The Music Man

Act One

It is the Fourth of July in 1912, and a train is leaving Rock Island, Illinois. A number of traveling salesmen aboard the train gossip about a con-man who goes by the name of “Professor” Harold Hill, and Charlie Cowell describes the man’s rather unique scam: Harold convinces parents that he can teach their children to play musical instruments in a band, and once he receives the money that is supposedly meant to pay for their uniforms and instruments, he skips town and repeats the same process elsewhere (“Rock Island”). As the train pulls in to River City, Iowa, Charlie scoffs that Harold would never get away with his scam in Iowa because the people are too stubborn. At that, a stranger stands up and exits the train: “Gentlemen, you intrigue me. I think I shall have to give Iowa a try.” He steps off the train with his suitcase, which the salesmen are shocked to see is clearly labeled, “Professor Harold Hill.”

We are now on the bustling Main Street of River City. As