini from 1924 to 1929. Willson was concert director for KFRC in San Francisco and then became the musical director at NBC first in San Francisco and then Hollywood.

As musical director / conductor, Willson is known for his work on the popular radio programs: Carefree Carnival (1933-1936), Maxwell House Coffee Time (1940-19) and The Big Show (1950-1953). He wrote the theme song for Maxwell House Coffee Time - "You and I" which became a number one hit. He also wrote "May the Good Lord Bless You and Keep You" as the show closer for The Big Show.

Willson scored Chaplin's The Great Dictator and Hellman's The Little Foxes. He was a Major in the U.S. Army during World War II and was the Musical Director for the Armed Forces Radio Service.

Meredith Willson's The Music Man opened on Broadway on 19 December 1957 and went on for a 1375 performance run. The cast album won the very first Grammy Award ever presented. The Music Man won eight Tony Awards with Willson winning for Best Musical Author and Best Composer and Lyricist. The movie version won the Academy Award for Best Musical Score.

Willson also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which opened on Broadway in 1960 and Here's Love (a musical adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street) opened on Broadway in 1963. Willson's song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" written in 1951 and made famous by Perry Como was used in Here's Love.

Meredith Willson died in Santa Monica on 15 June 1984 at the age of 82.

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The traveling salesman appeared late in the 19th century both in Europe and in the U.S. The early itinerant peddler carried his goods on his back or on his horse, working his way from a port city through the hinterlands. With the coming of the railroad and the assurance given to sellers by new credit-reporting systems, salespersons with their sample cases moved across the land. Persuasive skill was less important in those days of unsatisfied demand, and orders were readily forthcoming. By 1900, however, with the increasing supply of manufactured goods, buyers

became more discriminating in their purchases. Greater attention was given to training the sales force and to providing buyer incentives. The growth of industrialization and urban living led to the development of merchandising as a major business endeavor. The use of sales promotion practices has experienced steady growth in the 20th century.

Daily life back then was very different from the daily life we have today. Did you know that today's supermarket food selection was considered luxurious even for rich families back then? Here is a sample menu. Compare the food types and prices to 2005. Appetizers Half of a Cantaloupe 10¢ Sliced Orange 10¢ Young Onions 5¢ Sliced Tomatoes 10¢ New Radishes 5¢ Sliced Cucumbers 10¢ Soup Old Fashion Navy Bean 10¢

CLOTHES: Back then most of the clothes for families were made by the family mom. Soon they were fitted and made by tailors, though. By the end of the decade almost everyone was buying already made clothes. The kinds of clothes that a woman

would wear were usually skirts that came down to the ground. Even if she was doing "unladylike" things, such as farming or bicycling. Another thing that they wore were high, buttoned shoes. The men's suits were almost always dark and heavy. In the summer, out in the country a man might wear white flannel, but back then there was no such thing as a "summer weight suit". Almost every man wore a hat. Farmers wore straw hats, rich people wore silk hats, and middle-class men wore derbies. So, as you can see the dress code back then was strict.

ENTERTAINMENT: Back in mid 1900’s, entertainment wasn't very graphic. They mostly had books and the radio for entertainment. Songs were printed on sheets of paper, so if you had the certain instruments you could play it. Most families had a few members (if not the entire family) who could play one or more musical instruments. Popular song titles in 1912 were: When It's Apple Blossom Time in Normandy, Waiting for the Robert E. Lee, Be My Little Bumble Bee, It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary, My Melancholy Baby

Traveling Salesmen

Life in 1912

Main Course Channel Catfish 20¢ Pork Tenderloins 20¢ Omelet with Jelly 15¢

Roast Pork with Applesauce 20¢ Chicken Fricassee 20¢

Roast Beef 15¢ Pork and Beans 15¢

Dessert Lemon Layer Cake 5¢

Ice Cream 10¢ Ice Cream and Cake 15¢

Raspberries and Cream 10¢ Rhubarb Pie 5¢

Green Apple Pie 5¢

Vegetables Corn on the Cob 10¢ Buttered Beets 5¢ Mashed Potatoes 5¢ Pickled Beets 5¢ Cole Slaw 5¢ Salad 10¢ Drinks Coffee 5¢ Milk 5¢ Tea 5¢ Buttermilk 5¢

Foods introduced in 1912: hamburger buns Hellmann's mayonnaise Life Savers Lorna Doone cookies Morton table salt Ocean Spray cranberry sauce Vitamins Whitman's Sampler chocolates Cracker Jack puts in a prize

Students modeling clothing, c. 1912

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Notions: Small lightweight items for household use, such as needles, buttons, and thread. Salesman 1:“Credit is no good for a notions salesman.” Anvil: A heavy block of iron or steel with a smooth, flat top on which metals are shaped by hammering. Salesman 1:“Charlie, you’re an anvil salesman..” billiards vs. pool Billiards: Also known as caroom (or carom) billiards, played with three balls (one cue ball and two object balls) on a pocketless table Pool: Developed much later than billiards. Also known as pocket billiards , using a cue ball and 15 object balls on a table with six pockets. Marcellus: “Nothin’- except the billiard parlor's just put in a new pool table.” Balzac: (1799-1850) Honoré de Balzac was a French writer of realist novels. Marian: “You’ll find it in Balzac.” masher: a man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women. Marian; “Do you think that I’d allow a common masher?” Gilmore:(1829-1892) Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was regarded by John Philip Sousa as the "Father of The American Band." . He wrote "When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” It was Patrick Gilmore and his band who started the tradition of greeting the New Year in Times Square. Liberatti: (1847-1927) Alessandro Liberati, . Born in Italy, played in the Cacciatori Band of Rome. 1872 came to U.S., became a U.S. citizen, and directed his own band that toured the U.S. from 1889-1919 and 1921-23. Pat Conway: Patrick Conway, 1865-1929. 1900-08, Director of the Ithaca N.Y. Municipal Band, which later became famous as the Conway Band. Toured and performed around the U.S. at the same time as Sousa’s band. The Great Creatore: Giuseppe C. Creatore 1871-1952. Directed the Naples Municipal Band in Naples Italy. Came to the U.S. in 1899. Organized his own band, Creatore’s Orchestra, which toured and performed around the U.S. at the same time as Sousa’s band, and continued performing until 1947. W.C. Handy: 1873-1958, African-American songwriter and bandleader; b. Florence, Ala. He was among the first to set down the blues and became famous with Memphis Blues and St. Louis Blues. John Philip Sousa: 1854-1932, band leader

and a composer. Sousa was the director of the U.S. Marine Corps Band from 1880 to 1892. After being discharged from the Marine Corps he formed his own band and gave concerts worldwide. His marches include "El Capitan," and "Stars and Stripes Forever." Harold: “And you’ll feel something akin to the trill I once enjoyed when Gilmore, Liberatti, Pat Conway, The great Creatore, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa all came to town.” Jeely Kly: This is a regional phrase used as a more acceptable version of "Jesus Christ". Similar substitutes listed in slang dictionaries include Jeazle Peats, Jeezly, jeasley, jeasly, Jee!, Gee! Jee whizz! Tommy: “Jeely Kly, lemee go.” pianola: a trademark kind of player piano; Pianola. a mechanically operated piano that uses a roll of perforated paper to activate the keys. syn: player piano. Ethel: I’m Ethel Toffelmier. The pianola girl?” Del Sarte: (1811–71) Francois Del Sarte, French teacher of acting and singing. Delsarte formulated certain principles of aesthetics that he applied to the teaching of dramatic expression. He set up rules coordinating the voice with the gestures of all parts of the body. Harold: “Every move you make, Mrs. Shinn, bespeaks Del Sarte.” Chaucer: Geoffrey Chaucer, c.1340-1400. English poet regarded as the greatest literary figure of medieval England. His best know work is The Canterbury Tales. Rabelais: (1494?-1553) Francois Rabelais - a French humanist, is one of the comic geniuses of literature. He was a Benedictine monk and became a physician. Beneath the often ribald humor of the book are serious discussions of education, religion, politics, and philosophy. Alma Ethel and Eulalie sing: “Chaucer! Rabelais! Balzac!” Steelies: A type of marble. A shooter made out of steel that can be either solid or hollow. Aggies: A type of marble. A shooter made from the mineral, agate. PeeWees: A type of marble. A smaller marble that is 1/2" or less in diameter. Glassies: A type of marble. Glassies are glass marbles, either handmade or

machine-made; and are the most common type of marble used. Harold: “Marbles. Six steelies, eight aggies, a dozen peewees and one big glassie.” O’Clark, O’Mendez, O’Klein: These three famous musicians were definitely not Irish. Clark was Canadian, Mendez was Mexican, and Klein was Jewish. Harold is just adding an O’ in front of their names to make them sound Irish so he can make the sale. Harold: “Well– you see all the really great Coronet players were Irish O’Clark, O’Mendez, O’Klein.” The Wells Fargo Wagon: Since 1852, the Wells Fargo stagecoach has been a symbol of reliable service. Over one hundred years ago, their stages traveled across thousands of miles of desert, prairie, and mountain roads to deliver mail and cash. Gracie: Papa! The Wells Fargo Wagon is just comin’ up from the depot!”

Zaneeta to Mayor: “It’s Capulets like you make blood in the marketplace”: reference to Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet (1596). Romeo, the young heir of the Montagues, attends the great ball of the Capulets in disguise and falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of the house. During a street brawl in the marketplace, Romeo’s friend Mercutio is killed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, and Romeo in turn kills Tybalt. Harold to Marian: “What does the Poet say? The coward dies a thousand deaths – the brave man only 500”: The correct quote is “Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once” -- William Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar.

Glossary of Terms One reason Meredith Willson's great American musical The Music Man is appealing is because of the fast paced and witty dialogue. However, there are a few terms and expressions used in the show that cause most of us to run to dictionaries and encyclopedias. Glossaries for two of the more difficult songs, Rock Island and Trouble are on the following pages. Below are words from the dialogue in the show.

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1st salesman: Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks 3rd salesman: Cash for the cotton goods, cash for the hard goods 1st Salesman: Cash for the fancy goods 2nd salesman: cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frikins 3rd Salesman: Cash for the hogdhead, cask and demijohn. Cash for the crackers and the pickles and the flypaper 4th Salesman: Look whatayatalk. whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayataalk, whatayatalk? 5th Salesman: Weredayagitit? 4th Salesman: Whatayatalk? 1st Salesman: Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker ya can talk, ya can bicker, bicker bicker ya can talk all ya want but is different than it was. Charlie: No it ain't, no it ain't, but ya gotta know the territory. Rail car: Shh shh shh shh shh shh shh 3rd Salesman: Why it's the Model T Ford made the trouble, made the people wanna go, wanna get, wanna get up and go 7,8.9,10,12,14,22,23 miles to the county seat 1st Salesman: Yes sir, yes sir 3rd Salesman: Who's gonna patronize a little bitty two by four kinda store anymore? 4th Salesman: Whaddaya talk, whaddaya talk. 5th Salesman: Where do you get it? Charlie: Not the Model T at all, take a gander at the store, at the modern store, at the present day store, at the at the present day modern departmentalized grocery store 4th Salesman: Look whatayatalk. whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayataalk, whatayatalk? 5th Salesman: Weredayagitit? 4th Salesman: Whatayatalk? 1st Salesman: Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker ya can talk, ya can bicker, bicker bicker ya can talk all ya want but is different than it was. Charlie: No it ain't, no it ain't, but ya gotta know the territory 3rd Salesman: Why it’s the Uneeda Biscuit made the trouble. Uneeda, Uneeda put the crackers in a package, the Uneeda Biscuit in an air-tight sanitary package made the cracker barrel obsolete. Charlie: obsolete, obsolete 4th Salesman: Cracker barrel went out the window with the mail pouch cut plug chawing by the stove. Changed the approach of the traveling salesman, made it pretty hard- Charlie: No it didn't, no it didn't, but ya gotta know the territory. 3rd Salesman: Gone, gone 1st Salesman: Gone with the hogshead cask and demijohn, gone with the sugar barrel, pickle barrel, milk pan, gone with the tub and the pail and the tierce 2nd Salesman: Ever meet a fellow by the name of Hill? 1st Salesman: Hill? Charlie: Hill? 3rd Salesman: Hill? 4th Salesman: Hill? 1st Newspa-per Hill? 2nd Newspaper: Hill? 5th Salesman: Hill? 2nd Salesman: Hill? All but Charlie and 2nd Salesman: NO! 4th Salesman: Never heard of any salesman Hill 2nd Salesman: Now he doesn't know the territory 1st Salesman: Doesn't know the territory?!? 3rd Salesman: What's the fellows line? 2nd Salesman: Never worries bout his line 1st Salesman: Never worries bout his line?!? 2nd Salesman: Or a doggone thing. He's just a bang beat, bell ringing, Big haul, great go, neck or nothin, rip roarin, every time a bull's eye salesman. That's Professor Harold Hill, Harold Hill 3rd Salesman: What's the fellows line? 5th Salesman: What's his line? Charlie: He's a fake, and he doesn't know the territory! 4th Salesman: Look, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddayatalk, whaddaystalk? 2nd Saleman: He's a music man 1st Salesman: He's a what? 3rd Salesman: He's a what? 2nd Salesman: He's a music man and he sells clarinets to the kids in the town with the big trombones and the rat-a-tat drums, big brass bass, big brass bass, and the piccolo, the piccolo with uniforms, too with a shiny gold braid on the coat and a big red stripe runnin . . . 1st Salesman: Well, I don't know much about bands but I do know you can't make a living selling big trombones, no sir., Mandolin picks, perhaps and here and there a Jew's harp ... 2nd Salesman: No, the fellow sells bands, Boys bands. I don't know how he does it but he lives like a king and he dallies and he gathers and he plucks and shines and when the man dances, certainly boys, what else? The piper pays him! Yes sir ,yes sir, yes sir, yes sir, when the man dances, certainly boys, what else? The piper pays him! Yessssir, Yessssir Charlie: But he doesn't know the territory!

button-hooks: A small hook for fastening a button on shoes or gloves. noggins: A small mug or cup. Also a unit of liquid measure equal to one quarter of a pint. piggins: A small wooden pail or tub with an upright stave for a handle, often used as a dipper. firkins: A small wooden barrel or covered vessel -- used for butter, lard, etc. hogshead: a very large barrel or cask with varying capacity to hold liquid. In the US a hogshead is 63 gallons. cask: A barrel-shaped vessel. It may be larger or smaller than a barrel. demijohn: a very large bottle, sometimes up to 10 gallons in capacity. Most were hand blown bottoms. They were used as containers to hold wine, molasses, and other liquids. Model T Ford: The first widely available automobile pow-ered by a gasoline engine; mass-produced by Henry Ford from 1908 to 1927. two-by-four kinda store: putdown - small or petty of its kind, as in "this house and its two–by–four garden" – Philip Barry Uneeda Biscuit: Up to the 1880s, crackers were unbranded and typically sold loose in cracker barrels. But Adolphus Green, who had created the National Biscuit Company , de-cided to develop a distinctive, nationally branded prod-uct .Green settled on the name Uneeda Biscuit ("biscuit," Green decided, was more elegant than "cracker"). The prod-uct would be manufactured in a distinctive octagonal shape and sold in a waterproof wax paper-lined box. sanitary package: first used to describe packaging to keep items like crackers from spoiling. From Encarta: "In 1899 the National Biscuit Company introduced its successful Uneeda Biscuit package. This package is generally considered to have signaled the end of the bulk-merchandising procedures of the country-store era." cracker barrel: A large, cylindrical container, holding crackers. People supposedly would gather round cracker bar-rels for conversation in old-time general stores. Mail Pouch cut plug: a popular brand of chewing tobacco, sold in hard plugs that would be cut with a knife. The gro-cery store owner would use a mechanical device to cut the plug into flakes to sell or make hand-made cigarettes to sell. tierce: A cask holding the old unit of liquid measure of the same name equal to 42 US gallons. which salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment. line– the product the salesman sells. Jews-harp: A lyre-shaped instrument of music, which, when placed between the teeth, gives, by means of a bent metal tongue struck by the finger, a sound which is modulated by the breath. Also called also jaw harp and Jew's-trump. when the man dances the piper pays him: To pay the piper means "to bear the consequences of something". This twist means Harold Hill never has had to pay for his actions – as a matter of fact, he even profits from them without conse-quences

Lyrics to Rock Island (opening song) Rock Island Glossary 6

Harold: Well, either you're closing your eyes To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated By the presence of a pool table in your community. Ya got trouble, my friend, right here, I say, trouble right here in River City. Why sure I'm a billiard player, Certainly mighty proud I say I'm always mighty proud to say it. I consider that the hours I spend With a cue in my hand are golden. Help you cultivate horse sense And a cool head and a keen eye. Never take and try to give An iron-clad leave to yourself From a three-rail billiard shot? But just as I say, It takes judgment, brains, and maturity to score In a balkline game, I say that any boob kin take And shove a ball in a pocket. And they call that sloth. The first big step on the road To the depths of deg-ra-Day-- I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, Then beer from a bottle. An' the next thing ya know, Your son is playin' for money In a pinch-back suit. And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'. Not a wholesome trottin' race, no! But a race where they set down right on the horse! Like to see some stuck-up jockey' boy Sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil? Well, I should say. Friends, lemme tell you what I mean. Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table. Pockets that mark the diff'rence Between a gentlemen and a bum, With a capital "B," And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool! And all week long your River City Youth'll be frittern away, I say your young men'll be frittern! Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too! Get the ball in the pocket, Never mind gittin' Dandelions pulled Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded. Never mind pumpin' any water 'Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty On a Saturday night and that's trouble, Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble.

I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers, Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool Hall window after school, look, folks! Right here in River City. Trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool! Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents. I'm gonna be perfectly frank. Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes On while they're loafin' around that Hall? They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs, Tryin' out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Fiends! And bragging' all about How they're going to cover up a tell-tale breath with Sense. One fine night, they leave the pool hall, Heading' for the dance at the Armory! Libertine men and Scarlet women! And Rag-time, shameless music That'll grab your son and your daughter With the arms of a jungle animal instinct! Mass-stair! Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground! Mothers of River City! Heed the warning before it's too late! Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption! The moment your son leaves the house, Does he rebuke his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime novel hidden in the corn crib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like 'swell?" And “so's your old man?” Well, if so my friends, Yaw got trouble, Right here in River city! With a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" And that stands for Pool. We've surely got trouble! Right here in River City! Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule! Oh, we've got trouble. We're in terrible, terrible trouble. That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool! Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble! With a "T"! Got to rhyme it with "P"! And that stands for Pool!!!

balkline: A line parallel to one end of a billiard table, from behind which opening shots with the cue ball are made. Jasper: any male fellow or chum, usually a stranger Dan Patch: (1897-1916) Most famous trotting horse ever, from Indiana. cistern: A receptacle for holding water or other liquid, especially a tank for catching and storing rainwater. knickerbockers: Full breeches gathered and banded just below the knee (which is why moving them above the knee is such a shocking thing to do) shirt-tail young ones: Very young: shirttail kids. Bevo: From Anheuser-Busch. A non-alcoholic drink that tasted like beer. Cubebs: the dried unripe berry of a tropical shrub (Piper cubeba) of the pepper family that is crushed and smoked in cigarettes. Tailor Mades: A tailor-made cigarette referred to any cigarette made in a factory on a cigarette making machine. Sen Sen: was to the 19th century what breath mints are to our time. Any country store worth its salt, prominently displayed a box of the handy little packets within easy reach of its customers. Rag-time: A style of jazz characterized by elaborately syncopated rhythm in the melody and a steadily accented accompaniment. Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang: Captain Billy’s was the most prominent comic magazine in America with its mix of racy poetry and naughty jokes and puns, aimed at a small-town audience with pretensions of ‘sophistication’" so’s your old man: catch phrase from 1900. An exclamation, used as a retort to an insult or slur. The Maine: U.S. battleship sunk (Feb. 15, 1898) in Havana harbor, killing 260, in an incident that helped precipitate the Spanish-American War. “Remember the Maine” became the rallying cry of the war. Plymouth Rock: Plymouth, Massachusetts, is the oldest settlement in New England, founded in 1620. Plymouth Rock is on the beach where the Mayflower landed. The Golden Rule: saying of Jesus, from the Bible --Evolved into modern saying – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Lyrics to Trouble Trouble Glossary 7

The Music Man is a perfect example of the classic American Musical. But what exactly is the “American Musical” ? Below is short history of the art form:

Although English ballad operas and musical afterpieces were performed in many of the colonies, no native works appeared until the 1780s. They were called everything from "comic operas" to "oratorical entertainments." The first major star of the American musical stage was probably John Durang (born in Lancaster, PA) who performed hornpipes, jigs, and topical songs as interludes in plays and operas and later ran his own theater company. But it was not until The Black Crook, which opened in 1866 at Niblo's Gardens in New York, that song, dance, and spectacle were grafted onto an existing melodrama and the American musical was born. The story was rather wooden, but this was compensated for by lines of ballet girls dancing in precision formations while the chorus sang songs like "The Amazon March."

By the end of the nineteenth century the American musical stage encompassed a number of genres. Operettas included Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland (1903), with its famous "March of the Toys," and the Vienna import The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar, first seen in New York in 1907. There were also topical musicals such as A Trip to Chinatown (1891), which featured local color and geographical songs like "The Bowery," and revues with roots in minstrel shows, which were a sophisticated development of the burlesque and vaudeville format.

George M. Cohan, a key figure in the musical theater in the early twentieth century, wrote, produced, directed, and starred in shows that dealt with jingoistic and patriotic themes and made popular such songs as "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Over There." After World War I Broadway entered one of its golden periods when "Cinderella" musicals (so called because usually the heroine starts poor and ends up rich and famous) like Irene (1919), Sally (1920), and Sunny (1925) dominated the stage, the last two tailor-made vehicles for the era's biggest star, Marilyn Miller. Tap dancing choruses regaled audiences in No! No! Nanette! (1925) or did the "Varsity Drag" in Good News (1927), and George and Ira Gershwin introduced a more sophisticated jazz style in such musicals as Oh, Kay! (1926) and Funny Face (1927).

Florenz Ziegfeld glorified the American girl in his famous annual Follies, which introduced Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, and Bert Williams, the first black entertainer to become a major Broadway attraction. Ziegfeld's production of Show Boat (1927), written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, pointed the way to a new form of musical play distinct from the fast-moving musical comedy and the flamboyant operetta.

During the Great Depression the revue format became less lavish; examples include The Bandwagon (1931), which showcased the talents of Fred and Adele Astaire, and Irving Berlin's As Thousands Cheer (1933), which introduced the hit songs "Heat Wave" and "Easter Parade." The composer who probably best personified the era was Cole Porter, whose wit and sophistication beguiled audiences in such musicals as Anything Goes (1934), Red, Hot and Blue! (1936), and DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), all three written for Ethel Merman, famous for her clarion tone and spirited delivery.

Although dancing had always been a part of the musical, it became more closely linked to the story when Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart asked George Balanchine to choreograph the dances

American Musical Theatre, a brief overview

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for On Your Toes in 1936. The importance of dance in the musical story was carried further by Agnes de Mille, choreographer in 1943 of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, which banished dancing choruses and extraneous numbers and integrated song and dance with both plot and character development, especially in the "Dream Ballet" at the end of the first act, a dance making visual the heroine's personal dilemmas.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein format was employed successfully in productions from South Pacific (1949) to The Sound of Music (1959), both starring the popular Mary Martin, and was continued by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe in My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960), as well as The Music Man by Meredith Wilson (1957) among many others.

The next step in the Broadway musical was taken by Jerome Robbins who conceived, directed, and choreographed West Side Story (1957), written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. This production made dance integral to the story (not just in a dream sequence) and demanded that performers sing, dance, and act—the triple-threat talent required for most subsequent shows.

During the 1960s the ascent of rock 'n' roll pushed Broadway out of its place as the trendsetter of American popular music. The Great White Way reacted in two ways: retreats into nostalgia in shows like Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Mame (1966) and spoofs of the rock craze, as in Bye, Bye, Birdie (1960). Hair (1967), billed as "the tribal love-rock musical," was the closest Broadway came to capturing the era, but there were no successful follow-ups. Black musicals such as The Wiz (1975) or Ain't Misbehavin' (1978) brought a more diverse audience to some theaters, but increasingly Broadway appealed to a more limited audience, as the high costs of producing a musical forced the price of tickets up—fifteen dollars for an orchestra seat in 1970, thirty-five dollars by 1980, sixty dollars by 1990. Stephen Sondheim was the most prominent American composer-lyricist of the era with his sophisticated approach that conceptualized the musical as a theme rather than a sequential story. This was first seen with Company in 1970 and continued twenty years later with Into the Woods (1989).

In contrast to the Sondheim musicals were director-choreographer shows, usually dealing with some form of show business. The best example is Michael Bennett's A Chorus Line (1974), which showed the grim prospects of a Broadway audition and became the longest-running musical in Broadway history, not closing until 1990.

During the 1980s Broadway saw its leadership challenged by British musicals. Andrew Lloyd Webber was especially successful with such shows as Evita (1978), Cats (1982), and Phantom of the Opera (1987), all of which combined spectacle, special effects, and large casts accompanied by almost continuous music and little or no spoken dialogue. The American musical was not dead, however, and the acclaimed City of Angels (1990), Rent (1996) and Wicked (2003) prove there is a continuing vitality on the Broadway stage.

Original Music Man logo, 1957

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After the performance Discussion Questions: • What moments of this production were memorable for you? List the three things you liked most about the show and why. • What did you think of the Set, Lights, and Costumes? How did all those elements help tell the story ? How did the Set designer define each location? How did the Light designer help set the mood? How did the Costume designer help define each character? • What character would you want to be if you were in The Music Man? Why? • Is Harold Hill a hero or a villain? Why do you think so? • How did Harold, Marion and Winthrop change from the beginning of the play to the end?

Did any other characters change? • Do any of the characters remind you of anyone you know today? Friends, family, politicians

or celebrities? • Can we learn anything from The Music Man? Is there a moral to the story? What moral

would you write for it? Activities: • Write a letter to the actor who played your favorite character, telling them why you

choose them. Or write to the designers telling them what you liked or what you would have done differently, include your own designs if you want to! Letters may be sent to: Fulton Opera House, Attn. Joanna Underhill, PO BOX 1865, Lancaster , PA 17608-1865

• Be Salesman! – with a twist: Harold Hill is a fast-talker. He’s a good salesman because he

always sounds like he knows what he’s talking about even when he is making it up right on the spot. Here is a fun game of salesmanship in which you get to create your very own language:

Gibberish Introduction– Gibberish is the substitution of shaped sounds for recognizable speech. Each player should find a partner and practice having a c conversation in gibberish. Make sure players are varying their sounds and sticking to a monotonous repition, i e. dee dee da da dee dee. Gibberish selling– Each player, speaking gibberish, sells or demonstrates something to the group. Allow one to two minutes per player. Player scan practice in pairs before selling or demstarting to the group. Keep in Mind– Direct contact. Players should “pitch” their product to the audience. “Pitching” as practiced in carnivals, stores, or traveling salesmen requires direct contact with others. Questions to ask– What was being sold or demonstrated? Was there variety in the gibberish? Did the player “pitch” directly to us? Would you buy the product? • What if? Use your imagination and answer some “what if” questions– What if Harold sold

shoes instead of instruments? How would he get the town to buy them? What if Marian turned Harold in instead of helping him? What if Mrs. Shinn fell in love with Harold? Write your own “what if” questions. Share them with the class. Write down your answers and act them out as new scenes fort the show.

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