Top of the Hill

Over time, I've seen a lot of productions of The Music Man.  (Or to call it correctly, Meredith Willson's The Music Man.)  In fact, it was the very first professional stage musical I ever saw, not much past a wee toddler, at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago.  When people say how no one could top Robert Preston as 'Harold Hill' -- and to be clear, I pretty much agree with that, it's a remarkable iconic performance -- I always say that I saw someone who was awfully great, and someone who fit the role to a T, as well, as a charming, conniving con man:  Forrest Tucker.  And pretty much everyone pauses a moment and then says, "Yeah, I can see that.  He'd be pretty good."  And he was, he was great.  I even recognized that at that age.

​In fact, I still have the program!

(The actress opposite him was Joan Weldon, who is still around at age 90.  And to my surprise, I recently saw her in an old episode of Have Gun, Will Travel.  She played an aspiring opera singer who Paladin has to give some training advice to.)

Perhaps because this was my first professional show ever to see -- I still remember my reaction to it at intermission, right after "76 Trombones," being enthralled by what I had witnessed for the first time, still just halfway through, and even hopping about and turning my little sportcoat around, like 'Harold Hill' does to turn his jacket into a bandleaders coat.  (See above...)  And I recall the bemused smiles by all the adults in the lobby watching this weirdly-happy kid -- or perhaps because it really is such a classic, wonderful musical, I have been a bit of self-proclaimed connoisseur of the show  One other thing I remember about that matinee -- it was delayed because Maurice Chevalier was in the audience, and some of the cast came into the auditorium to get his autograph!  

I should add that the show contains one of my favorite lines in any musical.  It comes near the end when Harold is being chased and appears about to be caught by the angry townspeople.  He finally confesses his actions to Winthrop, the little brother of Marian who he's just realized he's fallen in love with. And when Winthrop cries out in accusation, "There isn't any band, is there?." Harold replies -- "I always think there's a band, kid."

Another notable actor I saw in the role of 'Prof. Harold Hill' was Dick Van Dyke in Los Angeles.  He was wonderful, as you might imagine, and a joy to see.  Though I don't think he was right for the role.  I think it works best when the character contrasts the townspeople and is a big city fast-talker, as opposed to trying to sort of blend in with everyone and charm them as, which is how he played it.  That was also the quibble I had with Matthew Broderick's interpretation in the TV remake.)

I also saw Eric McCormack do the show at the massive Hollywood Bowl.  This was probably 20 years ago, at the height of when he was starring on NBC in Will & Grace.  My recollection is that he played the role as sort of combination of the two styles -- in part "aw, shucks" and in part the cynical city hustler.  I thought he did a good job.  No better than that, but not worse either.  A very solid performance.  (Though I think to get the most out of the role, it calls for more than solid, it calls for owning the stage.)  I wrote about that a few years ago and even included a video of him singing "Marian the Librarian" when they took the production to Broadway.  You can read the piece and see the video here.

​I wrote here about seeing the seeing the show a couple years ago at the acclaimed Goodman Theatre in Chicago.  I had high hopes for that because their standard is so high, and though I liked the production, I was surprised how mediocre I found the lead.  Definitely not the standard for the Goodman, for my taste..

I mention this all because it turns out that I found about 10 minutes of footage of Eric McCormack playing the Professor.  It seems his performance at the Hollywood Bowl held him in good stead, because when the show had its Broadway revival in 2000 with Craig Bierko, McCormack briefly took over the role for three months in 2001 during a summer hiatus in Will & Grace's run.  

So, here's that footage.  It's mostly "76 Trombones," but afterwards the video also includes him performing "The Sadder but Wiser Girl."