I liked it - it is hard NOT to like The Music Man:
BUT Matthew Broderick is no Robert Preston. He lacks the personna to pull off the Harold Hill scam. And, as far as I know, Meredith Willson had Preston in mind when he wrote the show.
Kristin Chenoweth, however, was a better Marion than Shirley Jones. Kristin has as good a voice as Jones but she has a natural midwest accent that fits River City well, and she LOOKS like a small town librarian.
The music was great - at least those songs which were left in from the Broadway-Chicago-1962 versions (All of which I saw many times) The songs added later were not up to the standard of Meredith Willson's original score.
However, the ending was more in keeping with the original - the '62 sudden switch to the "Band of America" rather than a bunch of kids. And the "Marion" sequence was a bit more enjoyable than the highly polished "62 version.
All in all, a good remake but not up to the original.
BUT Matthew Broderick is no Robert Preston. He lacks the personna to pull off the Harold Hill scam. And, as far as I know, Meredith Willson had Preston in mind when he wrote the show.
Kristin Chenoweth, however, was a better Marion than Shirley Jones. Kristin has as good a voice as Jones but she has a natural midwest accent that fits River City well, and she LOOKS like a small town librarian.
The music was great - at least those songs which were left in from the Broadway-Chicago-1962 versions (All of which I saw many times) The songs added later were not up to the standard of Meredith Willson's original score.
However, the ending was more in keeping with the original - the '62 sudden switch to the "Band of America" rather than a bunch of kids. And the "Marion" sequence was a bit more enjoyable than the highly polished "62 version.
All in all, a good remake but not up to the original.