The Music Man (2003)
PLOT:
Professor Harold Hill, a con artist who makes a living by selling instruments and uniforms to aspiring musicians he fails to teach once they are delivered, sets his sights on the naive citizens of River City, Iowa as his latest targets. With the assistance of former sidekick Marcellus Washburn, who now is living in the rural town, Harold convinces the residents their only hope of saving their sons from the corruption of the local pool hall is to allow him to create a marching band and help them develop their musical talents.
Suspicious of Harold’s claim that he has a musical degree from the “Gary Conservatory of Music,” prim and proper town librarian and piano teacher Marian Paroo begins to investigate his background, much to the dismay of her mother, who hopes by participating in the band, Marian’s younger brother Wintrop will overcome the shyness he suffers as the result of a pronounced lisp. Marian tries to enlist the aid of Mayor Shinn, whose wife Eulalie and her friends always have looked askance at Marian due to her relationship with a man who left the library building to the town but all its contents to Marian. Mayor Shinn appoints four city councilmen to look into Harold’s past, but they fall under his spell when he encourages them to emulate a barbershop quartet and never quite manage to see his alleged credentials. By the time Marian uncovers the truth about Harold, she has fallen in love with the shyster and he in turn – much to his surprise – feels the same way about her.
REVIEW:
When this film first aired on television a few years back, I wasn’t a huge musical fan and had yet to see the original version, so my opinion of it was totally different from the one that I hold today, now that I’ve been a bit more educated.
The Music Man remains one of my favorite musicals…partially because I’m a music person, myself. As I’ve stated in many entries before, I am no fan fo remakes. However, there are always exceptions, and this is one of those cases.
The film doesn’t try to reimagine anything,which is good, but rather it updates the cast. The script is the same, but that is based more on the fact that it comes from the original musical.
On the negative side of things, there is just something missing from this one that the original is not lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I throughly enjoyed it and all, but that magical feeling you get inside when you watch the 1962 version, just isn’t there with this one. It was kind of like they tried so hard to either not besmirch and insult the original or wanted to make it their own that they fogot to capture the audience. Unfortunately, that is the major downfall.
Musically speaking, the songs are same as the original, with a few little tweaks here and there, that only those with an ear for them will be able to pick up. They did extend a couple of the songs in order to incorporate some elaborate dance sequences. I’m not sure if those were in the stage production, but they just didn’t seem to fit.
The cast is pretty good. Matthew Broderick had the most pressure on him, filling in the shoes of Robert Preston. For the most part, he does a good job, but, like the film, he just doesn’t hit a home run. It’s more like a pop fly. Had I not seen Preston’s performance, though, I may have thought otherwise.
On the other side of the coin, Kristin Chenoweth eclipses Shirley Jones’ Mariann vocally, but Jones has her in the acting dept. Chenoweth comes off a bit too cold for my taste, but I can look past that due to the silhouette that these period clothes showed of her.
I’ve always thought of Victor Garber as one of those distinguished type of actors, so seeing him as the scatterbrained mayor, just didn’t quite work for me.
Molly Shannon seemed a bit wasted as Mrs. Shinn. Not that she did a bad job ir is a bad actress, but for the small amount of time she’s on screen they could have pulled someone off the street and pretty much gotten the same results…and for a lot less money.
As much as I like this film, I don’t love it, mostly due to my affection for the original. Many people who have seen both will agree, which is unfortunate, because this really is a great film, it just pales in comparison (and will always be compared to) the original. My recommendation is to watch them both, but make sure you put some space in between them, so that you’re not comparing one to the other, then make your own opinion, For me, this is worth watching, but if you’re looking to add one to your collection, go with the original.
4 out of 5 stars
