www.americanmusicalsproject.org

Often imitated, but never surpassed, the story of the Music Man is the classic tale of a man trying to be something that he is not and, ultimately, discovering that who he really is can be just as rewarding as the myth he shrouds himself in. I’m talking about the classic original that you can probably find on AMC or any of those classic movie channels that you can get through http://www.rasertech.com/ or the like. While good things were certainly said about the various remakes and versions of this American musical classic, there is just no substitute for the original.

Taking place in the countryside of Iowa, music man Harold Hill is a con man who sets out to swindle the local townsfolk by getting them to invest in a school marching band. What they don’t realize is that Harold Hill has no intention of fulfilling their orders for uniforms and instruments and plans to skip town once he has enough money. Along the way, he dodges the various town council members who try to investigate him and ultimately manages to fool everyone except the lovely librarian, which kicks into all sorts of musical nonsense. If you have not seen the Music Man then you are missing out on a true American classic.