The Tony Awards were held on June 3. On June 5, three of this season's Broadway entries — Bells Are Ringing, Jane Eyre and A Class Act — announced they would close the following Sunday and a day later, Follies posted a closing date of July 14. Something of the sort happens almost every year after the Tonys and it usually has less to do with the shows not winning awards than with the broadcast not functioning as infomercial and giving a quick bump to the box office. I have no idea how good any of the first three shows were but the numbers presented on TV were pretty unimpressive. But then, trimmed to the bone and coming out of nowhere, most shows' best scenes would seem pretty shabby. I did, as reported here, see Follies the other night and found it much better than the outta-context quickie on the Tonys would suggest.
The closing of Bells Are Ringing on June 10 was a special shame because I had tickets — third row, center — for June 16. Instead, we went to see the new production of The Music Man for the second time and had another wonderful time. I'm a sucker for this show when done well and, at the Neil Simon Theatre on West 54th, they're sure doing it well.
Since first viewing a year ago, this version seems to have grown a bit broader and funnier, and a few of the cast replacements don't seem as fabulous as their predecessors. Rebecca Luker is still playing Marion the Librarian and is still as wonderful in the role as is humanly…perhaps super-humanly possible. It was worth seeing the show again just to hear her sing, "Til There Was You" — a perfect match of song and singer. The big change, of course, is that Craig Bierko — who opened this production as the eminent Professor Harold Hill — has been replaced by Eric McCormack, who is best known from his role on the TV show, Will and Grace. McCormack is very good in the part and, if forced to compare, I'd say Bierko was the better singer and better at nailing the serious side of Hill, whereas McCormack is a better dancer and funnier. But those are minor distinctions and I'd go see it a third time with either. Hell, I'd go see it with Strom Thurmond in the lead if Rebecca Luker were still singing Marion.
(On the other hand, I wouldn't be optimistic about the national tour that is currently being assembled…reportedly, non-Equity, which likely means a decent star in the lead, surrounded by a lot of mediocre actors.)
While we're talking Music Man: I recently came across a great website devoted to the many incarnations of Meredith Willson's magnum opus. It's full of treasures, including some internal studio memos and budgets about the film version. For instance, there's a letter from director Morton DaCosta saying that they should try to sign up Robert Preston before he takes on another play, and another where DaCosta throws out casting ideas — for Marion: Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor or Shirley Jones; for Mayor McShinn, Fred Clark; for Marcellus Washburn, Stubby Kaye. Of those, only Ms. Jones wound up in the movie but don'tcha think Stubby Kaye would have been terrific?
Also, if some of the cultural references in the play are unknown to you — like if you don't know who The Great Creatore and Dan Patch were — here's a link to a website that decodes 'em all.