"Professor" Harold Hill has made a long career of selling fake boys' bands to small towns - no instruments or uniforms ever arrive, and the erstwhile "professor" is long gone once anyone notices. He attempts the same scam on the stubborn folks of River City, Iowa, only to run up against librarian/piano teacher Marian, who's wise to his wily ways.
Music and lyrics: Meredith Willson
Trivia:
Hard to believe as the styles are so different, but this show came out the same year as "West Side Story" - and beat Bernstein and Sondheim for the Best Musical Tony!
Biggest hits:
"Ya Got Trouble"
"76 Trombones"
"Till There Was You"
Tony Awards (1958):
- Best Musical
- Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Robert Preston as Harold Hill)
- Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Barbara Cook as Marian Paroo)
- Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (David Burns as Mayor Shinn)
- Best Conductor and Musical Director (Herbert Greene)
Musical numbers:
- Overture/Rock City
- Iowa Stubborn
- Ya Got Trouble
- Piano Lesson
- Goodnight My Someone
- Seventy Six Trombones
- Sincere
- The Sadder But Wiser Girl
- Pick a Little Talk a Little
- Marian the Librarian
- My White Knight
- The Wells Fargo Wagon
- It's You
- Shipoopi
- Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You
- Gary, Indiana
- Till There Was You
- Finale
Past Show Tunes Episodes
