4 Reasons Why Our Crumbling Culture Still Loves ‘The Music Man’

Exploring the enduring appeal of a classic American musical

I was on my bike the other evening, riding through a local park, when I heard the strains of “Seventy-Six Trombones” wafting out from the pavilion on the lake. A local community theater was producing “The Music Man,” one of those old standby musicals that gets pulled out for an airing year after year. Judging from the number of cars covering the area, this classic play of small-town Americana had drawn a crowd.

“What is it about ‘The Music Man’ that brings out such a crowd?” I wondered to myself as I stood there, catching sideline glimpses of children and adults in early 20th-century hats and dresses as they ran on and off stage. In the chaos of recent years, the simple ideals expressed in “The Music Man” seem almost out of date and something we would be ashamed of—an Americana we’re supposed to forget as a relic of the racist patriarchy or something. And yet, everyone was sitting there watching, a willing and eager audience.

Continuing my ride through the park, I began making a mental list of the possible reasons why we still love “The Music Man” in this callous and careless age. In short, I realized that we still love it because it speaks to some of the most basic needs and experiences of life, including the following four.

Community

River City, Iowa, where professor Harold Hill sets up camp in “The Music Man,” is a classic village where everyone knows everything about everyone else—and maybe even some more they don’t want to know. The town’s residents are concerned about their children, and they’re concerned about their town streets. They don’t want trouble on those streets, and they certainly don’t want their children to be the ones causing that trouble!

In short, they are a tight-knit group of individuals who do get on each other’s nerves—but they’re still a group. They have each other, their homes, and a sense of belonging.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for many Americans today. We don’t know our neighbors well enough to greet them by name, let alone gossip about them. With costs so high, those in the younger generations have difficulty purchasing a home, so they drift around renting various apartments, even relocating regularly to different cities, leaving little time to put down roots. And belonging? With families broken and churches shunned, there are few groups in which today’s Americans feel they can make friends and discuss things that matter.

Thus, the first reason we are drawn repeatedly to “The Music Man” is likely that it gives us a vision of the community many of us don’t have but secretly desire.

Patriotism

“The Music Man” shows small-town America at its finest. There are patriotic marches. There are speeches by politicians. There’s entertainment provided by the town’s citizens (even if it isn’t very high quality!). And of course, there is a willing audience eager to come together and celebrate their nation, even if it’s not explicitly stated.

Such celebrations aren’t the provincial or homely affairs that many assume. In reality, they are a direct response to an exhortation John Adams made in the early years of our nation, namely to remember the founding of our country “with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

The reason Adams gave such an exhortation is simple, and one I discovered while attending a concert in the park last July Fourth. Namely, hearing the patriotic tunes together in a group brings joy, setting people to smiling, dancing, and cheering. It also brings tears to the eyes and swells the heart with love for those who sacrificed so that we could have freedom.

When we cut out these celebrations, as is so common these days—the mayor of my hometown even cut the public display of fireworks for the past few years—it’s much easier to forget our heritage and to be disgruntled instead of grateful. For that reason, “The Music Man” serves as a reminder to never forget and to freely engage in celebrating our country and its freedoms.

Work Ethic

A third theme shining throughout “The Music Man” is hard work. In this respect, Marian Paroo and Harold Hill are exact opposites—he works hard to get out of hard work by pulling con jobs, while she works hard to earn a respectable living and support her family through two jobs, one at the library and the other at home teaching piano lessons.

The interesting thing is that Marian is a hard worker who doesn’t treat herself as a victim of circumstances. Sure, she’d like it if she didn’t have to be the breadwinner of the family, but she accepts the tasks and duties she has been given and works at them doggedly. Hill, on the other hand, grows tired of trying to escape his alleged life of ease, and the end of the play suggests that he settles down to good, honest, useful work.

Such a picture subtly gives us clues about embracing diligence. If, like Marian—and Hill at the end—we want to feel like worthwhile contributors to society, then we must put our chins up, embrace what life throws at us without complaining, and roll up our sleeves to participate in the longstanding tradition of the good ol’ Protestant work ethic America is famous for.

Family

Finally, “The Music Man” gives a lesson on the importance of family. Here we have Marian, a pretty, intelligent, good girl who has apparently missed the boat on love given her librarian (read: spinster) title. Yet her aloof exterior hides the fact that she’d really just like someone to love her and start a family with.

Hill, on the other hand, is the bad boy whose past really doesn’t give him much hope of landing the type of girl who would make a good wife. Yet when he finds Marian and reforms, the two overcome the odds, giving us hope that love, home, and family are worthy goals that might not be as unattainable as we think—an encouraging lesson in an age when young people seem to struggle to find a life partner and start a family.

So why do we still love “The Music Man” in a day and age when the callous cynicism of the past often wins? I suspect it’s because, despite the scorn we dish on traditional values, we still long for the community, patriotism, hard work, and family portraits it presents. Perhaps it’s time we start incorporating those values back into our own lives so they’re more than just a nostalgic feeling instigated by the community theater once a year.