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With a capital T, that rhymes with P and that stands for... post!

Yah yah yah! I'm about to post about one of my all time favorite musicals: The Music Man. More specifically, I'm going to compare the two movie versions from 1962 and 2003. Everyone who likes the musical tends love the '62 version while the '03 version gets so much smack. Well, I'm here to see if this is truly deserved (from my own personal biased opinion of course :P).

The 2003 version was made for the TV by Disney starring Matthew Broderick as Professor Harold Hill.
What first struck me as odd within the first few minutes of the movie was the number of black people in the

movie as salesmen and civilians. Really? This story takes place in like 1912 or something. Black people did not have jobs like a traveling salesman or live normally in places like Iowa back then (at least not a lot of them) and they most definitely did not mingle with white people as friends. I mean, I know that the producers were trying to keep complaints from ignorant viewers away ("why are there no black people in this movie?"), but honestly.

Another thing I noticed was the acting. It was so abnormally dry and seemed very rushed. But it wasn't just one person, EVERYBODY was doing this. I think that everyone could have done so much better with their parts, including Matthew Broderick, but because everyone was like this, I suspect that they were instructed to play their parts the way that they did. I don't know why, maybe so that the movie wouldn't go too long or something. Speaking of Matthew Broderick, as the main character and the conman, he is supposed to be charming, very charismatic, sneaky, and yet entirely endearing. I honestly believe he could have pulled it off much better than he did (I know he could have. I've seen him in other things and know he's quite a good actor, much better than how he's portrayed in this movie), but all he really got across was

sneaky and possibly endearing. Robert Preston (our '62 Harold Hill) of course played all of these qualities perfectly. The liveliest acting was that of Kristen Chenoweth who played Marian, though she still seemed a little toned down and was just as rushed as everyone else at times. Although the acting was dry and rushed, it was not necessarily bad (though some were).

The dancing was another thing. Though the numbers may not have been as elaborate as the '62 version's, they were still well done, polished and entertaining to watch. This also goes for

the singing. They had more of a variety of people singing in chorus songs, but other than that I didn't think they reached the bar '62 had set. However, the songs were still well done and did not make your ears bleed.

One thing that I thought that was improved upon in this version was the relationship between Marian and Harold. It seemed a bit more authentic and caring (not that the '62 version wasn't). Of course it might have something to do with how they changed the ending part between the footbridge and where everyone finds out about the con and are hunting him down, a little bit, but nevertheless! They also kept the duet in "Til There Was You" instead of having them kiss and then having Marian just kind of strangely carry on by herself (like the '62 version).

I believe I laughed a bit more during the '03 version. Simply because they were creative with how they portrayed certain scenes. Such as when Professor Hill is following Marian home, or with Mayor and Mrs. Shinn dancing the Shippopi, or in "Marian the Librarian".  "Marian the Librarian" was my favorite scene, despite the dancing not being absolutely top notch. His stupid smile through the bookcase, his disappearing and reappearing everywhere, his constant ringing of the bell until she accidentally rings it, her

facial expressions the entire time, his overall totally obnoxious but hilarious behavior. The only thing that would have made the scene absolutely perfect for me would have been if they had kept in when Harold kisses Marian and she tries to slap him, but hits Tommy instead.

So I guess it all comes down to what my overall opinion is. I'd give the 2003 version a 7/10. Which some might think a bit too generous, but I always say that I always come back for the plot and The Music Man is one of my favorites, not to mention it's got some fun music. If you're interested, the 1962 version gets a 9/10. Really, the 2003 version is not as horrid as people make it out to be. It's not fantastic and definitely not as good as the 1962 version (you really shouldn't compare them anyways [even though that's what I just did XP]), but it's got some endearing qualities about it and it might be worth to watch at least once (and I still love the library scene XD). Basically to sum up, I'll happily watch either, but if I had a choice I'd probably pick the 1962 version over the 2003 version.

Marian the Librarian- 2003 version