AVM Blog Party!

Ben here! I am hosting a Musical Blog Party on my Other Blog  This Blog has been open for Guest Posting!!! Our Guest today is a Miss Christine Eyre. Thank you so much for participating, Christine. I'll give you the stage now :-)

*Claps as Christine takes the spot-light.* 

Day 2—A musical you have a love/hate relationship with

Hoo boy. This was a small challenge, because I tend to love a musical (The Phantom of the Opera, Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities) or dislike it (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers [those just aren’t my type]). Mixed feelings about musicals are rare.

But one musical does merit this complicated emotion: The Music Man (1962 film). At first, I fully disliked it, and still dislike several aspects, but sometimes musicals just have to grow on me. I’ll end with the reasons why I like it so as to finish on a positive note.

Oh, and before I explain what I dislike, please know that I’m not trying to offend anyone or squash a favorite musical into poor, sad pulp. 

So here’s what I dislike:

The worst turn-off in The Music Man is the manipulation. Manipulation drives me nuts, which is one reason I dislike many “comedy” TV shows. Maybe the story wasn’t trying to justify Harold Hill’s behavior, but some of his slick moves were played for humor. I don’t understand this is supposed to be funny. It shows a lack of logic on both sides, and a lack of integrity in the character of Professor Hill.

The prime example of this manipulation problem is the song “You’ve Got Trouble.” It’s a catchy song, but not as fun as it is frustrating to me.

Hey, calm down and quit throwing rotten oranges! (Tomatoes are boring.) What’s frustrating is the number of logical fallacies in Professor Hill’s “argument”. He creates a fear and then plays on it, a fallacy called, naturally, “appeal to fear,” and one that uses fear of what might happen as the only basis for doing something. Harold Hill also calls the pool table a forerunner to corruption, which is the “slippery slope” fallacy, one that assumes a chain of disastrous events will follow X insignificant action. And Professor Hill’s “signs of corruption” have nothing to do with the pool table. This fallacy is called “after this; therefore, because of this,” which assumes that because the kid had a nicotine stain on his index finger after the pool table came in, said pool table must have caused an interest in cigarettes.

The underlying problem is that Harold Hill doesn’t have an argument founded on facts and reason. So he can only prophecy dire consequences of tolerating the pool table—and the whole town buys the argument (or lack of it), except Marian.

Speaking of Marian, I dislike the ending of her character arc. In Act I, she is cautious (though cold) toward Harold Hill, refusing his romantic overtures and entertaining sensible skepticism toward his schemes. She stuck to her standards for a future spouse, even when her mother pressures her to consider Harold Hill as a suitor. Which is why it drives me nuts when, in Act II, she drops all those standards and gets enamored with Professor Hill even after she knew that he’d lied to the town. I—I—I—what?!?! There went my respect for her, and it’s incredibly frustrating to lose respect for any story character.

But the musical did grow on me, and I came to like several aspects. The music is catchy, for one thing, and some of the songs are fun, such as “76 Trombones,” “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You? “and “Marian the Librarian”.

In fact, “Marian the Librarian,” is my favorite song—it’s fun, the choreography is cool, and I totally relate to her annoyance with the interrupted library work.  And though Marian changes in the second act, I really liked her character in the first act: she was sensible, hardworking, tried to encourage intelligence and open minds, and put up with gossip and scorn.

Also, some parts of the musical were hilarious without requiring manipulation for laughs—such as, the mayor getting his words mixed up (“Not one poop out of you madam!”) and the Independence Day exercises in the school gymnasium. And the ladies doing upright posture exercises when their “dance” required them to bend over!

Speaking of dancing, The Music Man has some amazing choreography. The dancers made it all look so easy. “Madame Librarian” had some fun dancing in it, but “76 Trombones” probably has the best.

And I liked the end of Harold Hill’s character arc: he (spoilers!) comes clean, confesses that he’d been misleading the town, and explains the truth to the kid who looked up to him. Professor Hill also led the band as he’d promised to do.

So, The Music Man. Definitely a love-hate relationship, but it grew on me to the point that if a sibling puts it on, I’ll probably sit down and watch it. 

That's all for now folks. Share your thoughts in the comments! Thank you again, Christine, for blogging. Hope to see you again! 

BEN.