Arena Stage "Music Man"-set in the 1930's...- Page 7

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/25/12 at 8:29pm

best12 is right: we don't have to choose between THE MUSIC MAN and WEST SIDE STORY. I only mentioned fans of the latter because that's who I usually hear dismissing TMM as mere "fluff".

***

As I said, I don't have a copy of the libretto handy, but more of the lyrics are coming back to me.

If Marian had had a child out of wedlock, how would she ever sing to her mother, "I have my standards where men are concerned"? How would either of them keep from laughing?
Updated On: 5/25/12 at 08:29 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/25/12 at 8:51pm

PIANO LESSON/IF YOU DON'T MIND MY SAYING SO

Marian

So do la re ti mi

A little slower and please keep the fingers curved

as nice and high as you possibly can

Mrs. Paroo

If you don't mind my saying so

It wouldn't have hurt you to have found out

what the gentleman wanted

Marian

I know what the gentleman wanted,

You'll find it in Balzac

Mrs. Paroo

Well excuse me for living, but I've never read it

Marian

Neither has anyone else in this town...

Mrs. Paroo

There you go again with the same old comment

About the low mentality of River City people

And takin' it all too much to heart

Marian

Now, Mama

As long as the Madison Public Library was entrusted

to me for the purpose of improving River City's

cultural level, I can't help my concern that the

ladies of River City keep ignoring all my council and advice.

Mrs. Paroo

But darlin':

When a woman's got a husband and you've got none

Why should she take advice from you?

Even if you can quote Balzac and Shakespeare and

All them other high-falutin' Greeks?

Marian

Mama,

If you don't mind my saying so, you have a bad habit

Of changing every subject -

Mrs. Paroo

No, I haven't changed the subject, I was talkin' about

that stranger -

Marian

What stranger?

Mrs. Paroo

With the suitcase who may be your very last chance.

Marian

Mama!

Do you think that I'd allow a common masher

-Now really, Mama!

I have my standards where men are concerned, and I have no intention -

Mrs. Paroo

I know all about your standards

And if you don't mind my sayin' so

There's not a man alive who could hope to measure up

To that blend of Paul Bunyan, Saint Pat and Noah Webster

You've concocted for yourself

Out of your Irish imagination

Your Iowa stubbornness and your library fulla' books!

Updated On: 5/26/12 at 08:51 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 5/25/12 at 9:06pm

Mama!
Do you think that I'd allow a common masher
-Now really, Mama!
I have my standards where men are concerned and I have no intention -

Case closed. Thank you, best12bars.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/25/12 at 10:26pm

I don't really think that musical conversation "works" if both women are hiding a secret from the entire town. Even loaded with subtext, those don't seem like the words they would be saying to each other in private. Mrs. Paroo would have a more desperate agenda for Marian.

And Marian wouldn't be singing about "My White Knight." Also, she would actually BE the "sadder but wiser girl" he sings of.

Harold Hill romancing here works so well when she is an aging virgin. I kinda think that's the fun of it.

Updated On: 5/25/12 at 10:26 PM

[justme3]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 1:33pm

Marian is NOT 26. She is in her mid to late 30s. The story is set in the summer of 1912. When they meet at the footbridge Harold tells her she is "26 years late." Was she supposed to come as an infant? 26 years would be 1882. How old would Marian be to go to the footbridge which is apparently the Lover's Lane of River City? If she was 10, that means she is 36 at the youngest. If Marian is 36, Mrs. Paroo could easily be in her early 50s if she gave birth to Marian at 17.

Winthrop is 10. That makes Marian 26 years older than her brother, at the least. What the heck was or wasn't happening in the Paroo home for 26 years? Some peple claim that Marian is Winthrop's mother, but why couldn't Mr. Madison be the father of Winthrop but also by Mrs. Paroo?

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 6:45pm

Oh, I think it's even juicier than that ...

Mr. Paroo found out about his wife and Miser Madison, and killed the miser, then took his own life.

Fortunately, Madison had already redone his will, leaving all the books in the library to Marion, to appease his mistress, her mother!

All in the quaint town of Peyton Place, Ioway!