the music man movie?

[BroadwayBaby3]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:27pm

does any1 know if theres a music man movie? i think my schools doing it for the school musical and i wanna watch the movie so i can know wat role to try out for. thanks!!

[wickedfan]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:30pm

Yes, with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. They are both great but the movie is only okay. out of four stars i'd give it like 2 1/2 or 3. then theres the tv movie with matthew broderick and kristin chenoweth which is just awful. if u want to watch one, watch the older one.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:30pm

There are actually two. The 1962 version stars the man who created the role, Robert Preston, in a legendary performance along with Shirley Jones and the 2003 version stars Matthew Broderick and Kristen Chenoweth.

I would HIGHLY recommend the 1962 version.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:35pm

*sigh* May God forgive Matthew Broderick.

[Fair 2 Middlin]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:36pm

I'm happy they tried instead of not at all.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:37pm

Shirley Jones rules!!!

[mominator]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:38pm

Yet another vote for the '62 version. Robert Preston so owns the role of Harold Hill.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:39pm

Rath - what, exactly ARE the Shirley Jones Rules?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:40pm

The 1962 movie with Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, and a VERY young Ron Howard is the most perfect movie adaptation of a musical... ever.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:41pm

Not me. The 1962 version is a flawless and almost entirely complete film version that is utterly faithful to the original. A remake was completely unecessary and a waste of time and money as there was literally nothing that could be gained or improved. Annie, Gypsy, and Bye Bye Birdie made much more sense as the previous film versions seriously altered the original works. Thus, the TV remakes were justified. Ther was nothing to justify a remake of The Music Man.

[Fair 2 Middlin]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:47pm

Annie remakes were justified? Weren't there 3 different movie versions? I think if a remake can reach someone who wasn't interested in musical theater and as a result they are, great.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 4:50pm

There were two movie versions. The theatrical release (1982) that only retained about 25% of the stage version and the Disney TV version (1999), which retained about 75% of the stage version.

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 5:41pm

the 1962 version is alot better movie but the 2003 tv movie is alot closer to the broadway show. the number one problem in the tv movie is the casting of matthew..it just didn't work!

[musicalmjk]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 5:45pm

actually ive been in this show twice in the same year. and i really dont think that this movie is in anyway a remarkable film, it is a good tranfer to screen but Gary, Indiana is Winthrop's song i dont like how in the film and the recent revival it was also sung by Harold, well also id say that both films have good sequences in them, I thought it clever how during Pick a little they had the hens and then the over headshots of the ladies. yet in both of then they moved the Shipoopi number to late in the movie when in the stage show its the opening number of Act 2.

[Millie42]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 6:31pm

I heart Robert Preston. I could listen to him all day.

The new version was a nice attempt and all, but Harold Hill is not supposed to have such a baby face. I dont know what they were thinking with Matthew Broderick.

[wickedkiwi]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 6:42pm

i definetely like the old version better. it isn't just mathew broderick, who is too young and "nice" for the role of the music man, but also, chenowith just doesnt cut it. her singing is perfect, of course, but you dont LOVE her. in fact, u hate her. she's a really mean librarian! ur not rooting for her! meanwhile you adooore jones, and you completely sympathyze with her, because you really do see her transform in the film and you believe it. i dunno, maybe its just me.

also, the costume designs (especially most of marian's) are AWFUL in the new film (is that a taco on eulalie's head??!!), and so when it came time for me to do the costumes for the show i kept going back to the original film for inspiration. maybe camera wise the 2nd one is a lot more original, the angles are cooler, and perhaps the dancing is better, but i dont remember. i love eulalie in the new movie, as well as in the old, and i think i prefer the mayor in the old one. also, the girl that says yee-gads is SOOOO much better in the old film, like, a gazillion times over!

i dunno, go for the old one. period. watch the new one afterward, just for reference, but the old one is the first one you should see and the one you should study the most for ideas.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 11:15pm

Yes, Shirley Jones RULES!

Especially in her Oscar winning performance in ELMER GANTRY, in which she is incredibly gorgeous and sexy, cast against type as a prostitute.

[LuvUrBatBoy]

Posted: 9/23/04 at 11:23pm

This may have already been said but the biggest problem I had with the Broderick version was the horrible miscasting/non-use of the amazing supporting cast

Debra Monk was wasted (her talent wasted, not drunk lol) as Mrs Paroo and her dialect was terrible

Molly Shannon, normally hilarious in whatever she does was woefully unfunny as Mrs Shinn

And above all, the amazing Victor Graber was completely miscast as Mayor Shinn...The guy who was thinking HEY maybe we could get the guy who played Daddy Warbucks, must have been high.

Plus it didnt help that the movie had the most irritating Winthrop I've seen, (and Ive seen 3 community versions, the original movie, and on Broadway with Eric McCormack as Harold)

[another sloe eyed vamp]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:00pm

And please don't forget Hermione Gingold in the 1962 movie.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:21pm

Stick with the Shirley Jones version. As much as I like Chenoweth, it pales.

Anyone watching VH1's new Partridge series? She's still going.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 8:58pm

The 1962 version with Robert Preston is the best. I saw that when I was 5 and decided right then and there that I wanted to play a musical instrument. I started clarinet lessons a few years later and still play today.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 3:30am

The 1962 version all-the-way. Preston gets the chance to do what many don't get the opportunity to do: recreate and preserve his performance from the stage version. Shirley Jones is stunning as Marion Paroo and just listening to her singing "Goodnight My Someone" and he "duet" with the Buffalo Bills "Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You?" are highlights of the film. Add to that a cast that includes Hermoine Gingold, Paul Ford, Ronny Howard and Buddy Hackett and you have one of the best movie musicals made. The Disney TV version doesn't hold a candle to the 1962 version.

[Marquise]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 3:35am

redhotinnyc2 the Shirley Jones rules are as follows:

1.) Start off by playing sweet ingenues in Rodgers & Hammertsein musicals.

2.) Follow that up by playing the town whore and walking off with an Oscar for your performance

3.) Revert back to musicals by playing a sweet librarian alongside Robert Preston

4.) Head an all-family rock 'n' roll band with your teen-idol step-son

5.) Achieve legendary status by having done all of the above.

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 11:25am

Now the 2003 version may not be as good as the 1962 version but there are some good things about it like "Iowa Stubburn" the 1962 version has the best "Marian The Librarian" scene I would watch both because I just finished this play and I learned a bit from both.