The Music Man with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster has finally opened on Broadway and that, of course, is no small accomplishment when you consider all the problems it had. The reviews, which are being aggregated on this page, are not as ecstatic as one might expect. Most so far seem to wish Mr. Jackman was a bit more treacherous, love almost everything Ms. Foster did, find the sets a bit odd, find the prices for good seats outrageous, say the show revels in its old-fashionedness, and endorse the sheer bankability of the project, no matter what the critics quibble over.
Not that I believe in believing all the critics but I am a bit less frustrated that I probably won't get back to New York to see this show, at least with its opening night cast. It'll probably remain a hot (and costly) ticket as long as Jackman and Foster are there. But it does sound a bit sanitized for our protection. Writing about "the show's treatment of men's casual harassment of women," New York Times critic Jesse Green noted…
You can't really remove it from the main story; Hill's modus operandi involves seducing piano teachers and leaving them flat. (At one point he refers to Marian as his "commission.") In light of that, it seems foolish merely to change a lyric here or there; in the dopey dance tune "Shipoopi," the couplet "the girl who's hard to get…but you can win her yet" has become suddenly enlightened as "the boy who's seen the light…to treat a woman right."
This gets us back to the question of whether a period-piece should reflect current values — an issue I wrestled with for the recent revival of My Fair Lady. I don't have a pat answer for that except that bad behavior should not be endorsed but we should also not pretend that it never existed. And I don't think that line in "Shipoopi" needed changing. Even in the most enlightened of times — which we have yet to reach — there will still be folks eager to mate, trying to win over the person with whom they wish to mate. That's not wrong. It's how one goes about it that might be wrong.