New ‘Music Man’ Plays a Different Note

Anybody who grew up with the larger-than-life image of Robert Preston as the charming con man Professor Harold Hill in the 1962 film version of Meredith Willson’s classic “The Music Man,” may be in for a shock with ABC’s new three-hour version that premieres Sunday night on “The Wonderful World of Disney.”

Starring as Hill in this new adaptation is two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick (“Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”) who is about 180 degrees in demeanor and singing style from the exuberant Preston. Broderick’s Hill comes across as a grown-up but still boyish Ferris Bueller type -- a quiet, low-keyed charmer who enchants the children of a staid Iowa town, circa 1912, and wins the heart of its librarian.

“We have got a character who is basically the Pied Piper,” says Kathleen Marshall, who choreographed and staged the musical numbers. (Her brother Rob Marshall directed the hit film “Chicago,” so musicals run in the family.) “For the kids, he’s fun and fresh. And for the parents, the kids are being disciplined by him.”

The old-fashioned, homespun musical comedy finds Hill arriving in no-nonsense River City intent on selling the parents on the need for a boy’s marching band in order to keep them “moral after school” and away from the new pool table. Hill’s scheme is to leave town with a tidy profit in his pocket just as the boys’ uniforms and instruments arrive.

Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth plays Marian, the town’s lovely but independent librarian; Debra Monk is her mother; Cameron Monaghan plays Marian’s young brother, Winthrop; and Victor Garber is River City’s stuffy mayor. The delightful songs include “Trouble,” “Goodnight, My Someone,” “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Till There Was You.” Restored to this version is “My White Knight,” which was cut from the 1962 film. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (the films “Annie,” “Cinderella,” “Chicago”) are the executive producers; Jeff Bleckner (“Beach Boys: An American Family”) directs.

Broderick admits his first thought when approached about “The Music Man” was: “Is there any point in doing it because it was done so perfectly,” he says. “But then as I thought about it, it is such a good piece of material, there are so many good songs it wouldn’t be right for nobody to ever try it again.”During production of “The Music Man,” Broderick says he never consciously thought how to make Hill his own.

“I never had that conversation with myself,” he says. “I just did it like I do everything else. I went from scene to scene and tried to figure out what was the most active way to do this scene. Hopefully it adds to something.”

Chenoweth (“Annie”) says she didn’t realize what an intimate piece “The Music Man” was until she was in front of the cameras. She was also surprised to discover Marian’s rich complexities, pointing out that she’s usually portrayed as an old maid.

“In fact she hasn’t found the right person,” says Chenoweth. “But she’s not going to settle.... I wanted to show the side of her that longs to want someone. Believe me, I can relate because I am not married ... I haven’t found the right person.”

After Bleckner agreed to do “The Music Man,” he watched the original film, which he hadn’t seen in years. “I found the movie dated, very stagy. I spent a lot of time trying to think of zillions of different ways I was going to make ‘The Music Man.’ I didn’t want to make it a cartoon because I think film works better from a natural base. I had this notion about keeping it real yet at the same time turning it from a play very much into a film.”

“The Music Man” can be seen Sunday at 7 p.m. on ABC. The network has rated it TV-G (suitable for all ages).

Cover photograph by Jason Bell.